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PASTCE-  01^'  THl'l  tT. liSBYTF.BlAW  CHURCH.    MiiLlC£    CHUNK:.  PA 
mi)    AUTHOR.  OP    THE   HISTORY  OF  THE  PHESBYTEplAN    CHURCH.  OT  AMgKiaa. . 


?ulilislji?d by  Joscp"liMWilpoii.27Sourli Tenth    r^.i;  Lelow  Chestnur  S'  PM.vi.e. 


HISTORY 


llit,slri|ta[iatt  dlkqlt  in  g^mtiiica, 


FEOM  ITS  OKIGIN  UNTIL  THE  YEAR  1760. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  OF  ITS  EARLY  MINISTERS. 


BY   THB 

EEY.  RICHARD  WEBSTEU, 

LATE    PASTOR    OF    THB    PRESBYTEKIAN    CHURCH,    MAUCH    CHUNK,    PA. 


BY  THE  REY.  C.  VAN   RENSSELAER,  D.D. 

AND 

gin  f  istflncal  Introktticn, 

BY  THE    REY.  WILLIAM    BLACKWOOD,  D.D. 


PUBLISHED    BY    AUTHORITY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
JOSEPH    M.    WILSON, 

No.  27  SOUTH  TENTH   STREET,  BELOW  CHESTNUT  ST. 

1857. 


Entered  awording  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1857,  by 

JOSEPH  M.  ^VILSON, 

in  the  CTerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Eastern  District  of 
I'ennsjlvania. 


NOTICE. 


The  Presbyterian  Historical  Society  resolved,  in  1853,  to 
publish  the  Eev.  Eichard  Webster's  "History  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church."  A  committee,  consisting  of  C.  Van  Eensselaer, 
John  C.  Backus,  and  Samuel  Agnew,  was  appointed,  with 
power  to  take  measures  to  carry  the  resolution  into  effect. 
Various  circumstances  interfered  to  prevent  the  publication  of  the 
work  until  the  present  time. 

Since  the  committee  was  appointed,  the  basis  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Historical  Society  has  been  enlarged  so  as  to  .include  other 
branches  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  It  is,  therefore,  proper  to 
state  that  the  Society  itself  is  not  to  be  considered  as  committed  to 
any  of  the  controversial  statements  of  the  present  history  j  but 
merely  as  issuing  it  under  its  general  patronage  and  authority, 
after  the  manner  of  other  Historical  Societies. 

This  volume  of  Church  History  is  the  first  volume  of  the 
PUBLICATIONS   OF   THE    PEESBYTEEIAN"   HISTOEICAL 

SOCIETY. 

C.  Van  Rensselaer, 

Chairman  Ex.  Com.  of  P.  H.  S. 
December  22,  1856. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Memoir H 

Introduction 45 


PART  I. 

HISTORICAL. 

CHAPTER  I. 

State  of  Ulster  during  the  Reigns  of  James  I.  and  Charles  I. — Trials  of  the 
Ulster  Presbyterians — The  Eagle's  Wing — Bishop  Bramhall — Mr.  Castell — 
His  plan  for  introducing  the  Gospel  into  the  Colonies — The  Battle  of  Dunbar 
— Scots  Prisoners  sent  to  the  Colonies — 1670  to  1680,  Scottish  Presbyterians 
settle  in  Virginia,  and  procure  a  Minister  from  Ireland — Settlements  in 
Maryland — 1680,  Colonel  Stevens  applies  to  Laggan  Presbytery  for  a  Minis- 
ter— Efforts  of  Scottish  noblemen  and  others  to  settle  Carolina — 1684,  Other 
prisoners  sent  from  Scotland  to  Carolina — Lord  Cardross — Settlements  on 
the  Potomac  and  Patuxent — Scotsmen  join  in  purchasing  the  Jerseys — Scott, 
of  Pitlochie — Voluntary  exiles — Barclay,  of  Urie — Hume,  of  Paisley — Emi- 
gration to  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Virginia — Dutch  Reformed  Congregations 
— Society  of  Friends — Ranters — John  Labadie — Delusion  in  New  England — 
Efforts  made  in  Massachusetts  to  send  the  Gospel  to  Virginia — Episcopal 
Churches — Baptists — Presbyterianism  in  Philadelphia — Francis  Makemie — 
Other  Ministers — State  of  Morals — Religious  Liberty  in  the  Colonies 65-78 

CHAPTER  II. 

Opening  of  Eighteenth  Century — High-Churchism  again  in  power — New  Jersey 
united  to  New  York — Viscount  Cornbury  appointed  Governor — Conduct  of 
Church  Party  in  Pennsylvania,  1701-1703 — Colonel  Quarry — George  Keith 
— Sir  Robert  Carr,  Governor — Fears  of  compulsory  enforcement  of  Con- 
formity— Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  incorporated 
in  1701 — Steps  taken  to  have  a  Bishop  consecrated — The  Bishop  of  London 
and  Archbishop  Seeker  favourable — Two  Jacobites  consecrated,  and  sent 
over — The  Bishop  of  London  and  the  Baptism  of  Dissenters — Vesey,  the 
Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York — Town  of  Jamaica  Settled — John  Hub- 

6 


6  CONTENTS. 

PAOI 

bard  ami  Lord  Cornbury — Tyrannical  procecdinjrs  in  Jamaica — Keith  urpes 
Cornbury  to  further  harsh  Steps — Samuel  liownas — Hempstead  settled — 
Further  proceedings  of  Keith  and  other  Episcopalians — Irregularities  of  the 
Episcopal  Clergy — Proceedings  in  Virginia — Several  Ministers  qualified  to 
preach — First  meeting  of  the  Presbytery — Note 7'J-91 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Synod  of  Ulster  before  1697 — Records  lost — Order  adopted  in  1098 — Sub- 
scription of  Confession  adopted,  1705 — Probable  course  of  Philadelphia 
Presbytery — First  meeting  at  Freehold — Second  meeting  at  Philadelphia — 
The  Members — Letters  from  members  to  Scotland — Aid  from  London — Soon 
failed — Happy  intercourse  of  the  Brethren — Doctrines  and  Order  of  the  first 
members  of  the  Presbytery — Formation  of  the  Synod — Note — Fund  esta- 
blished— Emigration  from  North  of  Ireland — Cotton  Mather — Ministers 
arrive  from  Ireland — The  Toleration  Act  extended  to  Ireland  in  1719 — Ii-ish 
Presbyterians  refuse  the  terms  of  the  Toleration  Act — Their  form  proposed 
to  the  Government — Mr.  Haliday,  of  Belfast,  refuses  subscription  to  the 
Westminster  Confession — Troubles  in  the  Irish  Church  on  Creeds  and  Con- 
fessions— 1721,  Gillespie's  proceedings  in  the  Synod — Discussions  in  Synod 
— Further  proceedings  in  the  Irish  Pi-esbyterian  Church — Their  effects  on 
the  Synod— The  Antrim  Presbytery— Synod  of  Philadelphia,  1727— "A  full 
Synod"  every  third  year  resolved  on — Debates  on  Subscription — Dickinson's 
"Remarks" — Proceedings  in  Synod  of  1729 — Division  in  Charleston  Pres- 
bytery— The  Adopting  Act — Samuel  Hemphill — Jealousy  of  the  people  for 
the  Standards — Difference  between  Gilbert  Tennent  and  Covrell — Proceed- 
ings adopted  to  save  the  Church  from  the  intrusion  of  unsound  or  immoral 
ministers  from  other  Churches — Supplies  from  New  England — From  Eng- 
land— from  Ireland — From  Scotland — Presbyterianism  in  New  England — 
Emigration  from  1718  till  1740  mainly  Presbyterian  —  Effect  on  the 
Chm-ches 92-120 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Identity  of  Discipline  in  the  Irish,  Scottish,  and  American  Churches— Family 
Training — Ministerial  Labours — Presbyterial  Oversight — Psalmody — Francis 
Rous — Ministerial  Support — Schools — Style  of  Preaching — Publication  of 
Sermons — The  "  Marrow  Controversy" — Ministers  come  from  the  Mother- 
Churches — Gilbert  Tennent  educated  in  this  country — Feeling  of  other 
bodies  towards  the  Church — 1729,  The  Synod  condemns  the  prevalence  of 
a  litigious  spirit  among  Church-members — Order  relative  to  Marriages — 
Limited  Intercourse  with  the  Church  of  Scotland  —  Correspondence  with 
the  Scottish  Assembly,  and  with  the  Society  for  Propagating  Christian 
Knowledge 121-131 

CHAPTER  V. 

State  of  Society  before  the  "Great  Revival" — Intelligence  of  Revivals  abroad 
— EflFects  on  the  Churches — Decline  of  Godliness  lamented — Means  adopted 


CONTENTS.  7 

PAGE 

by  the  Synod — Gilbert  Tennent — Synod  adopts  his  Views — Philadelphia 
Presbytery  complies  with  Recommeudatious — State  of  atfairs  in  New  Jersey 
— Synod  of  1735 — Exercise  of  Authority — John  Cross — Overture  from  Lewes 
Presbytery  on  Ministerial  Preparation  —  Discussions  caused  thereby — The 
Revival  in  progress — Arrival  of  Whitefield — Reception  in  Philadelphia, 
and  in  New  York — Franklin's  Estimate  of  Whitefield — Sources  of  his  Power 
— He  goes  southward — Returns  from  Georgia  during  the  following  April — 
Followed  by  great  multitudes — He  visits  New  York  again — Gilbert  Tennent's 
Sermon  on  an  "Unconverted  Ministry" — The  Revival  at  Fagg's  Manor — 
Meeting  of  Synod — Large  attendance — Effects  of  Revival  Sermons 132-148 


CHAPTER  VL 

Continued  Discussions  in  Synod  respecting  the  Trials  of  Candidates  for  the 
Ministry — Present  rule  continued — Protest — An  explanatory  Overture — 
Proceedings  of  Gilbert  Tennent  and  Samuel  Blaii' — Minute  adopted — Mild 
Conduct  of  the  majority  of  Synod — Contrasted  with  the  action  of  New 
Haven  Association — Meeting  of  the  Commission  of  Synod — Appearances  of 
Division — Efforts  to  induce  Whitefield  to  visit  Boston — His  progress  thither 
from  Georgia — His  Reception — "The  Querists" — Gilbert  Tennent  goes  to 
Boston — Whitefield  again  in  Philadelphia — His  progress  southward — Dis- 
cussion in  Donegal  Presbytery — Complaints  against  Alexander — Cross,  of 
Baskingridge — Divisions — William  Tennent  and  the  Philadelphia  Presbytery 
— Synod  meets,  in  May,  1741 — Continued  Irritations — State  of  Religion  in 
the  Synod  and  in  New  England  contrasted — Preparations  in  Synod  for 
business — Protestation  read  by  Robert  Cross — Twelve  Ministers  and  eight 
Elders  sign  this  Protest — Parties  in  the  Synod — The  Minority  withdraw — 
Effects  of  the  division,  and  the  state  of  the  Parties  —  Letter  of  Andrews 
to  Pierson 149-181 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Synod  proceeds  with  business  after  withdrawal  of  the  Brunswick  Brethren — 
Overture  adopted — Commission  appointed  —  Meeting  in  June  of  the  ex- 
cluded Brethren  at  Philadelphia — Blair  appointed  to  prepare  a  paper  on 
Divisions  in  the  Church,  and  Tennent  an  answer  to  the  Protest — Applications 
from  numerous  places  to  the  Brunswick  Brethren — Creaghead  and  the 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant — Creaghead  withdraws — Davenport  in  Con- 
necticut— Moravians  in  Pennsylvania — Charge  against  Rowland — Anxieties 
of  Gilbert  Tennent — Dickinson  in  Boston — Gilbert  Tennent  preaches  in 
New  York  against  the  Moravians — Synod  meets  in  Philadelphia  in  May, 
1742 — Conference  with  the  Brunswick  Brethren  proposed — An  Interloquitur 
resolved  on — The  New  York  Brethren  bring  in  a  Protest,  which  is  sustained 
— The  Brunswick  Brethren  withdraw — The  Nottingham  Sermon  again — 
Letter  from  Andrews  to  Pierson — Divisions  in  New  England — Creaghead 
and  a  portion  of  his  people  adopt  Cameronian  Principles — Correspondence 
of  Whitefield — Synod  of  1743 — Proposals  of  Peace  sent  to  the  Brunswick 


CONTENTS. 


Party — Other  Proposals  from  the  New  York  Brethren — Action  of  the  Synod 
— Application  from  Virginia  to  Scotland  for  Preachers — Synod  of  1744 — 
Davenport  retracts  his  Errors — General  Association  of  Connecticut  advise 
against  communion  with  Whiteficld  —  Synod  of  1745  —  Committees  ap- 
pointed in  order  to  adjustment  of  difficulties — Their  efforts  ineflFectual — 
Whiteficld  again  in  Philadelphia — Plan  adopted  in  Synod  for  Union 182-217 


CHAPTER  Vni. 

Concessions  of  the  New-Side  Brethren  to  those  of  New  York — Philadelphia 
Synod  meets,  May  29,  1746 — Proposals  for  Intercourse — New  York  Synod 
meets  in  the  Spring — No  action  on  the  Proposals  of  the  Philadelphia  Synod 
this  Year — Nor  in  1747  nor  in  1748 — No  action  on  Union  in  the  Old  Synod  in 
1747  or  1748 — In  1749,  proposals  made  in  New  York  Synod — Submitted  to 
the  Philadelphia  Synod — Referred  to  the  Commission  and  to  the  Presby- 
teries— Loss  of  Presbyterial  Records — Action  of  the  New  Yoi-k  Commission — 
Meetings  of  the  Synods  of  New  York,  May  16,  1750,  and  of  the  Philadelphia 
Synod,  May  23,  1750 — Their  respective  Plans  for  Union — Consideration  of 
these  Plans — Answer  of  the  New  York  Synod — Inaction  of  the  Philadelphia 
Synod  on  this  subject  in  1753 — New  York  Synod  of  1754 — Philadelphia  Synod, 
1755 — Reply  of  New  York  Synod  to  the  Philadelphia  Brethren — Action 
thereon  by  the  Philadelphia  Brethren — How  received  by  the  Synod  of  New 
York — Philadelphia  Synod  of  1756 — And  of  the  New  York  Synod  in  the  Fall 
— In  their  next  meeting  they  agree  to  assemble  in  Philadelphia  at  the  same 
time  with  the  Philadelphia  Synod — Proposal  accepted  by  the  latter  body — 
They  meet  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  May,  1758 218-239 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Whitefield  in  1745 — News  of  the  Rebellion  of  '45 — Further  labours  of  White- 
field — The  Great  Valley  of  Virginia — Philadelphia  Synod's  care  for  Virginia 
— Extension  of  the  Church  through  Western  Virginia  and  Carolina — Irish 
Congregations  in  Pennsylvania  weakened  thereby — Creaghead  applies  to  the 
Associate  Synod  of  Edinburgh — Arrival  of  Culbertson,  Telfair,  and  Kinloch 
— Points  of  agreement  between  the  Associate  Presbytery  and  the  Reformed 
— Old-Side  Synod  direct  McDowell  and  Smith  to  prepare  a  Representation 
for  circulation,  showing  the  most  dangerous  principles  and  practices  of  the 
Seceders — Gellatly's  Reply  to  the  New-Side  Brethrer — Answered  by  Samuel 
Finley  and  Robert  Smith — Covenanters  join  with  the  Anti-Burghers  and 
Burghers  and  form  the  Associate  Synod  in  1782 — Peace  in  the  Churches  in 
New  Jersey — Difference  of  increase  in  the  Synods — Reasons  for  the  dif- 
ference—  Effects  of  the  Revival  on  Church  Government  —  State  of  the 
Churches  in  New  England — Synod  of  Philadelphia  agrees  to  establish  a 
School — Three  Presbyteries  meet  to  adopt  a  plan  for  establishing  a  School 
— Action  resolved  on,  and  Alison  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Institution — 
Correspondence  with  Professor  Hutcheson,  of  Glasgow,  respecting  the 
School  —  Alison  removes  to  Philadelphia — The  School  changed  to  Elk — 


CONTENTS.  9 

FAQB 

Aid  afforded  to  the  School  under  Samson  Smith — Presbytery  of  New  York 
aim  at  founding  a  first-class  Literary  Institution — Council  of  New  Jersey 
grant  charter  for  such  an  Institution — College  commenced  at  Elizabethtown 
— Efforts  made  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  College  in  England — Attempt 
to  send  Pemberton  to  England  on  behalf  of  the  College — Davies  and  Tennent 
gent — Their  success  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland — A  Divinity  Pro- 
fessor appointed  in  Yale  College — Revivals  of  Religion  in  Yale  and  in 
Nassau  Colleges — Death  of  President  Burr,  and  of  Finley — Articles  con- 
tained in  the  "  Plan  of  Union"  of  the  Synods 240-270 


CHAPTER  X. 

Importance  of  the  Document  as  finally  adopted — Effects  of  the  remodelling  the 
Presbyteries — Relative  influence  of  the  two  Synods — Differences,  in  1762,  on 
trial  of  Samson  Smith — Other  causes  of  difficulty — Proceedings  in  1764, 
1765,  and  1766 — Action  in  the  case  of  Donegal  and  Carlisle  Presbyteries — 
Philadelphia  Presbytery  test  the  sense  of  Article  VI.  of  the  Plan  of  Union, 
in  the  cases  of  Magaw  and  John  Beard — Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia 
erected  for  one  year — Case  of  Hugh  WOliamson — The  Old-Side  men  offended 
with  the  decision  as  ofiensive  to  the  New  England  Churches — Dissent  of  the 
Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia — Reply  of  the  Synod — In  1774,  Tate 
requests  a  review  of  the  action  of  Synod — The  Act  rescinded,  and  a  Substi- 
tute adopted — Important  Minute  of  1784,  relative  to  Ministers  and  Licen- 
tiates from  abroad — Desponding  tone  of  the  Episcopal  Ministers — State  of 
affairs  in  Episcopal  Church — Interference  of  New-Side  Brethren  in  settle- 
ment of  an  Episcopal  Minister — Proceedings  connected  therewith — Alison 
proposes,  in  1757,  to  establish  a  Magazine — Correspondence  with  the  Con- 
eociated  Churches  of  Connecticut  resolved  on — A  Convention  meets  at  Eliza- 
bethtown— Election-strife  in  New  York — Concluding  Observations 271-294 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 


REV.  RICHARD  WEBSTER. 


The  writer  of  this  sketch  was  on  familiar  terms  of  intercourse  with  the 
late  Rev.  Richard  Webster.  Born  and  brought  up  in  the  same  city, 
contemporaries  in  age,  and  students  in  the  same  theological  seminary,  a 
friendship  existed  between  us  which  ripened  with  the  progress  of  time 
and  was  interrupted  only  by  death.  My  friend,  in  his  will,  bequeathed  to 
me  his  historical  manuscripts :  they  are  now  published  in  the  same  condi- 
tion in  which  he  left  them. 

In  our  last  interview,  I  asked  Mr.  Webster  when  his  history  would  be 
ready  for  the  press.  He  answered,  with  a  smile,  "Never;  I  am  all  the 
time  making  corrections  and  additions."  The  truth  is,  that  his  work  was 
left  in  an  imperfect  state;  but  it  will  nevertheless  be  highly  appreciated 
by  the  public  as  a  valuable  repository  of  Presbyterian  history  and  bio- 
graphy. 

Another  remark  I  may  make  here  respecting  his  work  is,  that  it  only 
professes  to  give  the  early  portion  of  the  history  of  our  church.  The 
period  embraced  in  the  present  volume  is  a  little  more  than  half  a  century, 
and  is  limited  to  the  reunion  of  the  Synods  of  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia, in  1758.  The  reader,  therefore,  must  not  expect  to  find  a  complete 
history  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  the  United  States.  The  early  per- 
il 


12  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH   OF  THE 

tion,  which  is  exceedingly  rich  in  events  and  in  illustrious  men,  possesses 
a  peculiar  interest;  and  this  is  the  portion  comprehended  within  the 
scope  of  Mr.  Webster's  researches,  now  published. 

It  is  my  purpose  to  make  a  few  remarks  on  the  character  of  the  la- 
mented author  of  this  volume,  chiefly  in  connection  with  his  devotion  to 
liistory ;  and  to  incorporate  into  this  sketch,  on  other  points,  the  views 
and  opinions  of  brethren  who  were  more  intimately  acquainted  with  his 
ministerial  character  and  habits  of  life. 

Richard  Webster  was  born  in  the  city  of  Albany,  New  York,  on  the 
14th  of  July,  1811,  and  was  the  youngest  child  of  Charles  R.  Webster 
and  Cynthia  Steele.  His  father  was  a^prominent  bookseller  in  that  city, 
and  publisher  of  an  influential  newspaper.  Richard's  love  of  books  and 
of  newspaper-writing  was  undoubtedly  nurtured  by  his  father's  occupation. 
His  mother  belonged  to  one  of  the  good  old  families  in  Albany  whose 
praise  is  in  the  churches.  The  young  child  was  trained  according  to  the 
principles  of  the  covenant  of  promise,  and  was  brought  up  under  the 
ministry  and  ordinances  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  which  was  at 
that  time  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Neill,  and  sub- 
sequently of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  R.  Weed  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  N. 
Campbell,  the  latter  of  whom  is  still  pastor  of  the  church.  Richard 
Webster  early  professed  his  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and,  while 
the  ".dew  of  youth"  was  upon  him,  united  himself  with  the  followers  of 
the  Redeemer.  The  principal  facts  in  his  life  will  be  presented  in  ex- 
tracts from  the  personal  reminiscences  and  testimony  of  others. 

G-od  gave  to  Richard  Webster  a  goodj  vigorous  intellect.  Even  a 
casual  observer  could  not  fail  to  see  the  flashes  of  intelligence  which  ema- 
nated from  no  ordinary  mental  constitution.  In  th«true  acceptation  of  the 
word  he  might  be  called  a  .talented  man, — sprightly,  however,  rather  than 
logical,  and  original  and  ready  rather  than  very  profound.  Well  culti- 
vated in  early  life,  his  mind  expanded  under  the  influence  of  the  collegiate 
and  theological  course,  and  received  great  strength  and  discipline  from  the 
higher  studies  incident  to  his  profession.  His  intellectual  powers  were 
far  above  the  average  of  those  of  his  ministerial  brethren ;  and,  although 
not  in  the  first  rank,  occupied  by  the  privileged  few  alone,  he  was  certainly 


REV.  RICHARD   WEBSTER.  13 

prominent  among  the  many  wlio  belong  to  the  class  of  able,  well-endowed, 
useful  men. 

With  a  retentive  and  excellent  memory,  Mr.  Webster  treasured  up  what 
he  acquired.  He  was  a  hard  student  all  his  life.  His  professional  edu- 
cation was  regarded  only  as  a  means  to  an  end.  The  preliminary  course 
had  but  prepared  him  to  continue  his  literary  and  religious  investigations 
with  the  greater  zeal  and  perseverance.  Many,  it  is  to  be  feared,  err 
in  placing  too  great  reliance  upon  the  discipline  and  knowledge  early 
acquired,  instead  of  aiming  at  a  steady  and  progressive  improvement  by 
means  of  their  preparatory  resources.  Mr.  Webster,  instead  of  relaxing 
from  study,  made  it  his  daily  work.  He  became  more  and  more  familiar 
with  the  original  languages  of  Scripture,  and  prosecuted  his  theological 
studies  to  an  extent  quite  unusual  among  the  temptations  of  an  active 
missionary  life.  If  not  a  very  learned  man,  he  was  more  so  than  many 
who,  owing  to  circumstances,  have  attained  a  higher  reputation. 

Mr.  Webster  possessed  warm  social  feelings.  The  emotional  part  of 
his  nature  was  simple  and  earnest,  and  was  a  true  balance  to  his  insatiable 
love  of  knowledge.  When  free  from  restraint  and  among  friends,  he 
loved  to  indulge  his  natural  humour.  Few  persons,  indeed,  had  more 
wit,  more  genuine  playfulness,  a  more  rich  vein  of  native  fun.  This 
exuberant  capacity  for  amusing  others  often  manifested  itself  in  pleasant 
■  and  jocose  remarks  producing  irresistible  laughter.  His  nature  was  emi- 
nently social;  but  deafness  interrupted,  especially  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
life,  this  genial  flow  of  soul.  In  the  family,  his  affectionate  disposition 
showed  itself  in  endearing  and  delightful  manifestations. 

Mr.  Webster's  piety  was  sincere  and  full  of  good  fruits.  With  much 
of  the  ^motional  in  his  nature,  religion  drew  forth  the  homage  of  his  soul. 
His  aflfections  were  set  upon  things  above.  He  was  a  holy  man.  No  one 
could  mistake  the  purposes  of  his  life.  His  heart  was  in  the  ministry  of 
reconciliation.  Devotion  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  his  reigning  pas- 
sion. He  had  consecrated  himself  to  his  Master's  service  with  a  view  to 
preach  the  gospel  among  the  heathen;  but,  when  Providence  seemed  to 
throw  obstacles  in  this  direction  of  his  choice,  he  joyfully  went  to  a  mis- 
sionary-field at  home,  doubtless  under  the  guidance  of  his  heavenly  Father, 
who  greatly  blessed  him  in  his  labours.  Living  a  zealous,  self-denying, 
and  active  life,  he  accomplished  much  for  the  advancement  of  the  Re- 


14  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH   OF   THE 

deemer's  kingdom.  A  tender  compassion  for  souls  was  the  beauty  and 
power  of  Ills  uiinisterial  character.  A  sweet,  earnest  love,  that  came  from 
God,  enabled  him  to  toil  in  the  destitute  coal-regions  of  Pennsylvania, 
edifying  the  saints  and  exhorting  sinners  to  repentance.  The  Rev.  A.  B. 
Cross,  who  preached  his  funeral  sermon,  fitly  chose  for  his  text,  "  Ye  are 
witnesses,  and  God  also,  how  holily,  and  justly,  and  unblamably  we  be- 
haved ourselves  among  you  that  believe;  as  ye  know  how  we  exhorted, 
and  comforted,  and  charged  every  one  of  you,  as  a  father  doth  his  chil- 
dren, that  ye  should  walk  worthy  of  God,  who  hath  called  you  unto  his 
kingdom  and  glory  :"   1  Thess.  ii.  10-12, 

The  Rev.  F.  De  W.  Ward,  of  Geneseo,  New  York,  was  the  class- 
mate and  room-mate  of  Mr.  Webster  at  Union  College  and  at  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary.  Mr.  Ward  was  deeply  afflicted  by  the  intelligence 
of  the  death  of  his  friend,  and  sent  the  following  notice  for  publication 
in  the  Presbyterian  Magazine.  I  thought  it  expedient,  however,  to 
reserve  it  fur  the  present  sketch  : — 

"  Geneseo,  New  York. 

"  I  am  a  mourner.  A  friend,  greatly  respected  for  his  richly-stored  mind, — a 
Christian  brother,  dearly  beloved  for  his  pious  heart, — has  fallen  before  the  great 
destroyer,  '  whose  shafts  none  can  repel.'  Rev.  Richard  Webster,  despite  the . 
prayers  and  tears  of  a  weeping  family  and  a  large  circle  of  loving  parishioners 
and  clerical  associates,  has  been  called  away  from  us.  Our  loss  is  his  gain.  He 
has  doubtless  gone  to  join  the  company  of  '  the  just  made  perfect.' 

"  He  was  my  followTCollegian  at  Schenectady,  my  room-mate  for  nearly  three 
years  at  Princeton,  a  most  faithful  and  valued  correspondent  during  my  ten  years' 
missionary-life  in  India,  and  a  visitor  than  whom  none  was  more  welcome  to  my 
home.  I  have  known  him  long  and  well,  and  have  loved  him  the  more  with  every 
year's  extended  acquaintance. 

"  His  conversion  occurred  at  Albany,  his  native  city,  and  was  whole-hearted. 
When  he  united  with  the  church,  he  laid  upon  the  altar  of  his  Saviour  mental 
capacities  of  rare  excellence  and  power.  His  was  a  rapid  mind,  a  poetic  genius,  a 
retentive  memory,  quick  wit,  great  ability  of  application,  indomitable  perseverance, 
untiring  energy,  and  all  devoted  to  Christ!  In  naming  these  characteristics  I  do 
not  flatter.     The  grave  is  a  place  where  truth  alone  is  to  be  spoken. 

"I  said  that  his  conversion  was  deep, — 'whole-hearted.'  He  has  told  me  (not 
with  ostentation :  that  was  fur  from  him)  with  what  pleasure  he  waited  the  hour 


KEV.  RICHARD   WEBSTER.  15 

of  noon,  when  his  law-employer  would  go  to  dinner,  leaving  him  alone  to  read  his 
Bible  and  enjoy  his  private  devotions  undisturbed.  Nor  could  I  detect,  during  our 
long  acquaintance,  any  diminution  of  this  devotional  temper, — any  thing  that  would 
seem  to  say,  'Oh  that  I  were  as  in  days  past!'  I  have  rarely  met  one  who  so 
loved  his  Bible.  He  had  a  'Woodworth'  edition,  and  with  loving  intensity  did 
lie  daily  read  and  study  its  pages.  That  dear  book! — I  think  I  see  it  still,  as  it 
used  to  lie  upon  his  table, — plain  in  binding,  plainer  still  in  paper  and  type  ;  but 
it  contained  a  stream  to  which  he  was  ever  resorting,  to  drink  of  its  life-giving 
waters. 

"  He  was  in  heart  a  foreign  missionary.  Ahmednuggar  was  the  field  he  had 
chosen.  Upon  the  eve  of  departure  Providence  said,  'You  must  not  go.'  The 
prohibition  seemed  strange,  when  the  call  was  so  loud  from  the  gi-ave  of  Gordon 
Hall  and  his  devoted  associates, — '  Send  the  gospel  to  the  land  of  Brahma.'  Our 
brother  grieved  and  wept  over  the  disappointment.  But  his  was  not  the  dis- 
position to  say,  '  If  I  cannot  go  where  I  would  I  will  turn  to  another  profession.' 
With  the  same  self-devotion  which  would  have  sent  him  to  India,  he  sought  for  a 
destitute  locality  on  Christian  ground.  He  found  it  among  the  mountains  of  Penn- 
sylvania. The  history  of  his  life  there,  others'  pens  wiU,  I  trust,  give  to  the 
church  and  the  world.  Our  mutual  friend  and  classmate.  Dr.  D.  X.  Junkin,  told 
me,  in  May  last,  that,  '  notwithstanding  the  sad  disadvantage  of  his  deafness,  not 
a  member  of  our  class  had  accomplished  more,  if  as  much,  for  our  church  as  Mr. 
Webster, — nearly  a  score  of  churches  (if  I  am  not  misinformed)  owing  their  exist- 
ence to  his  agency.' 

"  My  last  letter  from  his  loved  pen  contained  a  warm  request  to  come  and  see 
him.  Would  that  I  had  done  so  1  And  shall  all  that  he  wrote  find  a  grave  with 
his  body?  Those  thousand  pages  of  manuscript,  upon  almost  every  possible 
subject: — his  researches  in  church  history, — his  letters,  full  to  overflowing  of  fact 
and  thought  and  spiritual  wit, — essays,  orations,  and  poems, — his  discourse  upon 
the  death  of  the  missionary  Barr, — his  many,  many  sermons,  exegetical,  doc- 
trinal, and  hortatory : — is  there  no  one  to  collect  all  these,  read  them,  and  compile 
a  volume  of  'Remains'?  My  judgment  is  greatly  at  fault  if  such  a  volume  would 
not  be  well  received  by  the  Christian  public,  while  the  proceeds  might  go  towards 
a  family  left  in  far  from  aflluent  circumstances. 

"  I  am  a  mourner.  Two  of  my  best-beloved  friends  and  zealous  co-workers  in 
the  Christian  field  are  in  their  graves : — Laivrence  in  India,  Webster  in  America, — 
kindred  in  heart,  and  one  now  in  heavenly  worship.  May  my  last  end  be  like 
theirs ! 

"Adieu,  my  much-loved  brother!  In  the  words  with  which  you  closed  a  letter 
to  me  years  ago,  '  Very  pleasant  hast  thou  been  to  me ;  thy  love  to  me  was  passing 
the  love  of  women!'  Be  it  mine  so  to  live,  that,  in  the  general  revelation,  these 
eyes  shall  see  thee  again  in  peace,  these  ears  shall  hear,  and  this  heart  shall  again 
commingle  and  coalesce  with  the  heart  of  him  for  whom  I  mourn.  W." 


16  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH   OF  THE 

In  order  to  exhibit  more  clearly  some  of  the  traits  of  the  Rev.  Richard 
Webster's  character,  I  will  lay  before  the  reader  a  graphic  letter  of  the 
Rev.  Benjamin  J.  Wallace,  editor  of  the  Presbyterian  Quarterly 
Review,  Philadelphia,  who  was  a  classmate  of  our  departed  brother  ia 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  New  Jersey. 

•  "  Presbyterian  House,  Philadelphia,  ) 

July  9,  1850.  J 

"My  Dear  Sir: — 

"  It  is  a  melancholy  pleasure  to  comply  with  your  request,  to  endeavour  to  give 
those  not  so  well  acquainted  with  our  departed  friend  Webster  as  were  you  and 
myself,  some  idea  of  his  character  as  it  impressed  me. 

"  He  came  to  the  Seminary  at  Princeton  while  I  was  a  student  there.  I  think  I 
was  a  year  with  him  before  I  knew  much  of  him.  We  were  not  in  the  same  class, 
and  he  was  not  a  person  much  given  to  seeking  new  friends.  I  cannot  now 
recall  the  occasion  of  our  intimate  acquaintance;  but  I  remember  well  that  it 
was  immediate,  and  a  source  of  great  pleasure  to  me  while  I  continued  at 
Princeton. 

"I  may  as  well  state  at  once  that  the  keynote  of  Richard  Webster's  character, 
as  it  was  revealed  to  me  in  the  confidence  of  youthful  friendship,  was  one  hardly 
suspected  by  those  who  knew  him  in  after  years.  He  was  a  poet.  I  do  not  mean 
by  this  merely  that  he  wrote  verses,  or  only  that  he  took  great  delight  in  the  works 
of  the  great  masters  of  the  imagination.  My  meaning  is,  that  he  was  a  poet  in  the 
essence  of  his  nature,  and  that  he  had  all  the  special  traits  which  go  to  make  up 
that  strange  and  interesting  character.  No  one  can  gain  the  right  position  from 
which  to  see  him  without  keeping  this  in  view.  His  mind  was  indeed  so  absorbed 
in  later  times  by  things  which  he  considered  much  more  important,  that  he  did  not 
give  much  time  to  poetry  as  an  art;  but  it  was  impossible  to  root  out  from  his 
nature  its  constituent  elements.  I  remember,  at  this  distance  of  time,  but  two 
of  his  poetic  ideas,  and  I  will  mention  them  as  specimens  of  his  mood  of  early 
thought. 

"One  occurs  in  a  cn^jjMfi  on  Shakspeare.  'Artists  have  found,' Webster  says, 
'great  diiBculty  in  painting  the  different  shades  of  white  in  nature;  and,  in  order  to 
bring  them  out,  they  have  generally  contrasted  them  with  dark  colours.  Writers 
have  met  with  a  similar  difficulty  in  delineating  the  female  character.  Their  plan  is 
to  contrast  it  with  impurity  or  ruggedness.  Shakspeare  alone,  like  Nature,  shades 
whiteness  with  white.^  Mrs.  Jameson's  '  Characteristics  of  Women '  might  almost  be 
taken  as  a  commentary  on  this  admirable  criticism. 

"The  other  thought — or  fancy — occurs  in  a  beautiful  poem,  the  finest,  I  think, 
he  ever  wrote — '  The  Funeral  of  Shelley.'  The  body  of  this  exquisite,  though, 
it  must  be  regretfully  added,  infidel  poet,  was,  it  will  be  remembered,  bui-ned  on 


EEV.  RICHARD   WEBSTER.  17 

the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Spezia,  by  Byron  and  others.     The  flame,  Medwin  de- 
clares, in  blaziDg  up,  was  coloured  like  the  rainbow.     Webster  says,  it 

'Gracefully  curl'd  up, 
As  if  from  offer"!!  flowers,  that  to  the  flame 
Gave  all  their  beauty.' 

"You,  my  dear  sir,  who  knew  Webster  so  well,  will  be  able,  with  this  clue,  better 
to  understand  his  peculiar  nature.  You  wiU  better  appreciate  his  acuteness,  his 
peculiar  kind  of  shrewdness,  his  playful  fancy,  his  satirical  turn,  his  reverence  for 
every  thing  old,  his  passion  for  books,  his  power  of  living  within  himself  and 

'  Chewing  the  cud  of  sweet  and  bitter  Cincy,' 

and,  in  fine,  that  slight  dash  of  eccentricity  which  you  must  have  often  noticed. 
That  he  kept  his  poetic  nature  so  much  to  himself  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  his 
peculiar  genius. 
,1  v-^  1  "Richard  Webster  has  never  been  appreciated.  That  he  bore  up  so  bravely,  and, 
on  the  whole,  patiently  and  meekly, — that  he  laboured  kindly  on  in  an  obscure  place 
for  a  lifetime,  with  no  more  restlessness  than  was  betrayed  in  an  occasional  satiric 
hit  at  some  of  our  famous  men, — is  a  wonder,  attributable  partly  to  the  nobleness  of 
his  nature,  and,  we  must  devoutly  add,  partly  to  the  grace  of  God,  which  was  given 
to  him  in  no  common  measure.  It  was  his  misfortune,  as  men  estimate  things,  to 
have  a  body  of  most  frail  and  nervous  organization :  he  reminded  one  of  Charles 
Lamb,  only  that  he  was  sharper,  and  thus  not  so  genial.  He  was  very  deaf,  even 
at  the  Seminary ;  and  it  grew  upon  him  steadily  with  increasing  years.  He  was 
very  near-sighted,  and  he  grew  prematurely  old.  A  man  who  always  appeared  to 
me  young,  I  found  spoken  of  as  old, — almost  (partly  from  his  connection  with  ancient 
historical  documents)  as  an  antique.  These  defects,  especially  his  deafness,  inter- 
fered materially  with  his  power  as  a  public  speaker.  He  heard  none  of  the  ordi- 
nary sounds  of  natureJn  the  fields  or  woods  ;  he  heard  nothing  of  the  mixed  sounds 
of  a  great  city:  he  heard  nothing,  he  once  wrote  to  me,  but  'the  human  voice 
raised  more  loudly  than  usual.' 

"This  comparative  isolation  from  society,  and  physical  unfitness  for  much  of  the 
business  of  life,  drove  him  to  history.  Passionately  devoted  to  the  Presbyterian 
church,  holding  our  Faith  and  Order  to  be  the  very  primitive  form  and  mOuld  of 
apostolic  truth,  he  could  conceive  of  nothing  more  noble  and  venerable  than  Cal- 
vinism and  Presbyterianism.  Around  the  church  he  poured  the  wealth  of 
his  reverence,  his  imagination,  and  his  aifection ;  and  by  how  much  he  was  re- 
strained from  being  a  great  actor  in  the  present,  he  determined  to  chronicle  what 
was  great  in  the  past.  It  was  impossible  to  confine  so  active,  so  versatile,  so  eager, 
and  so  discursive  a  mind  to  one  small  spot:  it  lay  in  his  nature  to  expand  itself; 
and,  if  he  could  not  be  an  ecclesiastical  statesman,  his  instincts  led  him  next  to  be 
an  ecclesiastical  historian.     Yet,  after  all, — for  we  would  not  allow  the  partiality  of 

2 


18  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH   OF  THE 

friendship,  even  over  bis  grave,  to  lend  us  from  the  strict  truth, — as  he  would 
always  and  under  all  circumstances  have  been  rather  artist  than  statesman,  so  he 
had  not  so  much  the  large  comprehensiveness  and  far-seeing  sagacity  of  the  true 
historian,  as  the  keen  observation,  the  acute  insight,  the  delight  in  an  event,  the 
homelike  feeling,  the  fondness  for  anecdote  and  incident,  ■which  make  the  bio- 
^apher.  And  it  is  no  mean  thing  to  be  known  to  after-times,  for  how  long  we  may 
not  yet  say,  as  the  biographer  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  America. 

"Of  Mr.  Webster's  course  as  a  pastor,  as  a  member  of  church  courth",  and  in  the 
varied  relations  of  the  ministry,  others  can  speak  better  than  myself.  We  were 
separated,  during  his  ministry,  by  distance,  and  by  our  position  in  dififerent 
branches  of  our  church,  and  differed  materially  as  to  some  important  church  ques- 
tions. But  I  can  well  believe  all  that  I  have  heard  of  his  excellence  in  these  rela- 
tions. I  think,  however,  that  I  can  appreciate,  better  than  those  who  knew  him 
later  in  life,  the  difBculties  which  he  overcame  in  himself  before  he  settled  quietly 
down  among  the  mountain-valleys,  as  a  missionary  and  pastor  to  a  scattered,  and 
in  a  great  degree  rude,  population,  limiting  his  ambition  to  the  founding  of  a  pres- 
bytery, of  which  the  younger  ministers  called  him  the  father.  His  fervid,  discur- 
sive, and  somewhat  romantic  nature  was  more  characteristically  shown  in  his  con- 
secrating himself  to  the  missionary  work  in  India,  whither  he  would  have  gone  had 
not  circumstances  entirely  beyond  his  control  prevented  him.  It  was,  perhaps, 
the  tenderness  of  his  heavenly  Father  which  shielded  him  from  trials  which  he 
might  not  have  been  able  to  bear,  accepting  the  sincere  and  earnest  intent  for  the 
accomplished  deed. 

"  What  was  especially  admirable  in  Webster  was  the  practical  good  sense  with 
which  he  accepted  his  narrow  conditions,  feeling  that  God  had  fixed  his  lot,  and 
addressing  himself  with  constant  and  patient  industry  to  every  field  of  exertion 
which  lay  within  his  reach.  There  is  something  of  the  true  sublime  in  this  self- 
abnegation,  the  laying  aside  of  vain  imaginings  and  the  dissolving  of  day- 
dream, to  accomplish  the  plain,  practical  work  given  us  to  do.  No  one  can  be 
sure  what  he  is  fit  for,  until  the  providence  of  God  confirm  his  aspirations ;  but  one 
thing  we  may  all  do  : — we  may  heartily  and  cheerfully  address  ourselves  to  what- 
ever work  is  actually  allotted  to  us,  be  it  great  or  small.  Webster  exem- 
plified this  greatness.  '  He  that  ruleth  his  spirit  is  greater  than  he  that  taketh 
a  city.*^ 

"  His  death-scene  was  very  interesting.  You  will  permit  me  to  refer  to  it,  as 
illustrative  of  his  inner  or  more  hidden  character.  I  think  it  is  Goethe  who 
remarks  that  the  poet  is  one  who  carries  all  through  life  the  fresh  feelings  of 
childhood.  There  belongs  to  such  intensely  vital  organisms  as  Webster's — where 
there  is  no  robustness,  but  vivid  nervous  energy — a  kind  of  elastic  tenacity  of  life, 
such  as  we  see  in  children,  who  rebound  from  attacks  of  disease  that  lay  strong 
men  low.  Accordingly,  he  could  not  believe  that  he  was  dying.  Like  all  of  us, 
he  had  some  idea  about  death  ;  but  it  was  not  realized.     ♦  Doctor,'  he  said,  '  you 


REV.  RICHARD   WEBSTER.  19 

must  be  mistaken.  I  camiot  be  dying.  I  feel  naturally ;  I  am  in  full  possession 
of  all  my  powers.  I  feel  very  much  as  I  have  always  felt.'  On  being  assured 
that  his  hours  were  numbered,  he  said,  'You  must  know  best ;  but  I  nevfer  con- 
ceived of  such  a  death.'  There  was,  it  will  be  observed,  no  thought  of  fear, — his 
preparation  for  death  having  been  long  since  made, — but,  mingling  with  his  calm 
faith  and  trust,  and  with  every  other  feeling  suitable  for  a  Christian's  death-bed, 
there  was  a  palpable  curiosity,  a  wonder  at  death,  a  gazing  at  this  king  of  ter- 
rors, as  though  he  were  overrated, — a  fresh,  keen  sensation,  in  view  of  this  great 
crisis  through  which  he  was  now  to  pass.  'It  cannot  be  death,'  he  said ;  'if  it  be, 
it  is  such  a  death  as  I  never  dreamed  of.'  It  is  not  too  much  to  believe  that  the 
Saviour,  whom  he  had,  amid  great  disappointment  and  difficulty,  so  unfalteringly 
and  uncomplainingly  served,  kept  all  evil  influences  from  that  death-bed,  gave  him 
to  pai't  from  life  sweetly  and  pleasantly,  and  opened  for  him  so  gently  the  portals 
of  heaven,  as  that  the  poet-Christian  felt,  in  its  loveliness,  something  so  natural, 
that  he  said,  '  I  never  dreamed  of  such  a  heaven.  It  is  most  glorious  ;  but,  what 
is  wonderful,  it  is  not  strange.     It  is  only  a  brighter  home!' 

"You  have,  my  dear  sir,  so  repeatedly  assured  me  that  I  might  write  just  what 
I  pleased  of  our  mutual  friend,  that  I  have  perhaps  indulged  my  feelings  too 
much.  The  public  may  not  be  interested  in  my  view  of  Richard  Webster.  I  can 
only  say  that  I  can  think  of  him  no  otherwise ;  and  that,  however  impei'fectly  I 
have  answered  your  expectation,  I  have  done  what  I  could. 

"Very  truly  and  respectfully  yours, 

"  Benjamin  J.  Wallace. 

"  The  Rev.  C.  Van  Rensselaer,  D.D." 

Having  given  the  testimony  of  classmates  at  the  college  and  semi- 
nary, who  had  abundant  opportunities  of  discovering  character,  as  well  as 
tact  in  delineating  it,  I  next  present  to  the  reader  the  testimony  of  a 
parishioner.  The  Rev.  James  Scott,  of  Holmesburg,  Pennsylvania, 
who  was  formerly  a  teacher  at  Mauch  Chunk,  attended  on  Mr.  Webster's 
ministry,  and  partook  of  the  hospitalities  of  the  parsonage.  Mr.  Scott 
writes  as  follows : — 

"  Holmesburg,  Pa.,  August,  185G. 
"  Rev.  Dr.  Van  Rensselaer  : — 

"  Dear  Sir  : — It  afiFords  me  much  pleasure  to  learn  that  you  are  engaged  in  the 
publication  of  the  late  Rev.  R.  Webster's  work  on  the  History  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  in  this  country ;  and,  in  compliance  with  your  request,  it  gives  me  great 
satisfaction  to  place  at  your  disposal  the  following  reminiscences  of  one  whom  I 
have  esteemed  as  a  friend,  honoured  as  a  minister,  and  loved  as  a  father. 

"About  eight  years  ago,  it  was,  in  the  providence  of  God,  my  lot  to  be  em- 


20  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH   OF   THE 

ployed  as  teacher  in  the  grammar-school  at  Mauch  Chunk.  I  was  then  a 
stranger  in  this  land ;  and  it  requires  the  heart  of  a  stranger  to  realize  the  full 
•weight  and  preciousness  of  true  Christian  friendship.  It  was  then  and  there  that 
I  was  first  made  truly  sensible  of  the  reality  of  those  bonds  which  unite  the  many 
members  of  the  one  mystical  body.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Webster  quickly  sought  me  out, 
and  extended  to  me  a  most  cordial  welcome.  From  that  hour  till  the  day  I  left  for 
Princeton  I  found  in  his  house  a  most  grateful  asylum.  His  friendship  towards 
me  increased  day  by  day.  His  excellent  library  was  at  my  service  at  all  times, 
and  his  counsel  was  always  good  and  seasonable.  He  threw  around  me  a  chain 
of  such  delightful  circumstances  as  I  never  again  expect  to  find  in  this  world  of 
change  and  turmoil.  I  need  not  say  how  fraught  with  instruction  was  the  con- 
versation of  such  a  man.  His  learning  was  varied  and  extensive.  He  read  much, 
and  seemed  to  have  remembered  all  he  read.  His  memory  for  names  of  persons 
and  places  was  proverbial. 

"  His  Sabbath  services  were  always  interesting  and  instructive.  The  matter 
was  excellent, — plain,  doctrinal,  practical,  and  experimental  truths,  often  min- 
gled with  some  appropriate  illustrations,  drawn  from  his  favourite  study, — history. 
As  he  was  long  deprived  of  the  sense  of  hearing,  it  would  be  preposterous  to  judge 
of  his  pulpit  performances  by  elocutional  standards. 

"  He  was  earnest  in  his  delivery,  being  sometimes  moved  even  to  tears. 

*' Again  and  again  have  I  heard  him,  in  a  strain  of  extreme  tenderness,  expostu- 
lating with  sinners,  beseeching  them,  by  the  mercies  of  God,  to  turn  from  their 
evil  ways  and  live. 

"  The  low  state  of  religion  that  prevailed  for  many  years  in  Mauch  Chunk 
greatly  grieved  him.  During  this  period,  the  plaintive  tone  of  the  weeping  prophet 
often  characterized  his  pulpit  services.  Especially  on  one  occasion  I  recollect 
how  deeply  he  was  affected.  His  heart  seemed  overwhelmed  within  him.  I  went, 
in  company  with  a  mutual  friend  of  his  and  mine,  with  a  view  of  administering 
some  word  of  comfort.  He  freely  unbosomed  to  us  his  whole  soul ;  and  truly  his 
feelings  were  such  as  could  arise  from  nothing  less  than  the  most  vivid  apprehen- 
sion of  spiritual  things,  the  value  of  the  soul,  and  the  worth  of  the  Saviour. 

"  But  we  can  gain  a  clearer  insight  into  the  heart  of  the  man  from  the  following 
Bclections  out  of  a  correspendence  stretching  over  the  whole  period  of  my  semi- 
nary life,  and  up  to  my  settlement  in  my  present  field. 

"  I  am  yours,  fraternally, 

"James  Scott." 

The  following  are  extracts  from  the  letters  of  Mr.  Wehster  referred 
to  in  Mr.  Scott's  communication.  These  specimens  of  Christian  cor- 
respondence with  a  young-  friend  are  highly  creditable  to  head  and 
heart : — 


KEV.  RICHARD    WEBSTER.  .  21 

"  The  death  of  the  excellent  Dr.  Miller  brought  to  my  mind  sensibly  the  many 
and  great  obligations  I  owe  to  him.  When  I  was  about  to  leave  the  seminary  he 
prayed  with  me,  and  parted  with  me  most  aifectionately.  I  can  never  be  thankful 
enough  to  God  for  his  mercy  to  our  beloved  church  in  sparing  him,  through  thirty- 
six  years,  to  aid  so  efficiently  in  training  her  sons  for  the  ministry.  His  venerated 
and  beloved  colleague  may  yet  live  to  see  many  of  us  go  before  him  to  the  dust. 
In  our  presbytery,  every  minister  but  Mr.  Hunt  was  trained  at  Princeton." 

"  We  have  just  closed  an  interesting  series  of  meetings  at  Nesquehoning.  The 
attendance  was  large,  regular,  and  solemn:  ten  persons  confessed  themselves 
deeply  concerned  about  their  souls.     It  was  very  encouraging." 

"  Let  nothing  hinder  you  from  taking  a  full  course  at  the  seminary.  ^Yho  is 
sufficient  for  these  things,  even  with  the  best  training  ?  Our  church  is  suffering 
with  half-educated  men.  '  Workmen  that  need  not  to  be  ashamed'  are  needed, 
greatly  needed,  in  this  day  of  lamentable  and  amazing  indifference  to  the 
means  of  grace.  In  this  place,  swarming  with  people,  I  do  not  think  more  than 
fifty  male  heads  of  families  attend  any  place  of  worship  regularly ;  while  of  the 
younger  men  a  larger  proportion  attend,  but  with  what  shocking  carelessness ! 
With  sorrow  I  say  it,  mine  is  not  a  rare  case.  Sin  reigns  triumphantly,  unto  death 
of  the  soul  as  well  as  of  the  body.  Seeing  these  things  are  so,  how  lamentable 
that  our  spirit  is  not  stirred  within  us,  as  was  Paul's  at  Athens !  There,  the  city 
was  wholly  given  to  idolatry ;  here,  the  whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness,  worship- 
ping and  serving  the  creature  rather  than  the  Creator." 

"Now,  my  dear  brother,  God  has  led  you  in  this  land  of  strangers  graciously, 
and  permitted  you  to  preach  the  gospel.  Value  highly  the  privilege,  and  magnify 
the  grace  of  God  in  counting  you  worthy  to  be  put  in  trust  with  the  ministry.  I 
have  gi'eat  confidence  in  your  faithfulness  as  a  student,  and  in  your  sincerity  as  a 
follower  of  Jesus.  Desire  much  to  be  enabled  to  do  great  things  for  him :  espe- 
cially cultivate  the  spirit  of  a  compassionate,  suffering  Saviour,  that  you  may  con- 
descend to  men  of  low  estate,  and  weep  with  them  that  weep.  Much  is  to  be  done 
in  going  from  house  to  house ;  but  it  cannot  be  done  without  the  preparation  of 
heart  which  is  from  the  Lord." 

"Have  you  made  any  arrangements  yet  as  to  your  future  field  of  labour?  I 
trust  that  you  will  remember  the  Scripture  rule  of  waiting  for  the  Lord  and  asking 
counsel  of  him.  He  sets  the  bounds  of  our  habitations,  and  opens  the  doors  of 
usefulness.  Oh,  may  he  graciously  direct  you,  and  abundantly  replenish  you  with 
the  spirit  of  piety,  with  all  saving  knowledge,  and  with  a  large  and  blessed  ex- 
perience of  the  fulness  of  Christ !     There  are  trials  and  perplexities  in  the  exer- 


22  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH    OF   THE 

cise  of  the  ministry  unexpected  and  wonderful.  Paul  prayed  to  be  delivered  from 
unreasonable  and  absurd  men  :  we  need  the  like  deliverance,  but,  to  escape  them, 
we  must  needs  go  out  of  the  world.  Hence,  there  is  nothing  of  such  unspeakable 
importance  and  infinite  comfort  as  a  childlike  trust  in  God  and  a  sincere  and 
hearty  endeavour  to  know  and  to  do  God's  will.  How  comfortable  to  be  able  to 
say,  'Lord,  all  my  desire  is  before  thee.'  'I  will  hear  what  God  the  Lord  will 
Bpeak,  for  he  will  speak  peace  to  his  people.'     '  My  times  are  in  thy  hand.' 

"You  will  feel  the  lack  of  Christian  fellowship, — no  one  to  understand  your 
motives,  to  enter  into  your  designs,  to  help  you  by  example  or  counsel,  sympathy 
or  co-operation.  How  often  will  you  be  forced  to  realize,  'All  seek  their  own ;' 
and,  judging  you  by  themselves,  they  will  attribute  all  that  you  do  to  selfish  ends, 
to  low-minded  cunning. 

"You  will  grieve  to  find  them  that  seemed  to  be  pillars  savouring  only  the 
things  that  be  of  men,  and  caring  only  for  the  things  which  perish  in  the  using. 
Even  if  you  do  not  bitterly  cry  out,  ♦  My  soul  is  among  lions,'  you  may  sufi"er  from 
being  *  in  a  dry  land  where  no  water  is.' 

"  Temptations  will  arise, — '  musing,  the  fire  burns ;  then  spoke  I  with  my 
tongue,' — as  one  weary  of  life,  weary  of  the  service  of  God: — temptations  to 
sloth,  to  discouragement,  to  self-exaltation,  unwisely  comparing  yourself  with 
others.     These  temptations  will  harden  the  heart  and  hinder  prayer. 

"Above  all  things,  be  mindful  that,  as  Christ  was  in  this  world,  so  are  you  in 
this  world.  He  said,  'Yet  I  am  not  alone;  he  that  sent  me  is  with  me.'  May  this 
be  your  comfort  too  ! 

"  Let  me  hear  from  you,  especially  as  to  what  has  presented  as  a  future  field  of 
labour. 

"I  wish  you  would,  at  some  convenient  time,  write  a  letter  to  McKillip  on  the 
subject  of  his  duty  to  his  soul.     His^irection  is  Sacramento,  California." 

"  You  probably  heard  that,  at  White  Haven,  the  fault  in  your  public  services  is 
said  to  be  that  your  prayers  and  sermons  are  too  long.  Remember  they  have 
been  used  to  different  ministrations, — short  in  length,  not  heavily  laden  with 
instruction,  and  off-hand  in  manner.  You  have  been  used  to  the  ways  of  a  well- 
trained  people,  who  waited  for  instruction,  and  who  listened  that  they  might  re- 
member. But  too  many  listen  now  only  to  be  interested  for  the  moment,  and 
never  remember,  much  less  consider,  except  it  be  some  striking  saying  or  out- 
landish expression.  'Jesus  spake  unto  them  as  they  were  able  to  bear  it.'  He 
used  similitudes,  '  and  without  a  parable  spake  he  not  unto  them.'  The  whole 
kingdom  of  nature  furnishes  analogies  to  aid  us  in  understanding  the  mysteries 
of  the  kingdom  of  grace.  So  does  the  providence  of  God  in  the  history  of  the 
past  and  the  events  of  to-day.  What  use  did  Jesus  make  of  the  news  that  Pilate 
Lad   cruelly  murdered   the   Galileans   at  the  altar?     The  tower  of   Siloam   had 


REV.  RICHARD   WEBSTER.  23 

probably  fallen  years  before;  yet  he  turns  the  remembrance  of  it  to  account. 
What  will  suit  a  mind  like  yours,  accustomed  to  the  catechisms  and  the  valuable 
teachings  of  an  aged  pastor,  will  repulse  a  mind  untutored  as  a  wild  ass's  colt. 
The  Greenlander  needs  much  pains  to  be  taken  with  him  before  he  can  be  satisfied 
with  venison  or  turkey:  to  him,  ti'ain-oil  is  at  once  a  necessity  and  a  luxury. 
Many  a  deceived  heart  feeds  on  ashes,  of  choice,  and  can  scarcely  stomach  any 
thing  else.  We  are  sent  as  physicians  to  heal  a  dying  world.  They  can  neither 
relish  nor  profit  by  the  strong  meat,  save  in  small  quantities.  Hence  the  great 
dififtculty  of  dividing  aright  the  word  of  God,  and  of  giving  to  each  man  a  portion 
in  due  season." 

"  I  am  persuaded  that  where  there  is  extreme  diffidence,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  our 

friend  at ,  no  fluency,  it  is  decidedly  a  duty  to  write  out  the  whole  sermon 

in  a  fair,  large  hand,  to  read  it  over,  so  as  to  be  entirely  familiar  with  it,  and  then 
use  it  in  the  pulpit.  This  was  the  method  of  Dr.  Green.  Mr.  Glen  uses  the  same 
method,  and  his  style  of  preaching  is  generally  and  greatly  admired.  It  is  true, 
he  has  complete  self-possession, — not  the  slightest  embarrassment;  and  it  is  our 
duty  to  cultivate  boldness  as  ambassadors  of  God.  Humility  towards  God,  and 
boldness  in  his  service,  are  related  as  cause  and  efi"ect.  There  is  a  criminal 
timidity  growing  from  want  of  faith,  forgetting  that  we  speak  '  as  though  God  did 
beseech  men  by  us.' 

"A  missionary  who  has  two  or  three  preaching-places  may  use  the  same 
sermon ;  and,  if  he  does  this  with  a  diligent  attempt  to  improve,  his  success  will 
equal  liis  desires.  Dr.  Franklin  says,  'Whitefield  never  appeared  to  such  advan- 
tage as  when  preaching  a  sermon  the  fortieth  time.'  Our  great  danger  is,  to  let 
other  things  occupy  us,  and  make  our  preaching  only  an  accessory,  not  the  main 
business.  I  rely,  dear  brother,  on  your  unfeigned  piety  to  keep  you,  in  a  great 
measure,  from  this  error." 


The  Rev.  Dr.  David  X.  Junkin,  now  of  Hollidaysburg,  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  formerly  settled  at  G-reenwich,  New  Jersey,  and  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  our  departed  brother.  The  intimacy  was  formed  at  the 
Theological  Seminary,  and  was  nurtured  by  frequent  intercourse  as  mem- 
bers of  the  same  synod.  They  were  friends  by  social  and  ecclesiastical 
ties.  Dr.  Junkin  thus  refers  to  Mr.  "Webster  in  a  communication  which 
is  copied  from  "TAe  Preshyterian :" — 

"  He  graduated  at  Union  College  in  1829,  and  at  Princeton  Theological  Semi- 
nary in  1834.  It  was  in  the  latter  place  that  the  writer  made  his  acquaintance  in 
1832.     In  the  Seminary  he  was  the  devout  and  conscientious  student,  the  cheerful 


24  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH    OF  THE 

companion,  the  consistent  Christian.  After  completing  his  seminary  course  in 
1834,  he  offered  himself,  and  was  accepted,  as  a  foreign  missionary  by  the  Ameri- 
can Board.  But  his  increasing  deafness  threatening  to  make  the  acquisition  of 
spoken  languages  difficult,  and  other  causes  having  delayed  his  departure,  he  wag 
detained  from  the  foreign  field ;  and,  with  the  promptness  and  zeal  which  ever 
characterized  him,  he  sought  one  of  equal  or  greater  toil  and  self-denial  in  his  own 
country. 

"In  the  autumn  of  1835,  he  came  to  South  Easton,  Pennsylvania,  at  the 
instance,  it  is  believed,  of  the  Hon.  J.  M.  Porter,  and  for  a  short  time  laboured  in 
that  place;  but,  the  field  not  proving  as  encouraging  as  was  hoped,  he  shortly  after- 
wards entered  the  important  field  in  which  he  wore  out  his  valuable  life  and  in 
■which  he  was  the  instrument  of  such  extensive  good. 

"  On  Sabbath,  the  1st  of  November,  1835,  the  writer,  aided  by  Piuling  Elder 
Enoch  Green,  of  Easton,  (lately  gone  to  his  rest,)  organized  the  Presbyterian 
church  of  Mauch  Chunk,  with  twenty-four  members.  On  the  4th  of  the  following 
month,  accompanied  by  Brother  Webster,  he  again  repaired  to  Mauch  Chunk, 
preached,  and  introduced  the  youthful  pastor  to  the  little  flock  that  had  so  lately 
been  gathered  in  those  mountain-gorges.  On  the  next  evening,  (Saturday,)  De- 
cember 5,  Mr.  Webster  preached  his  first  sermon  in  the  field  of  his  lift-labours ; 
and  the  next  day  (Sabbath)  the  two  classmates  administered  the  first  Lord's 
Supper  that  was  spread  in  that  congregation. 

"  From  that  time  to  the  hour — indeed,  to  the  moment — of  his  death,  he  continued 
to  preach  Christ  crucified  to  that  people,  and  at  many  other  points  in  the  Pennsyl- 
vania coal-region.  He  was  emphatically  the  apostle  of  the  coal-fields.  He  threw 
his  earnest  heart,  his  clear,  well-furnished  mind,  his  untiring  energies,  and  his 
worldly  substance,  into  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  population  of  the  mining 
region  and  towns.  With  a  slender  and  feeble  frame,  and  amid  impediments  and 
difficulties  that  would  have  deterred  most  men,  he  hoped  on  and  toiled  on,  until, 
with  God's  blessing,  his  own  immediate  flock  was  enlarged  and  became  an  im- 
portant and  efficient  church,  and  churches  were  organized  and  houses  of  worship 
reared  in  all  that  region.  He  was  indefatigable  in  preaching,  travelling,  visiting, 
corresponding,  and  introducing  and  sustaining  missionaries.  Whilst  his  own 
stipend  was  very  small,  he  relinquished  his  allowance  from  the  Board  of  Missions, 
in  order  that  it  might  be  given  to  other  labourers  in  his  favourite  mountain-field. 
Often,  like  his  Master,  did  he  travel  on  foot  to  gi'eat  distances,  over  steep  and 
rugged  roads,  to  carry  the  gospel  to  the  destitute,  and  this  without  hope  of  earthly 
reward. 

"  In  the  spring  of  1838,  ho  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Cross,  of  Baltimore, 
and,  in  a  home  of  more  than  usual  affection  and  felicity,  found  rest  aniid  his  toils, 
and  solace  in  his  trials.  A  fonder,  a  happier,  or  a  wiser  husband  and  father  the 
writer  has  rarely  known. 

"  Arduous  and  widely  extended  as  were  our  brother's  professional  labours,  he 


REV.  RICHARD    WEBSTER.  25 

found  time  for  literary  effort  and  historical  research;  and  the  columns  of  the 
Presbyterian,  the  Keic  York  Observer,  the  Watchman  of  the  South,  and  other 
journals,  were  enriched  by  his  scholarly  and  sprightly  contributions.  The 
readers  of  these  journals  will  not  soon  forget  '  K.  H.,'  the  finals  of  his  place  of 
residence. 

"  No  one  had  collected  such  rich  and  extensive  materials  for  a  history  of  Ameri- 
can Presbyterianism ;  and,  indeed,  some  of  the  histories  already  published  are 
indebted  to  his  researches  and  his  liberality  in  imparting  information.  It  is  hoped 
that  this  portion  of  his  life-labour  is  in  such  a  shape  that  it  will  not  be  lost  to  the 
church. 

"  Though  he  seldom  published,  he  not  unfrequently  wrote  in  poetry,  and  some 
of  his  unpublished  verses  are  worthy  a  place  among  the  best  productions  of  the 
American  muse. 

"Although  deprived  of  the  facility  for  social  intercourse  which  ready  hearing 
affords,  Mr.  Webster  was  nevertheless  a  favourite  in  the  social  circle.  He  was  a 
cheerful  Christian ;  and  his  extensive  reading,  his  unfailing  memory,  his  exhaust- 
less  fund  of  anecdote,  his  sparkling  wit,  his  lively  but  always  barbless  repartee,  all 
chastened  by  the  most  considerate  Christian  propriety,  gave  a  charm  to  his  con- 
versation that  made  it  ever  coveted. 

♦'  But  it  was  as  a  Christian  and  a  minister  that  he  made  his  strongest  mark  upon 
his  generation  and  will  be  most  fondly  remembered  by  his  brethren  and  his  sor- 
rowing church.  Solemn,  earnest,  ready,  sound,  scriptural,  illustrative,  terse,  and 
compact  in  style,  and  full  of  holy  unction,  his  sermons  were  always  impressive, 
and  were  largely  blessed.  In  pastoral  duties  he  was  tender  and  skilful,  and  in  ex- 
ample such  as  became  the  Christian  pastor.  His  death-bed  sermons  were  the  most 
impressive  of  his  life.  To  his  dear  ones,  to  his  mourning  people,  and  to  all  that 
approached  him,  he  most  effectively  commended,  in  dying,  that  gospel  he  had 
preached  when  living.  His  last  two  pulpit  discourses — by  a  coincidence  that 
startled  at  the  time  and  now  seems  almost  prophetic — were  from  the  texts,  'The 
cup  which  my  Father  hath  given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?'  and,  'Enoch  walked 
with  God,  and  he  was  not:  for  God  took  him.'  He  had  gone  from  the  bed  to  the 
pulpit,  and  from  the  pulpit  to  the  bed,  from  which  he  never  rose. 

"At  the  time  he  was  seized  with  his  last  illness  he  was  looking  forward  with 
desire  to  the  completion  of  the  new  and  elegant  church-edifice,  the  second  built 
during  his  pastorate ;  and  one  of  his  last  efforts  at  letter- writing  was  an  invitation 
to  the  writer  to  preach  at  the  dedication  when  it  should  be  finished.  But  he  was 
not  permitted,  in  the  body,  to  witness  the  consummation  so  dear  to  his  heart.  But 
will  he  not  witness  it  from  the  bulwarks  of  the  upper  temple? 

"  Did  your  space  permit  a  detailed  desft-iption  of  the  closing  scenes  of  this  great 
and  good  man's  life,  it  could  not  but  commend  the  blessed  gospel  to  your  readers, 
and  teach  them  how  to  die.     One  of  the  most  unselfish  men  the  writer  ever  knew, 


26  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH    OF  THE 

tliis  characteristic  was  apparent  to  the  close.  With  a  countenance  radiant  with  the 
joy  of  salvation,  and  bunie  in  triumph  upon  the  full  tide  of  the  promises,  his 
thoughts,  his  counsels,  and  his  prayers  were  employed  for  the  good  of  others,  and 
he  seemed  scarcely  to  think  of  himself.  The  tender  husband  and  father  seemed  to 
wish  to  live  for  his  dear  ones,  and  the  devoted  pastor  longed  to  labour  on  for  his 
Master ;  but  every  such  wish  was  qualified  with  the  language,  '  The  cup  that  my 
Father  giveth  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?'  '  Not  my  will,  but  thine,  bo  done.'  With 
his  children  standing,  at  his  request,  where  his  eye  could  rest  upon  them  to  the 
last,  he  prayed  for  them,  their  mother,  and  the  church,  until,  with  '  Into  thy 
hands  I  commit  my  spirit,'  he  peacefully  fell  asleep  in  Jesus. 
"  Many,  as  they  tearfully  retired  from  that  chamber,  so 

'  Privileged  beyond  the  common  walk 
Of  virtuous  life,  quite  on  the  verge  of  heaven,' 

said  that  now  thoy  better  understood  the  prayer,  '  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the 
righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his.'  " 

The  following  letter  from  one  of  his  co-labourers,  now  at  the  South, 
will  be  read  with  much  interest : — 

"Augusta,  Ga.,  September  2,  1856. 
"Rev.  C.  Van  Rensselaer: — 

"Di'.AR  Sir: — Permit  me  to  say  a  few  words  respecting  our  deceased  brother, 
the  late  Rev.  Richard  Webster,  of  Mauch  Chunk.  For  several  years  I  laboured, 
as  a  licentiate  of  Luzerne  Presbytery,  in  the  section  of  country  embracing  White- 
Haven,  Beaver  Meadow,  and  Hazleton,  and,  during  that  time,  had  much  friendly 
intercourse  with  Mr.  AVebster,  and  learned  to  love  him  as  a  brother  and  revere 
him  as  a  father.  He  frequently  administered  the  sacraments  for  me  and  aided  me 
in  pastoral  visitation ;  and  I  do  most  thankfully  acknowledge  my  deep  indebtedness 
to  his  example,  counsel,  and  Christian  sympathies.  In  the  coal-mining  region, 
comprising  Carbon  and  Schuylkill  counties  and  the  lower  portion  of  Luzerne,  he 
was  well  known  and  much  beloved  and  revered  as  a  father  in  the  gospel ;  and  it  is 
to  his  long,  self-denying  labours  and  watchful  oversight  that  the  churches  of  that 
region  owe  very  much  of  what  they  are  at  present.  I  believe  that  the  uniform  im- 
pression of  jSIr.  Webster  in  the  minds  of  the  people  is  that  of  a  most  sincere,  self- 
denying,  and  devoted  servant  of  Christ,  as  tender  and  sympathizing  a  friend  in 
sorrow  as  ever  lived,  and,  withal,  a  man  of  singular  acuteness  of  mind  and  depth 
of  character.  I  never  knew  a  man  witl>  heart  so  womanl3'  in  tenderness,  and  so 
quick  to  enter  into  sympathy  and  feel  with  the  woes  of  others.  It  was  one  of  his 
most  prominent  and  lovely  traits,  and  most  of  all  endeared  him  to  those  among 


REV.  RICHARD   WEBSTER.  27 

whom  he  laboured  as  a  pastor  and  evangelist.  His  words  were  always  full  of  com- 
fort to  the  bereaved  and  afflicted.  Although  seemingly  frail  in  body  and  of  little 
physical  strength,  he  yet  possessed  great  hardihood,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  walk- 
ing distances  of  miles,  in  all  weather,  to  fulfil  his  frequent  missionary  engage- 
ments. Wherever  he  went,  on  these  errands  of  love,  preaching  formed  but  a  small 
part  of  his  work:  *in  season  and  out  of  season,'  from  house  to  house,  he 
laboured, — instructing,  warning,  and  tenderly  admonishing  and  beseeching,  with 
all  meekness,  patience,  and  fidelity.  His  pastoral  visits  were  very  edifying.  On 
account  of  defective  hearing,  the  burden  of  conversation  fell  upon  himself;  but  he 
possessed  a  rare  facility  in  discerning,  or  learning  in  some  way,  the  true  character 
and  circumstances  of  persons  and  families,  and  in  adapting  his  discourse  to  them- 
I  have  sometimes  seen  him  plead  with  tears ;  and  his  manner,  tone  of  voice,  and 
expression  of  countenance,  at  such  times,  were  very  affecting.  Unfeigned 
humility,  springing  from  a  deep,  abiding  sense  of  his  unworthiness  and  unprofit- 
ableness, was,  as  all  who  knew  him  intimately  will  testify,  one  of  the  most  marked 
and  beautiful  features  of  our  departed  brother's  character.  Although  gifted  with 
a  rare  fund  of  humour  and  pleasantry,  which  he  freely  disbursed  among  others, 
the  habitual  seriousness  and  even  sorrowfulness  of  his  countenance  clearly 
shadowed  the  depth  and  intensity  of  his  heart-struggles  and  experiences.  More 
than  once,  in  confidential  Chi'istian  interchanges  with  him,  he  would  speak  with 
tears  of  the  unfruitfulness  of  his  ministry  and  the  unprofitableness  of  his 
Ufe. 

"Mr.  Webster's  preachinff — as  all  know  who  have  heard  him — was  singularly 
earnest,  aflFectionate,  and  evangelical. 

"Yours,  in  the  gospel, 

"John  F.  Baker." 

The  Rev.  Andrew  B.  Cross,  the  brother-in-law  and  intimate  friend 
of  Mr.  Webster,  was  called  upon,  in  providence,  to  preach  his  funeral 
sermon.  This  excellent  discourse  has  been  printed  in  pamphlet  form; 
and,  had  there  been,  room,  the  whole  of  it  would  have  been  published 
in  this  Preface  to  the  History.  The  delineations  of  character  are  re- 
markably well  drawn,  and  are  not  p?;erdrawn.  The  account  of  the  last 
hours  of  our  beloved  brother  in  the  Lord  is  particularly  interesting  and 
edifying.  The  reader  will  find  the  whole  worthy  of  his  attentive  pe- 
rusal:— 

"The  knowledge  I  have  of  your  late  pastor  commenced  twenty-four  years  since, 
when  we  entered  together  upon  our  theological  studies,  and  has  continued  until  his 
death,  in  an  intimacy  and  familiarity  which  rarely  happen.     During  aU  this  period 


28  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH   OF  THE 

nothing  ever  interrupted  our  friendship.  To  his  life  I  could  bear  witness.  But  I 
am  forbidden  by  his  dying  direction;  and  you  know,  from  his  humble,  modest,  diffi- 
dent life,  ho  would  not  allow  me  to  say  any  thing  which  might  appear  flattery  con- 
cerning him.  If  be  were  present  he  would  say,  Preach  plainly  and  practically  to 
the  people. 

"  What  can  be  more  practical  than  to  call  upon  you  to  bear  witness  to  his  ministry  ? 
— to  call  up  to  your  recollection  his  life,  his  labours,  his  prayers  among  you  and  for 
you,  and  to  remind  you  that  you  are  witnesses  to  these?  Not  only  you  who  were 
the  members  of  his  church,  but  the  people  of  this  town,  of  the  country  around,  the 
many  congregations  to  which  he  so  often  and  so  earnestly  preached  the  gospel, — y« 
all  are  witnesses. 

"lie  strove  to  preach  the  gospel  to  even/  one  of  you.  Instant  in  season  and  out 
of  season,  he  warned,  exhorted,  charged,  and  comforted  you  in  the  spirit  and  with 
the  love  of  a  father.  On  his  death-bed  he  expressed  his  anxiety  to  live  to  a  certain 
houi',  that  he  might  see  a  man  who  had  neglected  attending  the  sanctuary,  and  to 
beg  him  to  attend,  that,  if  any  thing  in  him  had  hindered,  that  cause  would  now  be 
removed.  God  spared  him  to  see  him,  and  from  his  dying  lips  did  speak  to  him. 
Could  any  thing  but  the  sincerest  love  for  the  soul  of  a  man  move  him  at  such  an 
hour  ?  And  yet  this  was  only  an  exhibition  of  the  tender  and  faithful  spirit  which, 
during  his  ministry,  sought  thus  to  deal  faithfully  with  the  soiils  of  his  flock,  and 
any  whom  the  providence  of  God  placed  in  his  way. 

"While  he  sought  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every  one  of  you,  he  did  not  cease  to 
remember  every  one  of  you  in  his  prayers  before  God.  I  doubt  if  there  be  an  indi- 
vidual among  all  his  people,  or  among  all  his  friends,  whose  particular  case,  with 
all  its  attendant  difficulties,  he  has  not  made  the  subject  of  special  prayer  to  God. 
Are  there  not  among  you,  parents,  many  parents  who  do  not  pray  for  yourselves 
and  your  children,  on  whose  behalf  he  has  often  wrestled  with  God,  and  who  have 
been  a  burden  on  his  heart  so  great  that  he  has  been  ready  to  sink  under  it?  (Read 
his  sermon,  'A  Word  to  Fathers,'  preached  in  this  church  January  8, 18oi.)  He 
is  here  no  more  to  preach  or  to  pray.  But  if  you  perish,  and  if  your  childi-cn  go 
down  to  hell,  it  will  be  against  his  warnings,  entreaties,  and  prayers.  I  mention 
his  prayers  for  you  because  they  were  remarkable  for  their  earnestness,  particu-' 
larity,  and  tenderness.  He  seemed  to  make  every  case  his  own  for  which  he  was 
praying.  In  the  house  of  mourning,  amid  the  afflicted  and  bereaved,  he  will  not 
soon  be  forgotten.  His  tender  and  sympathizing  heart  led  him  to  seek  out  such,  to 
minister  to  them  the  consolation  of  the  gospel. 

"The  house  of  mourning  and  affliction  were  never  passed  when  it  was  in  his  power 
to  visit  them.  This  was  not  confined  to  his  own  congregation,  or  this  town,  or  the 
churches  of  your  vicinity.  His  letters  of  condolence  went  far  and  wide,  whenever 
the  hand  of  God  was  laid  upon  one  that  he  knew.  The  tenderness  of  his  heart 
towards  the  afflicted  I  need  not  call  up  to  you  who  have  for  many  years  known  and 


REV.  RICHARD   WEBSTER.  29 

felt  it.  He  came  as  the  minister  of  Jesus,  and  brought  you  the  consolation  of  the 
gospel, — the  ti'ue  balm  of  healing  and  consolation, 

"You  had  his  whole  ministerial  life.  Ye  are  witnesses.  God  also  made  him  a  wit- 
ness among  you,  and  his  testimony  is  on  record  in  the  high  court  of  our  King. 
Soon  you  will  meet  him  to  hear  his  testimony.  I  call  upon  you  to-day  to  remember 
and  profit  by  it.  Take  heed  to  it.  His  voice,  which  so  often  warned  and  testified, 
is  now  silent.  Lay  up  his  instructions  in  your  memories ;  meditate  upon  them. 
May  God  quicken  your  consciences  to  apply  them !  Walk  with  God,  and  you  shall 
meet  him  with  joy  before  your  Father  in  heaven. 

•'  Rev.  Richard  Webster  was  born  at  Albany,  New  York,  Julyl4,  1811 ;  was  the 
youngest  child  of  Charles  R.  Webster  and  Cynthia  Steele,  of  that  place ;  died  at 
Mauch  Chunk,  Pennsylvania,  Thursday  morning,  June  19,  1856,  at  a  few  minutes 
before  twelve  o'clock,  leaving  a  wife  and  six  children.  At  his  death  he  wanted  only 
twenty-five  days  of  being  forty-five  years  of  age. 

"  He  graduated  at  Union  College  in  1829,  at  Princeton  Theological  Seminary  ia 
1834.  On  leaving  the  Seminary  he  designed  entering  the  foreign  missionary  field, 
and  was,  on  September  2,  1834,  designated  by  the  Committee  of  the  American 
Board  to  the  '  Mahratta  Mission.'  A  difficulty  delayed  his  sailing,  which  gave  him 
pain  at  the  time,  but  was  cleared  up  satisfactorily  and  greatly  to  his  honour.  God 
had  work  for  him  in  another  field  not  less  laborious  or  self-denying,  in  which  he 
was  to  do  much  for  his  Master's  glory.  He  was  ordained  an  evangelist,  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Albany,  April  29,  1835.  He  was  soon  engaged  as  a  missionary  at 
South  Easton,  Pennsylvania,  and  there  commenced  a  work,  which,  through  many 
changes  and  difficulties,  has  grown  into  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church.  From 
this  place  he  extended  his  labours  to  Mauch  Chunk,  thirty-six  to  forty  miles  north- 
west from  Easton,  on  the  Lehigh  River.  At  this  point,  a  few  years  before,  coal- 
mines had  been  opened :  there,  and  in  the  vicinity,  had  collected  a  population  of 
about  two  thousand  persons.  He  commenced,  in  1885,  preaching  there  once  a 
month,  and  missionating  in  the  vicinity.  His  labours  were  so  successful  that,  by 
the  spring  of  1836,  there  had  been  a  church  organized,  a  lot  secured,  and  part 
of  the  money  promised  towards  building  a  church,  which  was  afterwards  erected, 
and  dedicated  February,  1837.  He  commenced,  in  April,  to  preach  one-fourth  of 
his  time  at  Summit  Hill,  nine  miles  west ;  was  installed  pastor  at  Mauch  Chunk 
in  July,  1837.  From  January,  1843,  he  gave  up  the  other  places,  and  preached 
regularly  at  Mauch  Chunk.  But  then,  as  before,  he  preached  during  the  week  in 
the  adjacent  villages,  and  visited  the  people.  The  amount  of  these  labours  and 
his  self-denial  cannot  be  well  estimated  by  any  one  who  is  not  familiar  with  the 
rapid  growth  and  great  necessity  for  preaching  in  the  coal-regions,  embracing  parts 
of  Berks,  Lehigh,  Northampton,  Luzerne,  Columbia,  and  Schuylkill  counties,  and 
the  zeal  with  which  he  laboured  to  carry  the  gospel  to  them. 

"At  his  instance  the  General  Assembly  was  memorialized,  and,  in  May,  1843, 


839  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH   OF  THE 

constituted  the  Presbytery  of  Luzerne.  The  great  ohject  of  this  presbytery  was  to 
take  chiirge  of  this  missionary-field.  By  appointment  of  the  Assembly  he  opened 
the  presbytery  with  a  sermon.  He  was  considered  not  only  the  father  of  the  pres- 
bytei-y,  but  was  looked  up  to  as  a  father  by  the  ministry  and  churches  in  all  that 
vicinity. 

"In  a  letter  from  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  this  presbytery,  he  remarks  that, 
for  information  and  counsel  by  his  brethren,  none  of  our  ministers  would  be  missed 
as  much,  excepting  some  of  the  older  professors  in  our  seminaries.  '  He  was  a 
model  for  a  member  of  presbytery,'  said  another  member. 

*'  His  ministerial  life  was  abundant  in  labours,  not  sparing  himself.  Gifted  by 
God  with  great  clearness  of  mind,  a  wonderful  facility  in  acquiring  knowledge,  an 
exceedingly  tenacious  memory,  a  diligence  and  application  which  knew  no  cessa- 
tion, he  was  familiar  with  almost  every  subject  connected  with  the  church :  with  a 
faculty  for,  and  promptness  in,  communicating  information,  he  was  a  most  enter- 
taining and  instructive  companion. 

"Among  the  incidental  labours  of  the  years  of  his  ministry  was  a  constant  con- 
tribution to  the  religious  press.  Few  men  who  were  not  regularly  in  the  editorial 
chair  wrote  more.  But  most  of  this  period  he  gave  the  strength  of  a  mind,  which 
seemed  to  have  been  constituted  by  God  for  the  work,  to  gathering  up  and  pre- 
paring for  publication  what  could  be  found  of  the  early  history  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  in  the  United  States,  and  the  lives  of  her  early  ministers.  In  the  prose- 
cution of  this  work  he  became  the  repository  of  almost  every  thing  that  could  be 
collected  in  connection  with  them.  Since  the  effort  has  commenced  among  the 
churches  to  prepare  histories  of  their  early  settlement  and  organization,  he  has 
been  called  upon  continually  for  a  history  of  some  churcli  or  preacher,  and,  from 
his  generous  disposition,  he  has  been  taxed  with  writing  almost  weekly  such 
sketches  and  histories,  many  of  which  have  appeared  in  the  historical  sermons 
preached  and  published  by  pastors.  In  the  histories  of  the  church  in  different 
States,  published  within  a  few  years,  large  contributions  have  been  furnished  by 
him,  in  addition  to  the  numerous  articles  contributed  on  this  subject  to  the  reli- 
gious press  of  our  own  church. 

"  The  '  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,'  to  which  he  had  devoted  so  much 
time  and  attention,  and  which  has  been  looked  for  with  so  much  anxiety,  happily 
for  the  church,  had  so  far  reached  its  completion  as  to  be  in  readiness  for  publica- 
tion, and,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Historical  Society,  was  about  being  placed  in 
the  printer's  bands  a  few  weeks  before  his  decease. 

"  He  prepared,  at  the  request  of  the  Board  of  Publication,  'A  Digest  of  the  Acts 
of  the  Assembly,'  which  is  a  most  valuable  book  of  reference  in  our  church  judica- 
tories. 

"  The  field  to  which  he  had  given  his  regular  labours  for  twenty-one  years  was 
the  congregation  collected  at  Mauch  Chunk.     There  he  had  been  greatly  blessed  in 


REV.  RICHARD   WEBSTER.  31 

collecting  and  gathering  into  the  fold  of  the  Great  Shepherd  many  sonls,  who  will 
hail  him  with  joy  before  the  throne  as  their  father  in  the  gospel  of  Christ.  The 
congregation  had  gradually  so  increased,  notwithstanding  deaths  and  the  nume- 
rous changes  incident  to  such  a  population,  that  persons  could  not  obtain  sittings. 
Dui-ing  the  past  year  another  lot  was  procured,  and  a  large,  comfortable  house, 
of  fifty  feet  long  by  eighty-five  feet  wide,  has  been  erected :  in  a  few  weeks  the 
basement  will  be  in  readiness  for  preaching. 

"  He  was  a  most  laborious  preacher  and  an  indefatigable  pastor.  Such  was  his 
promptness  and  vigilance  that  no  part  of  his  field  was  neglected  or  escaped  his 
oversight.  With  his  delicate  frame,  and  the  heavy  calamity  of  his  deafness,  it 
was  always  the  wonder  of  his  friends  and  people  how  he  could  perform  the  amount 
of  service  which  he  so  regularly  rendered.  At  the  same  time,  while  he  suffered 
nothing  to  hinder  his  preaching  to  his  own  people,  his  labours  among  his  brethren  in 
the  congregations  around  were  abundant.  In  a  letter,  of  December,  he  said,  '  Last 
week  I  preached  five  times  for  Brother  Irwin  at  Catasaqua  ;  last  month  three  times 
for  Brother  Gaston,  besides  a  Sabbath.  In  September,  I  preached  ten  times  for 
my  brethren  in  eight  days.'  These  are  specimens  of  labour  extra  from  his  own 
people,  and  yet  he  did  not  seem  to  feel  he  was  doing  any  thing.  His  labours  were 
unto  the  last.  After  his  first  attack,  which  was  severe,  he  preached  twice  to  his 
own  people.  On  the  last  Sabbath,  he  got  out  of  his  bed,  and  went  into  the  church, 
and  preached  from  the  words,  '  Enoch  walked  with  God,  and  he  was  not ;  for  God 
took  him.'  As  he  closed  his  sermon  with  the  prayer  that  both  pastor  and  people 
might  so  live  that,  when  they  came  to  die,  it  might  be  said  of  them  with  truth,  they 
had  walked  with  God,  many  of  the  congregation  thought,  and  some  of  them  re- 
marked, that  he  seemed  as  if  he  was  preaching  his  last  sermon. 

"  He  went  from  his  pulpit  back  to  his  bed.  A  week  after  he  had  another  attack, 
in  which  he  suffered  violent  pains  and  was  left  greatly  prostrate ;  but  his  physician 
hoped,  under  proper  treatment,  he  might  recover. 

"  He  was  down-stairs  two  or  three  times  on  Monday,  June  16,  walked  about 
the  yard,  and  wanted  to  fix  a  number  of  little  things ;  took  tea  with  his  family. 
Tuesday,  he  was  not  so  well,  lay  in  bed,  but  read  the  newspapers  and  letters  of  cor- 
respondents, and  wrote.  On  Wednesday  afternoon,  (18th,)  when  the  papers  were 
brought,  he  felt  so  weak  that  he  told  them  he  did  not  wish  them,  and  only  glanced 
over  a  letter  which  had  come.  The  doctor  observed  his  pulse  was  very  rapid  and 
weak,  and  concluded  to  spend  the  night  with  him.  About  twelve  o'clock,  he  felt 
his  pulse ;  on  noticing  which,  he  asked  the  doctor  if  there  was  any  prospect  of  im- 
mediate death.  'I  should  like  to  know  if  there  is.'  The  slate  was  handed,  and 
on  it  was  written,  he  'might  live  a  few  hours,  perhaps  less.'  On  reading  it  he  re- 
marked, '  This  is  sudden;  I  did  not  expect  it:  but,  blessed  be  God  !  I  have  no  pre- 
paration to  make.  That  was  made  long  ago.  I  have  renewed  it  daily ;  I  am  a 
sinner,  I  have  had  my  faults ;  but  I  have  trusted  in  the  righteousness  of  my  blessed 


82  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH    OF   THE 

Saviour ;  I  throw  myself  upon  him  :  I  trust  I  have  the  forgiveness  of  my  God.'  '  I 
wish  heartily  to  forgive  every  one;'  'give  my  love  to  all.'  'I  have  often  admired 
^  the  dying  sayings  of  Samuel  Blair  and  Jonathan  Edwards,'  repeating  them,  'and 
V  that  of  John  Breckenridge, — God  is  with  me.'  'And  it  is  mine :  not  a  cloud,  not  a 
fear, — entire  trust  in  my  Saviour.  I  did  not  expect  this;  but  thanks  be  to  God  for 
fsuch  a  death!  Can  it  be  that  it  is  death?  Is  not  the  doctor  mistaken?  I  had  no 
Buch  thought.'  On  the  head  being  shaken  to  say  that  there  was  no  mistake,  he 
Baid,  '  It  is  such  a  death  as  I  never  knew  of:'  '  not  a  pain,  no  weakness;  my  facul- 
ties are  all  as  usual.'  '  Thank  God,  no  one  could  be  more  kindly  dealt  with  ;  it  is 
not  only  without  a  terror  it  comes,  but  it  is  sweet :  can  it  be  death  ?  I  thank  God 
my  body  is  not  racked  with  pain,  that  I  have  the  perfect  use  of  my  senses,  that  I 
was  early  called  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Saviour,  that  he  permitted  me  the  honour 
of  preaching  his  name.  Oh,  how  I  have  loved  to  preach  it !  I  can  bless  God,  my 
times  are  in  thy  hand.' 

"About  half-past  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he  requested  that  his  children 
should  be  awakened,  to  see  him  and  bid  him  farewell,  as  he  might  not  live  until 
daylight.  When  they  came  he  embraced  them,  kissed  each  of  them,  prayed  for 
them,  which  he  did  several  times.  He  gave  directions  about  things  of  his  house 
and  family,  his  funeral,  who  should  preach,  his  burial,  avoiding  all  show,  and  men- 
tioned friends  to  whom  he  wished  letters  to  be  written.  He  said  he  would  like  to 
live  for  his  family  and  the  church ;  lamented  the  vacancies,  need  of  ministers  for 
the  missionary-fields.  '  Oh,  how  I  love  the  cause  of  missions !'  'I  am  comfortable 
It  seems  impossible  that  I  am  drawing  near  to  death.  I  can  well  pity  the  poor 
sinner,  drawing  near  his  end,  and  so  little  in  the  circumstances  to  aid  in  his  pre- 
paration. My  voice  and  words  fail  me  to  express  the  trust  I  have  in  God.'  'I 
would  like  to  say  to  the  impenitent,  sickness  is  no  time  to  prepare  to  meet  God ; 
when  there  is  a  sinking  of  all  the  faculties,  it  is  hard  to  do  any  thing,  hard  to  enter 
in  at  the  strait  gate,  hard  to  find  the  narrow  way.'  '  If  this  be  death,  it  approaches 
with  tender,  gentle,  loving  embrace ;  I  feel  no  pain,  no  apprehension.  I  look  for- 
ward with  joy  to  meeting  my  Saviour,  with  perfect  calmness  of  mind,  and  assur- 
ance of  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  upon  myself,  my  wife,  my  family,  my  friends,  and 
the  church  of  God.'  '  If  I  have  been  deceived  all  my  life,  I  now  come,  at  the  \ 
eleventh  hour,  and  put  my  trust  in  the  Saviour,  hoping  in  his  mercy,  confessing 
my  sins,  and  acknowledging  his  mercy,  which  has  been  with  me  always.  Into  thy 
hands  I  commend  my  spirit:  thou  hast  redeemed  me.  His  I  am,  and  him  I  serve.' 
He  repeated  the  hymn,  'Lord,  I  am  thine,  entirely  thine,'  to  the  line,  'And  con- 
secrate to  thee  my  all :'  then  added,  '  Blessed  be  God,  this  is  not  a  new  work,  not  a 
thing  taken  up  to-day  or  yesterday!' 

"  Speaking  of  his  people,  he  said,  ♦  May  God  be  with  them!  I  loved  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  them;  I  thank  God  for  permitting  me  to  preach  it  to  one  people.'  He 
had  a  horror  of  pastoral  changes.     '  He  thought  he  had  not  been  altogether  un- 


REV.  RICHARD   WEBSTER.  33 

faithful,  but  had  come  very  short.'  '  How  strange  the  deceitfulness  of  things  I  I 
feel  that  I  might  get  up  in  a  few  minutes  as  weU  as  any  of  the  children.'  '  Truly, 
man  walketh  in  a  vain  show.' 

'  "  Speaking  to  his  family,  he  said,  '  I  love  you,  my  wife  and  children ;  I  have  no 
breath,  or  I  would  tell  you — but  words  cannot  tell  you — how  much  I  love  you. 
This  is  a  great  trial.  How  little  we  expected  it  yesterday !  How  differently  we 
would  have  spent  yesterday  and  last  night  if  we  had  known  it!'  ■*  The  cup  which 
my  Father  hath  given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?  Thy  will  be  done.  Father,  into  thy 
hands  I  commit  my  spirit.'  'Though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death,  I  will  fear  no  evil;  thy  rod  and  staff  comfort  me.'  '  I  have  not  been  faith- 
ful enough  with  my  children,  and  yet  I  have  tried  in  some  measure  to  bring  them 
up  for  God.'  '  He  has  promised  to  be  a  Father  to  the  fatherless,  a  God  to  the 
widow.  How  dear  is  every  one  of  you  to  me!  Oh,  how  hard  to  part!'  •! 
would  like,  when  death  approaches,  for  all  to  leave  me  but  my  own  family, 
that  we  may  have  a  calm,  quiet,  pleasant  committing  of  ourselves  into  God's 
hands.' 

"  He  continued  to  read  what  was  written  on  the  slate  until  within  a  few  minutes 
before  he  died,  when  he  told  them  to  put  it  away, — that  he  was  so  weak  it  was  too 
great  exertion  for  him  to  read.  At  that  time  his  pulse  had  ceased  in  one  of  his 
wrists,  and  nearly  in  the  other.  A  very  short  time  before  this  he  said  to  his  wife 
that  his  hands  were  cold,  and  asked  her  to  rub  them ;  and,  while  she  and  his  oldest 
child  were  rubbing  them,  he  remarked  about  his  mistake  of  the  coldness.  '  He  did 
not  think.'  « It  was  death.'  And  so  quietly  and  gently  did  he  pass  away,  that 
those  around  did  not  perceive  it  until  the  doctor  said,  '  He  is  gone.' 

"  These  gathered  thoughts  from  his  death-bed  have  been  saved  from  the  many 
things  said  by  him  during  that  period,  through  the  recollection  of  some  that  stood 
by  him.  Very  much  that  he  said  has  escaped.  During  the  morning,  when  it  was 
known  that  he  was  dying,  his  room  was  filled  with  friends  and  members  of  the  con- 
gregation, who  wanted  to  hear  the  last  word  or  take  the  last  look  at  one  who  had 
BO  long  been  identified  with  them.  All  his  sayings  bore  the  correct,  concise,  and 
pointed  marks  of  his  mind.  Without  wandering,  or  wavering,  or  hesitating,  he 
continued  his  utterances  as  long  as  his  strength  permitted.  His  tongue  had 
Bcarcely  ceased  to  utter  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  to  his  people  and  family  until  it 
was  animated  with  new  energy  in  the  presence  of  his  Saviour. 

"  How  glorious  and  blessed  the  change !  He — who  for  years  had  not  heard 
the  sound  of  his  own  voice,  or  of  one  of  his  own  children,  or  the  voice  of  the  con- 
gregation to  whom  he  preached,  when  they  sang  praise  to  God — has  awaked  amid 
the  company  of  the  redeemed,  to  tune  his  harp  and  lift  up  his  voice,  and  hear  the 
Bongs  of  the  redeemed,  as  they  give  glory  and  honour  to  the  Saviour  whom  he  so 
loved  and  sought  to  honour  on  earth. 

3 


34  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH   OF   THE 

"  '  Oh  for  the  death  of  those 

Who  slumber  in  the  Lord! 

Oh  be  like  theirs  my  last  repose, 

Like  theirs  my  last  reward  I' 

"Added  to  the  life  and  labours,  you  have  had  the  death,  of  your  pastor.  A  life 
of  devotedness  to  God, — ^ripened  and  completed  in  your  midst, — with  a  calm,  quiet, 
peaceful,  hopeful,  and  blessed  death. 

"  May  his  death  be  more  blessed  to  all  of  you  than  the  labours  and  example 
of  his  life  have  been !  May  you,  ■who  have  been  the  objects  of  his  prayers,  and 
■warnings,  and  entreaties,  flee  to  that  Saviour  whom  he  so  often,  so  earnestly,  and 
BO  tenderly  besought  you  to  embrace  I  Make  him  the  end  of  your  conversation. 
May  God,  in  his  great  mercy  and  grace,  give  each  one  of  us  the  wisdom  and  the 
grace  to  live  the  remainder  of  our  days  in  his  service,  and,  when  they  are  ended, 
may  we  in  peace  enter  into  our  rest!" 

The  follo'wing  interesting  letter  from  Mrs.  Webster,  the  respected 
widow  of  the  departed  servant  of  Christ  ■whose  life  it  is  my  aim  to  illus- 
trate as  fully  as  possible  in  a  brief  space,  is  here  introduced,  •with  the 
advice  of  some  of  my  personal  friends  whom  I  consulted.  Although  the 
letter  was  written  simply  to  furnish  materials  for  the  compilation  of  a 
biographical  sketch,  and  not  for  publication  by  itself,  yet  I  have  assumed 
the  responsibility  of  inserting  it  entire,  for  reasons  which,  I  trust,  the 
reader  will  appreciate  on  a  perusal.  It  was  a  point  of  great  delicacy; 
and,  if  I  have  offended  propriety  by  the  course  adopted,  I  throw  myself 
upon  the  indulgence  of  the  publicc— *• 

••  Mauch  Chunk,  July  28,  1856. 

•'  Rev.  C.  Van  Rensselaer,  D.D.  : — 

"  Dear  Sir  : — I  feel  very  grateful  for  your  kind  letter,  and  far  more  indebted  to 
you  for  the  interest  manifested  in  regard  to  my  dear  husband's  book  than  words 
can  express :  if  there  were  any  way  to  lessen  your  care  and  trouble  with  it  I  should 
be  very  glad  to  know  of  it,  and  would  cheerfully  incur  the  additional  expense; 
and  may  I  hope  that  you  will  do  no  more  personally  than  is  absolutely  indis- 
pensable? The  terms  of  the  agreement  appear  to  me  fair  and  liberal :  profit  I  do 
not  expect,  though  I  should  deeply  regret  Mr.  Wilson  losing  in  any  way  by  it. 

"  There  appears  to  be  something  of  an  impression  that  Mr.  Webster's  great  anti- 
quarian tastes,  &c.,  combined  with  his  deafness,  rendered  him  almost  unfit  for 
other  labours.  But  it  is  a  very  great  mistake  indeed :  the  business  of  his  life  was 
to  labour  faithfully,  earnestly,  and  amid  much  fatigue  and  discouragements,  in  the 


REV.  RICHARD  WEBSTER.  35 

service  of  lu8  Master.  Every  thing  else  was  subordinate.  He  had  literary  and 
antiquarian  tastes,  but  they  were  gratified  only  in  fragments  of  time,  redeemed,  I 
may  say,  by  his  unfeiling  industry.  His  correspondence  was  large.  He  had 
many  calls  to  prepare  obituary  notices  and  many  other  such  small  things,  which 
were  promptly  attended  to.  His  sessional  and  presbytery  books  were  carefully 
kept, — the  entries  of  the  last  meetings  all  neatly  recorded.  He  was  always  ready 
to  prepare  a  New  Year's  Address,  &c. ;  but  his  chief  work  was  never  neglected. 
He  mourned  over  his  deafness,  and  yet  visited  as  faithfully,  embraced  every  oppor- 
tunity for  saying  a  'word  in  season,'  and  was  as  welcome  and  his  society  as  much 
desired  as  that  of  any  pastor.  His  preparation  for  the  pulpit  was  extremely 
careful.  He  delighted  in  his  work.  The  time  passed  unconsciously  while  in  his 
study, — often  saying,  when  sent  for  to  dinner,  that  he  '  had  not  thought  the  morn- 
ing half  spent,'  so  busy  had  he  been.  His  rule  was  to  visit  every  family  before 
each  communion-season ;  and  I  scarcely  remember  an  instance  of  social  visiting 
that  was  not  closed  with  prayer.  And  here  suffer  me  to  say,  he  was  peculiarly  a 
man  of  prayer:  he  did  not  require  solitude,  on  account  of  his  deafness;  the  closing 
of  his  eyes,  or  the  hand  placed  over  them,  was  enough;  and  our  little  ones  often 
slipped  out  of  the  room  when  they  saw  it,  leaving  him  alone.  But  not  only  thus : 
as  he  attended  to  his  flowers,  as  he  walked  the  streets,  as  he  travelled,  and  as  he 
often  sat  in  the  social  circle,  hearing  nothing,  his  heart  was  lifted  up  in  prayer. 
No  one  can  imagine  the  holy,  devotional  spirit  in  which  his  days  were  passed.  I 
saw  and  felt  it;  and  almost  the  only  feelings  of  alarm  and  fear  for  his  recovery, 
during  his  illness,  proceeded  from  this  very  feeling.  I  saw,  as  plainly  as  I  saw  his 
face,  the  wonderful  growth  in  spirituality  and  heavenly-mindedness ;  and,  as  I  sat 
by  his  bedside,  the  thought  would  come  unbidden,  '  Has  all  this  manifest  growth  in 
grace  been  the  preparation  for  his  end?'  Many  of  our  people  have  remarked  to 
me,  since  his  death,  that  they  had  felt  the  same.  His  preaching,  especially  on 
Wednesday's  lecture,  had  so  much  of  heaven, — so  much  as  though  the  glories  of  it 
were  already  objects  of  sight, — so  much  holy  joy  in  dwelling  on  the  glory  to  be 
revealed, — that,  among  themselves,  several  had  remarked,  they  feared  their 
minister  was  soon  to  finish  his  work,  and,  while  he  and  I  were  looking  forward  to 
his  recovery,  many  of  them  scarcely  ventured  to  hope  for  it.  At  our  late  com- 
munion-seasons I  have  almost  trembled :  he  seemed  so  nearly  done  with  emblems, 
80  nearly  drinking  of  the  '  wine  new  in  the  kingdom  of  his  Father.'  I  hope  I  am 
grateful  for  the  mercy  of  such  an  abundant  preparation  ;  but  the  loss  to  myself — 
to  his  poor  children — is  not  lessened.  We  have  lost  his  holy  example,  and  his 
prayers,  which  were  almost  unceasing  for  us. 

"  He  repeated  to  me,  after  his  last  visit  to  Philadelphia,  your  prediction, 
smiled  incredulously,  and,  I  think,  the  subject  was  never  mentioned  by  him  again, 
and  scarcely  thought  of,  most  likely. 

*'  The  Thursday  after  his  return  he  was  taken  violently  ill.     After  a  few  days  he 


36  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH   OF  THE 

rallied,  and  was  able  to  take  short  rides  in  about  a  week,  improving  slowly.  He 
preached  twice  between  the  two  severe  attacks.  From  the  last  he  recovered 
slowly;  and  when  from  many  of  his  symptoms  we  feared  another,  came  the  sleep- 
lessness, the  sinking  and  the  exhaustion,  and  the  end,  so  unexpected,  that  it  seemed 
hard  for  either  of  us  to  believe  that  it  was  death.  Again  and  again  I  asked  the 
doctor  if  it  were  not  possible  he  was  mistaken.  He  referred  me  to  the  imper- 
ceptible pulse,  but  added,  all  else  was  as  new  to  him  as  to  me.  He  had  seen  death 
in  many  forms,  but  this  diflFered  from  all  that  he  had  ever  imagined.  To  him,  it 
seemed  like  one  preparing  for  sleep  and  leaving  directions  to  be  attended  to  during 
the  time.  He  had  feared  from  the  first,  not  from  the  violence  of  the  disease,  but 
from  the  worn-out  state  of  the  system.  He  considered  him  the  most  cheerful  and 
patient  sick  person  he  ever  saw.  He  was  grateful  for  every  attention,  perfectly 
satisfied  to  do  what  we  thought  best. 

«'  The  Sabbath  was  to  him  ever  a  delight.  He  rose  earlier  than  on  other  days^ 
and,  oh,  how  we  miss  his  cheerful  greeting  on  that  holy  day, — his  morning  prayer, 
so  full  of  praise  and  thanksgiving, — the  holy  cheerfulness  that  characterized  his 
appearance  during  the  interval  of  worship ;  and  then,  when  the  labours  of  the  day 
were  over,  and  we  sat  down,  alone,  to  talk  them  over,  and  as  I  saw  the  solemnity, 
and  especially  the  mourning  over  our  young  people,  who  seemed  so  careless,  so 
kind,  and  so  attached  to  him,  and  yet  slighting  his  message,  I  have  often  thought 
that,  could  those  who  think  the  pastor's  duties  easily  performed  have  seen  the 
sickness  of  heart,  the  failing  of  spirit,  and  almost  the  giving  up  of  hope,  they  would 
have  changed  their  opinion. 

"  From  the  commencement  of  his  ministry  until  about  a  year  since  he  preached 
regularly  three  times  a  day :  this  past  year  he  has  not  more  than  half  the  time. 

"  My  brother  has  fallen — I  know  not  how — into  the  strange  mistake  of  sup- 
posing that  he  did  not  hear  his  voice.  He  again  and  again  told  me  that  he  did. 
And  as  to  our  children,  it  was  their  delight  to  talk  to  him  and  ask  questions.  Our 
voices  reached  his  ear  easily.  Of  course,  he  lost  all  general  conversation ;  but  all 
our  family  matters — all  that  interested  us — was  told  him  as  a  matter  of  course. 
I  always  encouraged  it  in  the  children,  for  his  sake  as  well  as  theirs ;  and  none  but 
ourselves  know  the  cheerful,  sprightly,  interesting,  and  pious  spirit  which  threw 
such  a  charm  around  our  home, — with  what  delight  he  returned,  after  his  frequent 
absences,  forgetting  the  weariness  and  fatigue  in  the  comfort  of  being  again  with 
ns;  and,  to  the  very  last  days  of  his  life,  as  our  boys  returned  from  school,  he 
"was  interested  in  their  lessons  and  in  hearing  the  little  things  they  had  to 
relate. 

«'  He  had  his  books  and  papers  gathered  around  his  sick-bed ;  for  there  he  spent 
nearly  all  the  time,  on  account  of  weakness.  He  had  sent  for  '  Dr.  Hodge's 
Ephesians:'  it  came  while  he  was  sick.  He  read  it  carefully,  comparing  the  notes 
■which  he  had  taken  when  at  Princeton.     And  in  bed  he  copied  what  is  done  of 


KEV.  RICHARD  WEBSTER.  37 

President  Davies's  letters, — wrote  letters,  even  on  the  Monday  before  his  death, 
relating  to  a  vacancy  in  our  bounds,  &c.  His  Bible  was  always  beside  him.  He 
requested  me,  one  day,  to  read  some  of  the  closing  chapters  in  'Alexander's 
Isaiah,'  saying  he  had  just  reread  them  with  so  much  comfort.  He  said  he  had 
Beveral  sermons  all  thought  out,  and  only  waited  for  strength  to  write  them.  He 
pointed  out  Isaiah  xxxviii.  19  as  the  first  one  he  wished  to  preach  after  his  re- 
covery,— having  felt  in  what  peril  of  life  he  had  been,  and  how  his  heart  over- 
flowed with  thankfulness,  thinking  the  danger  was  past.  Hebrews  xiii.  7,  last 
clause,  was  another.  His  interlined  Greek  Testament  was  always  at  hand. 
The  word  of  God  was  to  him  an  unfailing  delight,  reading  almost  with 
rapture. 

"  There  were  none  present  in  that  hallowed  chamber  of  death  who  can  do  justice 
to  the  scene.  No  words  can  express  the  holy  composure,  the  strong  desire  for  life, 
the  clinging  to  us  with  an  intensity  of  aifection.  He  said  that  words  could  not 
tell  the  longing  desire  to  labour  for  souls,  and  yet  the  loveliest  spirit  of  submission, 
all  indicating  that  he  was  not  alone  in  that  hour  of  trial: — the  Everlasting  arms 
vere  manifestly  supporting  him  ;  the  sting  of  death  was  not  there." 

Mr.  RocKWOOD,  of  Mauch  Chunk,  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr. 
Webster,  and  one  of  the  elders  of  the  church.  He  was  present  at  the 
closing  and  impressive  scene,  and  has  sent  an  interesting  communi- 
cation, which  we  here  publish,  giving  his  impression  of  Mr.  Webster's 
character  and  labours,  and  an  account  of  his  last  hours. 

"  Mauch  Chunk,  August  12,  1856. 
"Rev.  Dr.  C.  Van  Rensselaer: — 

"Rev.  and  Dear  Sir: — Friends  of  our  late  pastor.  Rev.  Richard  Webster, 
understanding  that  you  are  preparing  a  '  Biographical  Sketch'  to  accompany  his 
forthcoming  work,  have  requested  me  to  attempt  to  give  you  the  impressions 
made  by  him  as  a  man  and  a  minister  at  home.  While  his  historical  labours 
are  widely  known,  few  besides  his  own  people  could  be  familiar  with  his  pastoral 
work,  as  his  brethren  in  the  ministry  seldom  saw  him  in  the  midst  of  his  labours. 

"  My  acquaintance,  both  social  and  in  the  church,  has  been  intimate  for  about  four 
years.  These  were  not  his  most  laborious  years, — his  declining  strength  having,  of 
late,  compelled  him  to  lessen  his  labour  outside  of  his  own  parish.  During  the  greater 
part  of  his  ministry  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  performing  an  amount  of  extra 
services  in  the  destitute  neighbourhoods,  from  four  to  twenty  miles  around,  which 
is  surprising  when  his  feeble  frame  is  remembered,  and  which  undoubtedly  short- 
ened his  life.  To  these  efforts  many  of  the  churches  of  the  coal-region  owe  their 
origin.      Many  of  these   efforts  have  been  made   quite  beyond  the  limits  of  a 


SS  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH   OF  THE 

•Sabbath-day's  journey,' — by  holding  series  of  meetings  during  the  week,  after 
which  he  would  return  and  preach  to  his  own  people  on  the  Sabbath.  Until 
within  about  two  years  past  he  has  had  regular  preaching-stations,  which  occu- 
pied nearly  every  Sabbath  afternoon.  Many  of  these  preaching-expeditions  were 
made  wholly  or  in  part  on  foot,  and  often  in  the  night,  regardless  of  the 
injurious  effect  of  the  night-air  upon  his  hearing. 

"  Mr.  Webster's  deafness  occasioned  no  aversion  to  society.  He  was  of  a  genial, 
pleasant  spirit ;  and,  even  since  he  could  be  addressed  only  through  a  tube,  he  was 
affable  and  easy  of  approach,  even  to  strangers, — delighting  in  social  intercourse, 
and  capable  of  entertaining  with  lively  anecdote  or  of  instructing  by  grave 
remark.  He  was,  notwithstanding  his  difficulty  of  hearing,  faithful  in  pastoral 
visitation,  especially  in  times  of  sickness  or  affliction,  when  the  natural  tendemesa 
of  his  feelings  enabled  him  to  make  the  sorrows  of  others  his  own,  and  unite  his 
tears  with  theirs  in  true  sympathy.  His  depth  of  feeling  on  these  occasions 
(constantly  recurring  in  a  community  so  liable  to  accident  and  sudden  death)  wore 
seriously  on  his  own  strength.  Cases  of  bereavement  were  feelingly  noticed  in 
public  prayer,  and  often  again  remembered  on  their  anniversary  another  year. 
His  conversations  with  the  impenitent  were  frequent,  and  his  faculty  of  pleasantly 
introducing  pointed,  personal  appeal  was  good.  Often,  where  conversation  was 
precluded,  his  pen  was  used.  His  general  conversation  showed  that  the  con- 
version of  souls  was  his  most  earnest  desire,  and,  while  naturally  cheerful, 
nothing  so  saddened  him  as  the  fewness  of  additions  to  the  church  from  the 
_  world.     He  continually  mourned  that  he  was  not  more  useful. 

"  Mr.  Webster's  historical  researches  have  been  so  spoken  of  as  to  give  the  im- 
pression that  they  formed  the  labour  of  his  life.  They  were,  however,  the  result 
of  leisure  hours,  although  the  amount  of  these  labours  (often  performed  in  un- 
selfish regard  for  the  wishes  of  others  applying  for  information)  gives  evidence 
of  his  industrious  habits.  His  life  was  literally  and  truly  devoted  to  the  ministry. 
His  pulpit  exercises  were  uniformly  good,  and  well  digested  and  prepared. 
During  the  last  few  years  he  wrote  most  of  his  sermons ;  but  they  were  complete 
in  his  mind  before  writing,  so  that  the  manuscripts  showed  few  alterations.  The 
distinguishing  feature  of  his  preaching  was  that  he  preached  Christ, — seldom  occu- 
pying  the  pulpit  with  discourses  merely  historical,  literary,  or  critical.  His  lan- 
guage, while  showing  no  attempt  at  ornament,  was  clear,  condensed,  and  often 
beautiful,  but  never  calculated  to  attract  attention  from  the  truth  to  itself.  His 
sermons  were  earnest,  convincing,  and  instructive,  and  such  as  would  interest  and 
profit  both  the  learned  and  the  unlearned.  The  peculiarity  of  voice  —  arising 
probably  from  deafness — was  to  a  stranger  unpleasant;  but,  when  the  ear  had 
become  accustomed  to  it,  his  delivery  was  found  to  be  forcible,  and  the  preaching 
grew  upon  the  hearer  from  year  to  year. 

"  llis  life  and  manner  were  becoming  a  minister  of  the  gospel, — cheerful,  but 
serious  and  beyond  reproach,  commanding  the  confidence  alike  of  the  Christian 


REV.  RICHARD  WEBSTER.  39 

and  the  worldling.  He  felt  little  encouragement  in  his  work ;  bnt  his  exertions 
and  influence  have  not  been  without  their  share — and  that  a  large  share — of  eflFect 
upon  the  community  around  him,  shown  in  the  increased  regard  for  the  Sabbath, 
the  sanctuary,  and  for  sacred  things.  The  church  originated  and  fostered  by  him, 
and  now  for  years  self-sustaining  and  prosperous,  is  a  testimony  to  his  usefulness. 

"  Mr.  Webster  had  a  great  advantage  for  study,  in  a  remarkably  retentive 
memory,  which  enabled  him  to  treasure  up  what  he  read  even  casually,  and  to 
remember  clearly  his  own  trains  of  thought.  He  once  remarked  to  me  that  he 
could  preach  an  unwritten  sermon,  even  several  years  after  its  first  preparation, 
without  material  change  even  in  the  language.  He  kept  himself  well  informed  in 
the  religious  and  other  literature  of  the  day,  and,  both  in  preaching  and  con- 
Tersation,  showed  a  mind  thoroughly  trained  and  abundantly  stored. 

"  Mr.  Webster  was  humble  and  unselfish  in  a  high  degree  in  his  intercourse 
with  all.  He  gained  the  warm  regard  especially  of  those  of  his  congregation 
who  were  in  the  more  humble  walks  of  life,  by  the  interest  he  took  in  their 
welfare.  Their  children  were  all  known  to  him  by  name.  Towards  the  close 
of  his  life  it  was  noticed  that  he  preached  with  increased  unction,  and  watched 
with  more  earnest  desire  for  an  increasing  religious  interest.  When  confined  with 
sickness,  his  desire  to  preach  was  so  strong  that  it  was  with  difficulty  that  he  could 
be  induced  to  forego  the  attempt;  and,  on  two  Sabbaths  during  his  last  illness, 
he  arose  from  his  bed  to  preach,  and  returned  from  the  pulpit  directly  to  his  bed. 

"Although  his  friends  greatly  feared  the  result  of  his  sickness,  he  did  not 
appreciate  the  danger,  and,  until  within  a  day  or  two  of  his  death,  looked  for- 
ward with  expectation  to  an  early  resumption  of  his  pulpit  duties.  His  vital 
powers  failed  very  gradually  for  many  hours  before  death.  When  told,  about 
twelve  hours  before  his  departure,  that  he  was  near  death,  he  could  scarcely 
believe  it,  his  feelings  having  given  so  little  admonition  of  the  decay  of  nature. 
He  was  taken  by  surprise,  but  not  unprepared.  Without  the  least  perturbation 
he  expressed  his  resignation  and  entire  peace  of  mind.  I  was  permitted  to  be 
with  him  for  the  last  ten  or  eleven  hours,  and  a  greater  privilege  is  seldom 
enjoyed  in  a  lifetime.  No  written  narrative  of  peaceful  death-bed  scenes  ever 
gave  me  such  a  realizing  sense  of  the  value  of  a  good  hope  in  Christ,  and  daily 
consecration  to  God,  as  a  preparation  for  death.  There  was  not  a  fear  or  a 
doubt.  His  mind  was  calm  and  composed,  though  active  and  fuUy  awake  to  his 
nearness  to  eternity ;  yet  all  was  peace  and  joyful  anticipations  for  the  future  for 
himself,  and  cheerful  trust  in  God  for  his  family  and  the  church.  Some  of  the 
death-bed  sayings  which  I  have  read  have  always  appeared  to  me  as  if  said 
because  expected  by  those  around ;  but,  in  this  instance,  the  continuous  utterance 
of  devout  thought  was  the  evident  overflowing  of  a  heart  stayed  on  God  and  filled 
with  love  for  him  and  his  cause.  The  expressions  of  resignation,  love  to  God,  and 
entire  confidence  in  him,  accompanied  by  humble  self-abasement  and  confession 
of  sin,  would  make  a  valuable  chapter  of  religious  experience. 


40>  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH   OF   THE 

"  Soon  after  being  informed  that  he  was  gradually  but  steadily  sinking,  and 
could  live  but  a  few  hours,  he  said,  '  If  this  be  death,  it  approaches  with  tender, 
gentle,  loving  embrace :  I  feel  no  pain  and  no  apprehension.  I  look  forward  with 
joy  to  meeting  with  my  Saviour, — with  perfect  calmness  of  mind  and  assurance 
of  the  blessing  of  God  upon  myself,  my  wife,  my  family,  my  friends,  and  the 
church  of  God.'  At  another  time  he  said,  'I  am  very  comfortable:  it  seems  im- 
possible that  I  am  drawing  near  to  death.'  '  My  voice  and  words  fail  me  to  ex- 
press the  trust  I  have  in  God.'  'If  I  have  been  deceived  all  my  life,  I  now  come, 
at  the  eleventh  hour,  and  put  my  trust  in  the  Saviour,  hoping  in  his  mercy,  con- 
fessing my  sins,  and  acknowledging  his  mercy,  which  has  been  with  me  always.* 
•Into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit!  Thou  hast  redeemed  me,'  repeating  the 
hymn,  beginning — 

"  '  Lord,  I  am  thine,  entirely  thine,* 
and  ending  with 

"  '  Thee,  my  new  Master,  now  I  call. 
And  consecrate  to  thee  my  all.' 

He  said,  'Blessed  be  God!  this  [consecration]  is  not  a  new  work;  not  a  thing 
taken  up  to-day  or  yesterday.' .  .  .  '  Dying  is  but  going  home.'  He  expressed  no 
desire  to  live  except  to  be  useful  to  the  church  and  to  his  family.  He  said,  '  I 
would  have  been  thankful  to  be  spared  to  preach.  I  love  to  preach.  I  have 
embraced  every  opportunity  to  do  so,  and  have,  no  doubt,  overworked  myself.' 
He  was  thankful  that  his  whole  ministry  had  been  among  '  one  people.'  'I  would 
like  to  say  to  the  impenitent,  that  sickness  is  no  time  to  prepare  to  meet  God, 
when  the  sinking  of  all  the  faculties  makes  it  hard  to  do  any  thing, — hard  to  enter 
into  the  strait  gate, — hard  to  find  the  narrow  way.'  '  I  had  hoped  to  rise  up 
to  preach  from  the  words  of  Hezekiah  on  his  recovery,  (Isa.  xxxviii.  19,)  "The 
living,  the  living,  he  shall  praise  thee,  as  I  do  this  day :  the  father  to  the  children 
shall  make  known  thy  truth," — the  duty  of  those  spared  to  teach  the  knowledge 
of  God  to  children.'  He  'thanked  God  he  had  not  been  altogether  unfaithful;  but 
had  come  very  far  short.' 

"  He  had  no  pain :  his  mind  was  clear,  his  sight  and  voice  strong,  and  he 
seemed  unable  to  realize  that  he  could  be  dying.  He  said,  '  How  strange  the 
deceitfulness  of  things !  I  feel  as  if  I  might  get  up,  in  a  few  minutes,  as  well  as 
any  of  the  children.     Truly,  man  walketh  in  a  vain  show.' 

"With  frequent  confessions  of  sin  and  expressions  of  his  entire  trust  in  saving 
grace  alone,  he,  from  time  to  time,  as  he  supposed  the  scene  was  closing,  com- 
mitted himself  '  to  God,  to  go  through  the  dark  valley  and  shadow  of  death,  but 
not  alone.'  He  spoke  but  seldom  of  his  own  salvation:  it  seemed  to  be  a  subject 
long  since  committed  to  God,  with  the  full  assurance  of  faith.  His  thoughts  were 
mainly  given  to  others.  His  pr.ayers  were  for  his  family  and  the  church. 
Several  times,  as  he  thought  death  approaching,  hp  bade  each  member  of  his 
family  good-by  with  a  most  affecting  exhibition  of  love.      He  had  the  children, 


KEV.  KICHARD   "WEBSTER.  41 

more  than  once,  all  brought  near,  where  he  could  look  upon  them.     He  prayed 
that  his  boys  might  be  permitted  to  preach  the  gospel. 

"  In  the  morning,  one  or  two  of  his  congregation  came  to  bid  him  farewell,  and 
it  distressed  him ;  but  afterwards  he  seemed  to  receive  strength  from  on  high  to 
sustain  him,  and  he  desired  to  see  all.  Many  of  his  church  and  congregation 
came  in,  for  each  of  whom  he  had  a  word  in  season,  and  sent  messages  to  the 
absent.  Many  were  mentioned  by  name,  whom  he  had  hoped  to  see  brought 
into  the  church.  He  was  anxious  to  see  one  friend,  who  lived  near  but  had 
then  gone  out  to  his  work.  He  wished  to  live  till  noon,  when  this  person  would 
return  from  work,  and  fi-equently  inquired,  'How  late  is  it?'  'Is  it  twelve 
o'clock?'  His  desii'e  was  gratified:  his  friend  was  sent  for.  Such  was  his 
interest  for  his  congregation,  each  of  whom,  by  name,  children  and  adults,  he  was 
in  the  habit  of  bearing  on  his  heart  at  the  throne  of  Grace. 

"His  faculties  were  spared  to  him,  so  that  he  continued  to  converse  until 
within  a  very  few  minutes  of  his  ceasing  to  breathe.  It  was  the  '  death  of  the 
righteous;'  and  none,  witnessing  it,  could  fail  to  wish,  'May  my  last  end  be 
like  his !'  Very  respectfully  yours, 

"  Chaeles  G.  Rockwood." 

Thus  did  this  good  man  live  and  die  !  His  "  works  do  follow  him." 
The  seals  of  his  ministry  were  many,  and  bright  are  the  jewels  in  the 
crown  of  his  rejoicing.  He  lived  to  a  good  purpose,  and,  having  ended 
his  work,  has  entered  into  his  rest. 

Among  the  incidental  labours  of  Mr.  Webster's  life  is  the  history 
which  is  now  published.  It  was  written  amid  the  incessant  calls  of  active 
ministerial  duties.  This  is,  of  itself,  a  sufficient  apology  for  whatever 
imperfections  may  be  found  in  the  volume. 

Mr.  Webster  had  a  natural  taste  for  historical  investigation.  His 
longing  for  facts  and  incidents  in  history  and  biography  was  ever  fresh 
and  intense.  A  lover  of  history  has  reason  to  thank  God  for  directing 
his  pursuits  towards  a  branch  of  knowledge  so  graad  and  useful.  It  is  a 
study  that  brings  the  mind  in  contact  with  Providence;  it  has  relations 
of  a  very  comprehensive  character;  and,  while  in  itself  satisfying  and 
delightful,  it  produces  results  helpful  to  the  cause  of  religion  and  truth. 
]\Ir.  Webster,  in  devoting  a  considerable  part  of  his  time  to  historical 
investigations,  felt  that  he  was  engaged  in  a  way  likely  to  benefit  his 
generation.  His  tastes  and  desires  made  history  a  recreation.  His 
mind  was  refreshed  by  roaming  through  the  by-ways  and  paths  of  the 


42  BIOaRAPHICAL   SKETCH   OF  THE 

olden  time.  It  was  his  delight  to  pursue  inquiries  relating  to  the  history 
of  the  Presbyterian  church  and  the  men  of  a  former  generation. 

Mr.  Webster's  patience  and  alacrity  to  endure  hardshij)  were  as  con- 
spicuous in  historical  inquiries  as  in  ministerial  labours.  Whatever 
he  did  he  tried  to  do  heartily,  as  unto  the  Lord.  lie  did  not  regiird 
preaching  as  for  his  Master  and  writing  history  as  for  himself.  He  was 
devoted  to  Christ  in  every  thing,  and  hence  was  willing  to  bear  toil  and 
self-denial  wherever  they  were  to  be  encountered.  His  labours  as  an 
historian  were  abundant.  Who  will  ever  know  how  many  miles  were 
travelled,  how  many  letters  sent  forth  and  received,  how  many  books  con- 
sulted, how  many  late  hours  of  the  night  taken  from  rest,  how  many 
chambers  and  old  repositories  explored  with  scrupulous  care  and  cunning, 
how  much  time  and  health  and  strength  and  property  taxed,  in  pro- 
moting the  pursuits  which  he  had  at  heart?  It  was  delightful  to  find 
this  diligent  man  cheerful  in  the  midst  of  his  labours.  He  worked  at  hia 
task  gladly.  His  patience  was  inexhaustible,  and  his  habits  of  endurance 
extraordinary.  He  copied  with  his  own  pen  all  that  part  of  the  exten- 
sive Bellamy  correspondence  which  threw  any  light  upon  the  history  of 
the  Presbyterian  church,  into  a  large  volume,  elegantly  written,  which  is 
in  the  possession  of  the  Presbyterian  Historical  Society, — a  donation  of 
his  thoughtful  head,  untiring  hand,  and  benevolent  heart. 

Unaflfected  modesty  marked  the  character  of  our  Presbyterian  his- 
torian. With  all  his  ardour  of  investigation  and  success  of  research, 
Mr.  Webster  was  the  last  to  appreciate  his  own  just  claims.  He  never 
obtruded  himself  into  public  notice.  No  one  ever  charged  him  with 
desiring  notoriety  or  public  applause.  On  the  contrary,  his  modesty 
interfered  with  his  merit,  and  his  diffidence  prevented  an  extensive  appre- 
ciation of  his  researches. 

A  disinterestedness  of  spirit  is  the  last  trait  I  shall  mention  in  the 
character  of  my  friend  as  an  historian.  Mr.  Webster  had  a  large  and 
generous  soul.  He  worked  not  for  himself,  but  for  all  who  chose  to  avail 
themselves  of  his  labours.  Jealousy  formed  no  part  of  his  character. 
He  had  no  private  ends  to  answer.  Some  might  have  considered  it  a 
lawful  and  proper  reserve  to  keep  their  manuscripts  from  the  in.<«pection 
of  others,  but  he  was  ever  ready  to  lend  to  investigators  of  history  all  the 
papers  in  his  possession.     Few  men,  it  is  believed,  showed  as  great  gene- 


BEV.  KICHARD    WEBSTER.  43 

rosity  as  he  in  thus  allowing  others  even  to  anticipate  the  results  of  his 
own  researches,  if  they  had  shown  a  disposition  to  do  so.  His  manu- 
scripts have  been  freely  lent  in  a  spirit  of  disinterested  and  religious 
scholarship  worthy  of  all  praise. 

The  last  time  I  saw  Mr.  Webster  was  in  May,  when  he  came  to  Phila- 
delphia to  attend  the  anniversary  of  the  "  Presbyterian  Historical 
Society."  He  himself  was  the  life  of  the  meeting.  He  wrote  the 
annual  report  which  was  read  on  that  occasion,  and  made  several 
speeches  full  of  wit  and  learning.  The  appearance  of  his  venerated 
friend,  Samuel  Hazard,  Esq.,  in  the  chair,  revived  some  reminiscences 
of  a  pleasant  character;  and  he  told  several  historical  anecdotes  with 
great  glee,  and  to  the  amusement  and  edification  of  us  all.  On  the  fol- 
lowing morning,  when  he  came  to  bid  me  farewell,  I  asked  him  to  leave 
his  manuscript  history  for  publication.  He  smiled,  and  said,  "  I  do  not 
believe  it  will  ever  be  published."  He,  however,  left  it,  and  measures 
were  about  to  be  taken  to  put  it  to  press,  when  the  unexpected  and 
melancholy  tidings  of  his  decease  suspended  the  undertaking  for  a 
season. 

The  last  will  and  testament  of  Mr.  Webster  contained  the  following 
bequest : — 

"To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Comrtlandt  Van  Rensselaer  I  give  and  bequeath  the  manuscript 
of  my  book,  and  all  my  historical  memoranda." 

Acting  under  a  sense  of  the  responsibility  thus  imposed  upon  me,  I 
made  inquiries  respecting  the  terms  on  which  the  history  could  be  pub- 
lished ;  and,  finding  that  Mr.  Joseph  M.  Wilson  made  the  most  advan- 
tageous ofier,  I  put  the  work  into  his  hands.  I  previously  communicated, 
however,  with  the  executors  and  with  judicious  friends,  and  obtained  a 
general  assent  to  the  arrangement  as  a  just  and  liberal  one. 

And,  now  that  I  have  finished  this  brief  and  imperfect  sketch  of  the 

life  and  character  of  the  author,  I  commit  the  volume,  in  his  name,  to 

the  public,  with  the  hope  and  prayer  that  it  may  meet  every  reasonable 

expectation,  be   the  means   of   imparting  useful    information,  assist  in 

awakening  and  in  extending  the  spirit  of  historical  inquiry,  and  redound 

to  the  honour  of  our  common  religion  and  to  the  glory  of  God. 

C.  Van  Rensselaer. 
Philadelphia,  December  22,  1856. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  great  King  of  Zion  tas  endowed  the  Presbyterian  church 
in  the  United  States  with  a  goodly  heritage,  and,  under  his  foster- 
ing care,  its  borders  have  been  widely  extended.  In  the  space  of 
a  century  and  a  half,  a  cause  which  at  first  was  represented  by  a 
few  itinerant  missionaries,  labouring  among  a  number  of  scattered 
Bettlers  on  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake  and  the  adjoining  regions, 
has  attained  to  a  magnitude  unprecedented  in  the*  annals  of  Pres- 
byterianism. 

For  many  years  past,  the  Presbyterian  church  numbers  among 
the  most  valued  of  her  members  the  descendants  of  settlers  from 
Holland,  France,  Germany,  and  other  nations  of  Continental 
Europe.  Still,  the  great  body  of  those  hardy  pioneers  who  sought 
a  home  in  the  Western  world,  or  who  were  driven  hither  by  per- 
secution, and  founded  our  Zion,  were  from  Scotland  and  the  North 
of  Ireland.  It  is  true,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  English 
Puritans  who  settled  New  England  held  Presbyterian  principles, 
and  were  favourable  to  our  form  of  church  polity.  Popularly,  the 
term  Puritanism,  when  associated  with  New  England,  is  under- 
stood to  signify  Congregationalism ;  but  the  fact,  as  here  stated, 
that  many  of  the  English  Dissenters,  who  fled  from  their  native 
land  to  New  England,  in  order  to  enjoy  liberty  of  conscience, 
were  Presbyterian  in  sentiment,  is  established  by  abundant  and 
most  satisfactory  evidence.*  Into  the  causes  which  operated  in 
producing  a  gradual  change  in  the  character  of  the  early  New 
England  churches,  and  which  prevented  a  full  development  of  a 
distinct  Presbyterian  organization,  it  is  not  our  object  here  to 
enter.  We  desire  rather  to  advert  to  the  circumstances  which  led 
to  the  formation  of  our  church  in  the  Middle  States  of  the 
Union ;  and,  in  this  connection,  the  few  pages  of  this  work 
which  can  be  spared  for  an  introductory  chapter  may  be  de- 
voted to  a  recital  of  the  causes  which  led  to  the  settlement  of 


*  Hodge's  Constitutional  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  chap.  i.     Phila- 
delphia :  W.  S.  Martien,  1839. 

-^  45 


46  INTRODUCTION. 

tlic  fathers  of  our  Zion  in  the  wildernesses  of  this  continent, — to 
the  principles  -which  these  hardy  sons  of  a  covenanted  Reforma- 
tion broufflit  with  them  to  the  land  of  their  adoption, — to  an  ex- 
position of  their  social  characteristics,  and  their  influence  in  form- 
ing and  modifying  the  religious  institutions  of  our  country.  We 
can  merely  glance,  as  it  were,  at  each  of  these  topics.  To  treat 
them  fully,  as  their  importance  merits,  would  require  the  compass 
of  several  volumes,  and  the  command  of  much  antiquarian  and 
statistical  information,  of  which,  it  is  to  be  regretted,  that,  through 
neglect,  much  has  been  already  lost.  A  large  portion  of  valuable 
material  for  the  history  of  the  church  might  yet  be  preserved  by 
the  industry  of  competent  persons,  who  would  collect  and  arrange 
such  facts  as  are  connected  with  their  own  districts ;  but  it  is  to 
be  feared,  that  the  causes  which  allowed  so  much  information  to  be 
lost,  by  the  men  of  the  last  generation,  will  continue  to  operate  in 
our  own  day  also. 

Scotland  has  stood  out  pre-eminently  in  modern  times  as  the 
great  witness-bearer,  among  the  European  nations,  for  civil  and 
religious  liberty.  In  carrying  out  the  reformation  of  religion  in 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  the  Scottish  people  dis- 
played an  intelligence  and  an  energy  of  character  which  contrast 
most  favourably  with  the  conduct  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  south- 
ern portion  of  the  island.  In  England,  the  heads  of  the  church 
or  of  the  state  might  overthrow  the  power  and  repudiate  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  was  done  in  the  reigns  of 
Henry  VIII.  and  of  Edward  VI. ;  or,  as  in  the  reign  of  Mary, 
they  might  reverse  what  had  thus  been  accomplished.  In  either 
case,  a  numerous  body  of  the  people  clung  to  their  national  sanc- 
tuaries, and  permitted  their  leaders  to  eflect  such  changes  in  the 
formularies  of  the  church  as  they  pleased,  without  appearing  to 
feel  that  they  should  have  an  influential  voice  in  such  important 
arrangements,  and  that  there  was  a  divine  standard  to  which  an 
appeal  in  all  such  matters  should  be  made.  In  Scotland  it  was  far 
otherwise.  There,  the  people  soon  comprehended  the  great  truth, 
that  the  evils  under  which  the  country  groaned  were  mainly 
traceable  to  the  tyranny,  the  rapacity,  and  the  debasing  super- 
stitions of  the  Romish  church,  which  had  departed  from  the  prin- 
ciples and  order  which  God  had  enjoined  in  his  Word.  They 
further  perceived,  that  these  evils  must  continue  to  afflict  the 
country,  until  a  thorough  reformation  was  effected  in  the  church, 
and  that  no  church  should  be  considered  reformed  or  pure  whose 
doctrines  and  discipline  were  not  strictly  in  accordance  with  the 
revelation  which  the  King  of  Zion  had  given,  and  in  which  alone 
his  will  was  to  be  discovered. 

The  great  doctrine  of  the  Headship  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
soon  came  to  be  recognised  on  the  north  of  the  Tweed;  while  in 


INTRODUCTION.  47 

England,  the  civil  power,  in  freeing  itself  from  the  bondage  under 
which  it  suffered  in  the  palmy  days  of  Romish  supremacy,  not  only 
regained  the  possession  of  the  civil  sword, — which  rightfully  be- 
longs to  civil  rulers, — but,  at  the  same  time,  it  reversed  its  former 
condition.  It  was  not  satisfied  with  securing  an  independence  of 
epiritual  control  in  the  affairs  which  belonged  to  its  own  province, 
but  it  laid  the  church  prostrate,  depriving  it  even  of  spiritual 
jurisdiction,  and  trampling  it  under  the  foot  of  the  state.  In 
Scotland,  however,  the  distinction  soon  became  apparent  to  the 
public  mind,  between  the  province  of  civil  rulers,  and  the  depart- 
ment which  belonged  to  them,  as  ruling  in  civil  affairs,  on  the 
one  hand ;  and  the  province  of  spiritual  officers,  on  the  other  hand, 
■who  were  called  to  administer  the  functions  of  an  ofiice,  which  they 
held  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  regarded  spiritual  things, 
and  was  instituted  for  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the 
church.  Addressing  the  regent  of  the  kingdom,  even  as  early  as 
1571,  Erskine,  of  Dun,  says,  "  There  is  a  spiritual  jurisdiction 
and  power  which  God  has  given  under  his  kirk,  and  to  them  that 
bear  ofiice  therein ;  and  there  is  a  temporal  jurisdiction  and  power 
given  of  God  to  kings  and  civil  magistrates.  Both  the  powers  are 
of  God,  and  most  agree  to  the  fortifying  one  of  the  other  if  they 
be  right  used.  But  when  the  corruption  of  man  enters  in,  con- 
founding the  ofiices,  usurping  to  himself  what  he  pleases,  nothing 
regarding  the  good  order  appointed  of  God,  then  confusion  follows 
in  all  estates.  The  kirk  of  God  should  fortify  all  lawful  power 
and  authority  that  pertains  to  the  civil  magistrate,  because  it  is  the 
ordinance  of  God.  But  if  he  pass  the  bounds  of  his  ofiice,  and 
enter  within  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord,  meddling  with  such  things 
as  appertain  to  the  ministers  of  God's  kirk,  then  the  servants  of 
God  should  withstand  his  unjust  enterprise,  for  so  they  are  com- 
manded of  God."* 

In  Germany,  the  controversies  in  which  the  church  was  engaged 
were  of  a  different  character  from  those  which  were  raised  in  Scot- 
land in  consequence  of  the  action  of  the  civil  power,  and  the 
discussion  of  which  so  rapidly  made  the  people  of  that  land 
familiar  with  the  principles  for  which  they  had  afterwards  to  con- 
tend, even  to  the  forfeiture  of  liberty  and  life.  In  France,  the 
terrible  power  of  the  monarchy,  which  was  used  so  recklessly  iu 
the  vast  holocaust  of  St.  Bartholomew,  effected  such  an  overthrow 
of  the  upholders  of  the  reformed  faith,  that  their  cause  was  merely 
able,  for  a  considerable  time,  to  struggle  for  existence,  without  as- 
serting for  itself  the  prerogatives  which  the  nobles  and  people  of 
Scotland  demanded  for  the  church  of  their  land. 

That  Christ  is  King  in  Zion — the  only  king  whose  right  it  is 


*  Bannatyne's  Memoirs,  pp.  197-204  ;  Calderwood,  p.  48. 


48  INTRODUCTION, 

to  prescribe  what  doctrines  are  to  be  taught  and  believed,  what 
ordinances  are  to  be  observed,  and  what  offices  are  needful  for  the 
welfare  or  the  extension  of  the  church — is  not  only  important  as 
a  correct  theological  principle,  but  it  is  momentous  also  in  the  con- 
sequences which  flow  from  it.  Whatever  the  doctrines,  the  ordi- 
nances, and  the  offices  may  be,  which  Christ  has  instituted  in  his 
church,  his  people  have  received  them  from  him,  to  be  held  as  a 
sacred  deposit,  for  the  ends  for  which  they  have  been  given.  Tiie 
members  of  the  church  are  not  at  liberty  to  surrender  these  doc- 
trines, to  yield  up  these  ordinances,  or  to  change  or  abolish  these 
offices.  To  do  either  would  constitute  a  breach  of  trust,  and  mani- 
fest a  contempt  for  the  privileges  with  which  they  were  endowed. 
It  would  indicate  a  disparagement  of  the  wisdom  of  the  church's 
Head,  and  would  further  involve  a  usurpation  of  the  authority 
with  which  he  alone  is  clothed.  If  the  members  of  the  church — 
as  individuals  or  in  their  collective  capacity — dare  not  act  in  this 
manner  without  flagrant  sin,  neither  have  those  who  are  invested 
with  office  a  similar  liberty.  They  hold  their  office  from  Christ,  to 
whom  they  are  responsible,  and  who  demands  of  them  that  they 
shall  be  faithful  in  the  administration  of  all  their  functions. 
They  are  not  at  liberty  to  increase  or  to  diminish  the  number  of 
the  institutions  which  Christ  has  appointed.  They  are  not  legis- 
lators, to  enact  new  laws,  enjoin  ordinances  or  doctrines  which  are 
not  already  given  by  Him  whose  right  it  is  to  rule.  Their  office  is 
executive  and  declarative,  not  legislative.  And,  consequently, 
they  are  not  at  liberty — either  at  the  suggestion  of  their  own  wis- 
dom, or  in  order  to  please  any  party,  within  or  without  the  pale 
of  the  church — to  change  or  surrender  what  Christ  has  ordained. 
If  speculative  men,  who  are  fond  of  novelty  or  changes  in  re- 
ligion,— if  worldly  men,  who  dislike  holiness  of  doctrine, — if  civil 
rulers,  who  are  ambitious  of  authority  in  the  household  of  faith, — 
should  suggest  or  demand  any  change  or  surrender  of  these  trusts, 
then  the  reply  of  every  enlightened  and  faithful  servant  must  be, 
*'  These  are  not  ours,  but  Christ's.  They  have  been  committed  to 
our  hands,  to  be  held  for  his  glory ;  to  be  retained,  amid  all  perils, 
in  their  integrity,  for  the  ends  of  their  institution,  and  thus  to  be 
transmitted  to  coming  ages.  It  is  His  prerogative  who  gave  them 
to  modify  or  abrogate  them,  not  ours." 

The  Scottish  mind  soon  comprehended  this  principle.  It  per- 
meated the  masses  of  the  people ;  and,  under  the  influence  of  such 
leaders  as  Knox,  Melville,  and  Henderson,  the  professors  of  the 
reformed  faith  comprehended  their  duties  as  well  as  their  privi- 
leges, and  they  saw  that  the  one  involved  the  other. 

It  is  obvious,  that  an  intellectual,  energetic,  and  high-minded 
people,  educated  in  such  principles,  and  thoroughly  imbued  with 
their  influences,  would  be  prepared  for  resisting  all  attempts  at  en- 


INTRODUCTION.  49 

croaching  on  tlieir  spiritual  privileges.  Hence  the  prompt  resist- 
ance of  the  Scottish  people  to  the  exercise  of  arbitrary  power,  in 
ecclesiastical  matters,  by  Charles  I.  and  Charles  II,  in  Scotland, — 
a  resistance  as  remarkable  for  the  clearness  of  conception  which 
pervaded  all  ranks  of  the  community  regarding  the  principles 
which  were  involved,  as  it  was  for  the  tenacity  of  purpose  which 
they  displayed,  and  the  enormous  sacrifices  of  ease,  property, 
liberty,  and  life  which  were  so  freely  made  during  the  protracted 
contest.  The  struggle  had  commenced  in  the  reign  of  James  ;  but, 
when  Charles  I.  succeeded  to  the  throne,  it  became  obvious  that 
all  the  Aviles  of  diplomacy  and  courtly  intrigue,  and  all  the  power 
of  the  secular  arm,  would  be  used  to  abolish  presbytery  and  esta- 
blish prelacy  in  its  stead.  There  were  a  few  in  Scotland  who  held 
the  doctrine,  that  resistance  to  the  civil  magistrate  was  unlawful 
for  Christians — although  his  rule  might  be  unjust  and  oppressive — 
so  long  as  he  confined  his  power  to  mere  secular  things.*  We  shall 
have  occasion  to  show  that  the  great  majority  of  the  people  had 
clearer  views  on  the  relation  which  should  subsist  between  rulers 
and  their  subjects.  Many  would  have  submitted  to  much  that  was 
oppressive,  with  no  other  kind  of  opposition  than  that  of  remon- 
strance and  supplication ;  while  others  held  more  decided  views 
on  this  subject.  "  But  all  were  compelled  to  perceive,  that  the 
king  had  much  more  in  view  than  to  allow  them  even  the  hard 
alternative  of  obedience  or  punishment,  which,  in  matters  dis- 
tinctly religious,  must  always  subject  men  to  penalties  till  the  civil 
magistrate  can  be  prevailed  on  to  relax  his  requirements.  The 
intention  of  his  majesty,  it  was  easily  seen,  was  positively  to  com- 
pel them  to  adopt  all  those  changes  in  religious  worship  which  he 
might  think  proper  to  introduce,  and  to  prohibit  absolutely  and 
unconditionally  those  modes  of  worship  which  they  believed  to  be 
most  accordant  with  the  word  and  will  of  God.  The  alternative 
was  not  obedience  or  the  forfeiture  of  certain  civil  advantages  and 
the  infliction  of  certain  temporal  penalties,  but  obedience  or  im- 
prisonment, exile,  and  death;  or,  rather,  it  was,  obey  the  king, 
though  you  should  thereby  be  disobedient  to  God.  With  deep  and 
anxious  solicitude,  they  set  themselves  to  the  investigation  of  this 

*  The  peculiar  character  of  the  trials  which  the  people  of  Scotland  had  to  en- 
counter soon  dispelled  from  their  minds  any  lingering  clouds  of  darkness  on  the 
subject  of  non-resistance  and  passive  obedience.  In  England,  so  long  as  the  Court 
visited  Puritans  and  Dissenters  with  pains  and  penalties,  there  were  many  of  the 
Prelatists  who  held  most  determinedly  to  the  doctrine  of  passive  obedience.  When, 
however,  after  James  II.  ascended  the  throne,  the  Episcopalians  began  to  expe- 
rience the  application  of  their  own  principles,  they  speedily  abandoned  them  for 
the  rational  and  common  view  which  had  been  maintained  by  those  whom,  without 
compunction,  they  had  seen  visited  with  confiscation,  imprisonment,  and  compli- 
cated penalties.—  Vide  Hume's  History  of  England  ;  Boston  :  Phillips,  Sampson  & 
Co.,  12mo,  vol.  vi.  pp.  322-329.  Macaulay's  History  of  England;  New  York: 
llaxpers,  12mo,  vol.  ii.  chap.  ix.  pp.  301-306. 

4 


50  INTRODUCTION. 

momentous  question;  and,  after  the  most  profound  and  studious 
perusal  of  eminent  divines  and  jurists,  and  especially  of  the  Bible, 
they  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  that  a  Christian  people  were  en- 
titled to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of  their  religious  liberties  against 
any  assailant."* 

It  is  not  our  province  to  trace  the  history  of  the  great  struggle 
which  Avas  continued  during  four  reigns,  and  which  deluged  the 
soil  of  Scotland  with  the  blood  of  her  martyred  heroes.  Our 
object  is  merely  to  point  to  the  principles  which  were  involved  in 
the  strife,  and  to  the  fact,  that  these  persecutions  were  mainly 
instrumental  in  bringing  to  this  country  many  of  the  worthy 
fathers  and  founders  of  our  Zion.  Of  these,  some  were  igno- 
miniously  transported  as  felons  for  their  attachment  to  the  cause 
of  God.  They  were  prayerful  and  holy  men.  Their  crime,  in 
the  eye  of  their  oppressors,  was,  that  they  would  not  violate  the 
dictates  of  conscience,  and  sin  against  the  law  of  their  God. 
Others  fled,  because  they  saw  no  prospect  in  their  own  country 
that  the  ark  of  the  Lord  would  enjoy  a  safe  resting-place,  and 
they  sought  a  region  in  which  they  might  worship  God  in  peace ; 
while  others  still,  attracted  by  the  prospects  which  the  colonies 
held  forth  to  them,  left  the  homes  of  their  ancestors,  and  sought 
an  asylum  in  the  companionship  of  those  who  had  borne  a  good 
testimony  and  endured  much  hardness  for  their  Lord  and  Saviour. 
In  Ireland,  the  causes  which  produced  the  remarkable  exodus 
of  the  Presbyterian  inhabitants  of  Ulster  to  the  North  American 
colonies,  which  commenced  in  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  which  has  continued  to  flow  with  more  or  less  regularity  until 
the  present  time,  were  different,  in  some  respects,  from  those 
which  prevailed  in  Scotland.  These  causes  soon  began  to  affect 
the  Scottish  settlers,  who  had  been  induced  to  occupy  the  lands 
which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Crown  after  the  svippression  of  the 
, ,  great  rebellion   of   O'Niell.     The  settlement,  or,  as  it  has  been 

^■^  called,  the  "Plantation  of  Ulster,"  by  settlers  from  Scotland  and 
England,  commenced  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  This  great  mea- 
sure was  rendered  necessary  because  of  the  deplorable  condition 
to  which  the  northern  province  had  been  reduced  by  the  pro- 
tracted wars  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  The  whole  kingdom  had 
greatly  suff"ered,  but  the  northern  portion  had  especially  been  de- 
vastated and  reduced  to  the  lowest  and  most  abject  condition  of 
misery,  f 

After  the  accession  of  James,  arrangements  were  made  to  extend 
Euirlish  laws   and   customs   over  the  whole   of  the  kino-dom.     In 


*  Hcthcrington's  History  of   the  Church  of  Scotland;    third  edition,  p.   102. 
Vide  also  Baillic,  vol.  i.  p.  18it. 
•j-  Leland,  vol.  ii.  p.  410;  Cox,  vol.  ii.  p.  3 ;   Morrison,  vol.  ii.  pp.  172,  200,  28S. 


INTRODUCTION.  51 

London,  O'Niell  and  O'Donnell  were  received  with  marks  of  dis- 
tinguishecr~4tivour.  The  former  was  confirmed  in  the  Earklom  of 
Tyrone,  and  the  latter  was  created  Earl  of  Tyrconnell ;  while  an 
aet  of  oblivion  and  indemnity  was  published  under  the  Great  Seal, 
whereby  all  offences  committed  before  the  accession  of  James  were 
pardoned,  and  never  to  be  called  into  further  question.  Most  of 
the  Irish  lords  yielded  their  estates  to  the  Crown,  and  received 
them  back  again  under  an  English  title.  Speedily,  however,  it 
appeared,  that  the  restraints  under  which  O'Niell  and  Tyrconnell 
had  placed  themselves  were  more  than  their  impetuous  spirits 
could  brook.  Formerly,  they  had  been  recognised  as  masters  in 
their  own  territories, — their  will  had  been  received  as  law ;  but 
now  they  felt  that  officials  were  ordained  to  administer  the  pro- 
visions of  a  code  which,  they  perceived  with  regret  and  chagrin, 
abridged  their  power,  and  divested  them  of  honour  in  presence  of 
their  people.  Smarting  under  disappointment,  and  perhaps  dread- 
ing the  further  interference  of  the  English  authorities,  which 
they  apprehended  would  prove  adverse  to  the  Romish  church,  as 
well  as  to  their  personal  dignity,  they  commenced  the  arrange- 
ments of  a  plot,  which  was  never  matured,  in  consequence  of  the 
speedy  flight  of  the  two  chieftains  to  the  continent.  Romish  parti- 
sans have  laboured  most  sedulously  to  show  that  the  charge  of  a  plot 
against  the  two  Northern  earls  is  absurd ;  but  the  authorities  on 
which  they  rely  clearly  demonstrate  that  proceedings  had  been 
commenced,  which,  had  it  not  been  for  their  speedy  departure, 
would  have  resulted  in  turbulence  and  civil  war.* 

The  flight  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnell  caused  their  extensive 
estates  to  revert  to  the  Crown;  and  the  settlement  of  these  lands, 
with  such  a  population  as  would  promote  the  arts  of  peace  and 
industry,  became  a  leading  object  of  James's  policy.  The  regu- 
lations which  the  King  adopted  for  the  settlement  of  the  lands  in 
Ulster  were,  in  many  respects,  well  calculated  to  secure  the 
objects  of  the  Government,  had  they  been  faithfully  carried  out 
by  the  principal  "undertakers"  among  whom  the  estates  were 
divided.  In  many  cases,  however,  the  stipulations  assented  to  by 
the  undertakers  were  disregarded,  especially  in  relation  to  fixed 
rents  and  the  granting  of  leases  to  the  tenants,  who  had  been 
induced  to  settle  on  the  lands  as  farmers.  Grievances  on  these 
points  were  complained  of  equally  by  settlers  from  England  and 
Scotland.  In  the  twelfth  article  of  the  "  Conditions"  on  which 
the  proprietors  received  their  estates,  it  was  enacted,  that  "  the 
said  undertakers  shall  not  demise  any  part  of  their  lands  at  will 


*  Cox's  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii.  p.  12  ;  Lingard,  vol.  ix.  p.  144,  Dolinnn's 
edition;  Lynch's  "Alithinologia,  Supplement,"  p.  186,  in  O'Connor's  "Historical 
Address,"  xi.  p.  226 


52  INTRODUCTION. 

only,  but  shall  make  certain  estates  for  years,  for  life,  in  tail,  or  in 
fee-simple;"*  and  yet  it  was  found  that  this  important  condition, 
so  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  the  plantation,  was  neglected  from 
the  beginning. f 

During  the  subsequent  history  of  the  Ulster  Plantation,  the  irri- 
tating and  depressing  influence  of  tliis  unjust  conduct  of  the  under- 
takers continued  to  produce  a  plentiful  crop  of  injuries.  Tenants 
learned  that  they  were  altogether  in  the  hands  of  their  landlords, 
and  they  felt  that  they  possessed  no  adequate  means  of  protecting 
themselves  from  their  rapacity  and  avarice.  If  they  improved 
their  holdings,  then  they  might  be — and  were  often — called  on  to 
pay  a  higher  rent  to  their  landlords,  because  of  their  own  indus- 
try, which  had  increased  the  value  of  the  farms.  If  they  neglected 
to  improve  their  lands,  then  they  suflfered  from  poverty  and  its  at- 
tendant evils. 

On  the  whole,  and  notwithstanding  these  obstacles  to  improve- 
ment, the  province  continued  to  advance  in  prosperity.  Letters 
arrived  from  Scotland,  and  they  were  followed  by  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  who  were  encouraged  to  remove  to  Ireland  by  the  pros- 
pects of  usefulness  among  their  countrymen,  as  well  as  by  the 
proceedings  of  the  Irish  Convocation,  in  which  the  learned  and 
tolerant  Ussher  had  borne  so  prominent  a  part.  A  remarkable 
revival  of  religion  followed  the  labours  of  these  devoted  servants 
of  God,  and  the  cause  of  divine  truth  began  to  prosper  in  a  re- 
markable degree  in  Ulster. 

No  sooner,  however,  had  the  inflexible  character  of  the  Presby- 
terianism  of  these  faithful  ministers  been  established,  and  the  suc- 
cess become  obvious  which  followed  their  services,  than  they  were 
called  on  to  encounter  the  jealousy  of  Echlin,  the  Bishop  of 
Down,  who  proceeded,  in  a  short  time,  to  suspend  two  of  their 
number.  Through  the  influence  of  Ussher,  these  men  were  re- 
stored again ;    but,  soon  afterwards,  Echlin   silenced  four  other 


*  Vide  "Confiscation  of  Ulster,"  by  MacNevin,  Dublin  and  London:  1846, 
p.  135. 

f  Complaints  on  this  subject  became  so  loud  that,  at  length,  a  commission  was 
appointed  to  investigate  the  state  of  the  Ulster  settlement.  The  returns,  as  given 
in  "  Pynnar's  Survey,"  indicate  a  lamentiiblo  state  of  affairs.  No  less  than 
eighteen  of  the  most  extensive  undertakers  are  reported  as  defaulters  in  the  matter 
of  leases.  "  He  hath  made  no  estates,"  is  a  common  entry.  In  the  cases  of  others, 
no  information  could  be  procured,  because  of  their  absence  from  their  properties. 
(Vide  "Confiscation  of  Ulster,"  pp.  171-195.)  The  conduct  of  the  London  com- 
panies, among  whom  the  county  of  Londonderry  was  divided,  appears  to  have  been 
equally  negligent.  The  Grocers',  the  Ironmongers',  the  Haberdashers',  the  Drapers', 
and  the  Salters' Companies  appear  to  have  been  most  culpable.  (Vide  ante,  pp. 
221-228.)  It  is  no  w.onder  that  Pynnar  should  state  in  his  report,  "that  from  the 
insecurity  of  tenure,  many  of  the  English  tenants  did  not  then  plough  upon  the 
lands,  nor  use  husbandry,  because  they  feared  to  stock  themselves  with  cattle  and 
servants  for  such  labours." 


INTRODUCTION.  53 

brethren,  and,  accordingly,  the  whole  Scottish  settlers  were  filled 
with  alarm  and  distress.  Although  the  case  of  these  aggrieved 
men  was  carried  up  to  London,  and  referred  by  the  King  to  the 
Lord-Deputy  of  Ireland,  still,  they  did  not  receive  redress. 
•Alarmed  at  the  gloomy  state  of  affairs,  and  perceiving  no  ray  of 
light  in  any  part  of  the  horizon,  the  Ulster  Presbyterians  directed 
their  attention  to  New  England,  with  the  view  of  removing  thither, 
in  despair  of  enjoying  either  civil  or  religious  liberty  at  home.  In 
the  spring  of  1634,  Mr.  Livingston,  and  a  layman  named  William 
Wallace,  were  deputed  to  visit  the  colony,  and  select  a  suitable 
place  of  settlement.  They  Avent  to  London,  and  afterwards  to 
Plymouth,  in  furtherance  of  their  instructions ;  but  subsequently, 
being  deterred  by  various  untoward  circumstances,  they  returned 
to  Ulster,  where  they  found  their  brethren  prepared  to  await  the 
events  which  a  change,  that  had  taken  place  in  the  administration 
of  the  civil  affairs  of  the  kingdom,  might  produce.* 

Instead,  however,  of  any  amelioration  in  ecclesiastical  affairs, 
the  appointment  of  the  notorious  Wentworth  as  lord-deputy  led  to 
an  accumulation  of  grievances  which  sadly  oppressed  an  already- 
afflicted  people.  Under  the  influence  of  Laud,  decided  steps  were 
taken  to  modify  the  church  in  Ireland  so  as  to  accord  with  his 
Romanizing  views.  Serious  alterations  for  the  worse  were  made 
in  Trinity  College  in  Dublin.  Arminianism  was  openly  favoured. 
Bramhallf  and  Leslie,  who  proved  most  bitter  and  unscrupulous 
tormentors  of  the  Presbyterians,  were  promoted;  and,  through 
the  efforts  of  Wentworth,  a  high-commission  court  was  established 
in  Dublin,  which  enabled  the  deputy  to  subject  the  freedom  and 
property  of  every  individual  in  the  kingdom  to  his  control.  The 
Presbyterians  were  soon  made  to  feel  the  effects  of  this  new 
instrument  of  tyranny.  On  the  death  of  Echlin,  Leslie  was  ap- 
pointed to  his  see.  He  immediately  signalized  himself  by  the 
suspension  of  five  other  ministers.  And  his  intolerance  and  re- 
lentless severity  hastened  the  intended  voyage  to  New  England ; 
for  the  Presbyterian  laity  were  now  thoroughly  ,  satisfied  that  it 
was  their  duty  to  abandon  a  country  in  which  their  religious  privi- 
leges were  so  flagrantly  violated.  The  affecting  incidents  of  this 
remarkable  voyage  are  well  known,  and  need  not  be  enlarged  on 
here.     The  vessel  which  bore  so  precious  a  cargo,J  after  accom- 


*  Reid's  History,  vol.  i.  p.  142. 

f  Aiterwai-ds  called  "  The  Canterbury  of  Ireland,"  from  his  zeal  in  imitating 
Laud. 

J  "  This  little  colony,  who  were  about  to  settle  in  the  uncultivated  wilds  of 
America  for  the  sake  of  enjoying  liberty  of  conscience,  were  one  hundred  and 
forty  in  number.  Among  them,  were  Mr.  Blair,  Mr.  Livingston,  Mr.  Robert  Hamil- 
ton, and  Mr.  John  McClelland,  afterwards  ministers  in  Scotland;  John  Stuart,  Pro- 
vost of  Ayr,  Captain  Andrew  Agnew,   Charles  Campbell,   John  Sumervil,    Hugh 


64  INTRODUCTION. 

plisliing  about  two-thirds  of  the  voyage,  was  arrested  by  severe 
storms,  and,  after  great  suffering  by  all  on  board,  was  provi- 
dentially driven  back  to  Carrickfergus  Bay.  The  ministers,  being 
prevented  from  exercising  their  offices  in  Ireland,  were  compelled 
to  flee  to  Scotland,  where  they  were  soon  settled  in  pastoral 
charges. 

From  this  period  until  the  breaking-out  of  the  Massacre  of 
1641,  tlic  trials  of  the  Presbyterians  were  exceedingly  oppressive. 
For  instance,  the  Bishop  of  Down  was  authorized  to  arrest,  in  a 
summary  manner,  and  to  imprison  during  pleasure,  the  Non-con- 
formists in  his  diocese.  Wentworth,  aware  that  the  laity  were 
accustomed  to  maintain  an  affectionate  intercourse  with  their  pas- 
tors who  had  been  banished  to  Scotland,  resolved  to  abolish  the 
practice.  By  concentrating  troops  in  the  northeastern  districts, 
he  cut  off  all  connection  between  the  kingdoms,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  alarmed  the  Scotch,  who  knew  not  when  he  might  land  these 
forces  to  aid  the  King  in  his  efforts  against  the  religious  liberties 
of  Scotland.  In  pursuance  of  his  plans  for  the  extermination  of 
Presbyterianism,  and  the  prevention  of  any  effort  on  the  part  of 
the  people  to  oppose  the  arbitrary  measures  of  Charles,  Wentworth 
now  adopted  an  expedient  more  intolerable  and  oppressive  than 
any  which  he  had  previously  attempted.  This  was  the  imposition, 
on  the  Ulster  Scots,  of  the  celebrated  Black  Oath, — so  called, 
because  they  were  compelled  to  swear,  never  to  oppose  any  of  the 
King's  commands,  and  to  abjure  all  covenants  and  oaths  contrary 
to  the  tenor  of  this  unconditional  engagement.  The  proceedings 
connected  with  the  enforcement  of  this  ensnaring  and  illegal  mea- 
sure were  of  the  most  flagitious  character,  involving  the  Presby- 
terians in  manifold  sufferings.  Having  tried  every  expedient 
short  of  extirpation — oaths,  fines,  forfeitures,  and  imprisonment — 
without  subduing  the  Scots,  he,  at  length,  conceived  the  idea  of 
banishing  them  altogether  out  of  the  kingdom.  The  result,  had 
he  succeeded,  would  have  secured  the  overthrow  of  Protestantism 
in  Ireland ;  for  the  few  scattered  Protestants  who  would  have  re- 
mained could  never  have  withstood  the  fui'ious  assaults  of  the 
Romanists  in  the  massacre  which  took  place  during  the  year  fol- 
lowing. His  object  was,  by  means  of  intrigue,  to  procure  from 
the  Irish  Parliament  a  recommendation  to  remove  the  Northern 
Presbyterians,  lest  they  should  unite  with  Argyle  and  aid  hira  in 
his  objects  in  Scotland,  or  lest  he  might  invade  Ulster,  and,  by 
their  means,  eflcct  an  insurrection  in  the  North.  Happily,  when 
Parliament  assembled,  the  state  of  affairs  was  such  that  the  project 
was  never  submitted;  and  it  only  remains  on  record  as  an  evidence 
of  his  reckless  and  unfeeling  despotism. 

Brown,  -witli  many  families  and  single  persons."  (Reid's  History,  vol.  i.  chap.  iv. 
p.  201.) 


INTRODUCTION.  55 

In  the  calamitous  period  of  1641,  the  Presbyterians  suffered 
severely,  and  many  were  treacherously  and  ruthlessly  butchered. 
Of  the  ministers,  a  number  had  Avithdrawn  or  been  banished  to 
Scotland,  and,  on  the  occasion  of  the  first  alarm  at  the  breaking 
out  of  the  storm,  a  season  was  given  for  preparation  ere  the  terrible 
visitation,  which  swept  over  the  country,  had  time  to  reach  the 
Scottish  settlers.  In  this  way  many  lives  were  providentially 
saved.  As  soon  as  peace  was  restored,  the  cause  of  Presbyte- 
rianism  began  to  flourish  again.  The  chaplains,  who  had  come 
to  Ulster  with  the  Scottish  regiments  which  had  been  drafted 
over  to  meet  the  emergency,  consented  to  remain  in  the  country. 
A  presbytery  was  regularly  organized,  sessions  were  formally 
established  in  many  congregations,  and  the  foundations  of  the 
church  were  laid  broad  and  deep  in  the  land.  A  fervent  appeal 
to  the  Assembly,  in  Edinburgh,  was  favourably  entertained,  and 
additional  ministers  were  sent  to  Ulster.  Of  these,  some  had  been 
in  Ireland  before.  They  were  all  men  of  deep  piety  and  fervent 
zeal,  and,  under  their  ministrations,  the  church  broke  forth  on  the 
right  hand  and  on  the  left.  In  many  districts  of  the  country,  where 
settlers  had  languished  for  the  ordinances  of  religion,  churches 
were  formed,  and  successful  efforts  were  made  for  the  enforcement 
of  strict  discipline  throughout  the  bounds  of  the  presbytery,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  practice  of  the  parent-church. 

On  the  abolition  of  the  monarchy,  by  the  execution  of  Charles  I., 
the  Ulster  Presbyterians  found  that  trials  were  still  in  store  for 
them;  and,  although  Prelacy  had  been  deprived  of  its  former 
power,  they  learned  that  the  downfall  of  their  old  enemies 
brought  them  little  relief.  They  occupied  a  middle  position  be- 
tween the  High-Church  Prelatic  party,  that  would  have  restored 
the  monarchy  on  the  principles  of  non-resistance  and  passive 
obedience,  and  the  Independents  and  other  sectaries,  who  would 
have  destroyed  all  royal  authority  in  the  state,  and  all  settled 
government,  whether  Episcopal  or  Presbyterian,  in  the  church. 
The  Presbyterians  were  anxious  for  a  constitutional  monarchy, 
with  proper  restraints  on  the  royal  authority,  and  with  adequate 
securities  on  the  subject  of  religion ;  while  they  adhered  to  the 
Covenants,  and  desired  the  establishment  of  a  Presbyterian  form 
of  government  in  the  church.  Accordingly,  they  did  not  assent 
to  the  policy  of  the  leaders  who  represented  the  authority  of  Crom- 
well in  Ireland ;  and,  on  his  own  arrival,  they  continued  steadily  to 
repudiate  his  views.  Forthwith,  the  presbytery  was  first  threatened 
by  the  army,  under  Yenables,  and,  subsequently,  a  considerable 
number  of  the  ministers  were  imprisoned  because  they  refused  to 
swear  to  an  engagement,  which  would  have  committed  them  to  an 
abandonment  of  their  well-known  principles.  Afterwards,  many 
of  them,  because  of  the  privations  which  they  had  to  encounter, 


66  INTRODUCTION". 

were  compelled  to  flee  to  Scothmd,  while  a  plan  was  concocted  for 
transporting  the  remainder  of  them  out  of  the  kingdom.  At  one 
time,  Cromwell  designed  to  remove  the  leading  Presbyterians  to 
Munster,  the  southern  province  of  the  island,  and  a  proclamation 

'to  that  efl'ect  was  made.*  Had  the  measure  been  carried  out,  it 
might  have  produced  a  powerful  effect  in  ameliorating  the  con- 
dition of  the  island,  as  the  North  would  not  have  been  surren- 
dered by  the  Scottish  population  ;  and  when  the  influence  of  that 
people  in  Ulster  is  contrasted  w'ith  the  want  of  energy  which  has 
been  displayed  by  the  Protestants  of  the  South,  it  is  perhaps  to 
be  regretted  that  the  design  of  Cromwell  was  not  executed. 

Although  Charles  II.  was  fully  aware,  that  the  Presbyterians 
laboured  with  great  zeal  and  success  in  promoting  his  restoration, 
yet,  having  determined  on  patronizing  Prelacy,  it  would  have 
manifested  weakness  to  expect  that  a  man  who  had  no  gratitude, 
and  who  never   remembered    his    benefactors,  would  interfere  to 

'deliver  his  friends  from  the  fresh  troubles  in  which  they  were  in- 
volved by  the  return  of  their  old  enemies  to  power.  About  this 
period  it  became  customary  with  the  gentry,  who  aimed  at  com- 
mendhig  themselves  to  the  bishops  and  their  friends  in  power,  to 
exhibit  their  zeal  by  inflicting  a  series  of  annoyances  of  an  irri- 
tating character  on  the  Presbyterian  ministers.  Foremost,  now, 
among  their  clerical  persecutors,  stood  the  celebrated  Jeremy 
Taylor,  Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor, f  who,  after  citing  the  breth- 

Ten  in  his  diocese  to  his  visitation,  proceeded,  in  the  most  summary 
fashion,  to  proclaim  thirty-six  of  their  churches  vacant.  His  ex- 
ample was  followed  by  others  of  the  Northern  prelates,  and,  in  a 
short  time,  no  less  than  sixty-one  ministers^  were  prohibited  from 


*  Vide  Copy  of  the  Proclamation,  in  Reid,  vol.  ii.  pp.  272-275. 

f  These  references  to  the  arbitrary  proceedings  of  the  bishops  in  Ireland,  and  to 
the  Prelatical  supporters  of  the  despotism  of  the  Stuarts  in  Scotland,  are  not  made 
"with  a  view  to  create  prejudice  against  Episcopacy.  In  Scotland  there  was  a 
Leighton,  and  in  Ireland  there  were  Ussher,  Bedell,  and  others,  who  were  tolerant 
and  benevolent  as  well  as  learned  men.  The  odium  of  these  unjust  and  tyrannical 
measures  belongs  to  the  men  and  to  the  spirit  of  the  age  in  which  they  lived.  In 
Scotland,  the  Parliament  never  represented  the  people.  The  General  Assembly 
was  the  court  in  which  the  popular  voice  was  heard.  Hence  it  came  to  pass  that, 
as  the  Assembly  was  opposed  to  Prelacy,  the  Scottish  bishops  threw  themselves 
into  the  arms  of  the  monarch,  and  sided  with  his  subservient  Parliament.  They 
sustained  the  King  because  he  supported  them.  In  Ireland,  also,  the  upholders 
of  Episcopacy  found  that  the  spread  of  Presbyterianism  would  certainly  limit 
the  powers  of  the  hierarchy,  and  eventually  succeed  in  abolishing  the  pecu- 
liar features  of  the  system,  if  its  progress  were  not  arrested ;  and  they  therefore 
lent  themselves  to  sustain  the  Court  against  a  people  whose  political  views  gave 
offence  to  the  monarch.  Thus,  in  Ireland,  as  well  as  in  Scotland,  the  bishops  saw 
that,  as  a  reward  for  their  services  in  maintaining  the  royal  authority,  the  power 
of  the  civil  arm  would  be  extended  to  sustain  themselves.  ( Vide  Hodge's  His- 
tory, p.  59,  note.) 

J  There  were  nearly  seventy  ministers,  associated  together  in  presbyteries,  at 


INTRODUCTION.  57 

exercising  any  of  their  functions  in  the  country.  Had  they 
merely  been  deprived  of  their  temporal  benefices,  they  would 
have  borne  the  injury  with  meekness ;  but  to  be  prohibited,  under 
pains  and  penalties,  from  preaching,  baptizing,  and  ministering,  in 
any  way,  to  their  flocks,  and  to  see  that  thus,  by  one  stroke, 
nearly  all  the  ministers  of  the  province  were  silenced,  was  to  them 
and  to  their  people  an  inexpressibly  severe  trial.* 

In  process  of  time,  a  season  of  relief  was  enjoyed  again,  and  a 
goodly  number  of  ministers  returned  to  their  charges ;  but  they 
had  scarcely  resumed  their  labours  ere  they  were  called  on  to 
encounter  renewed  persecutions.  Numbers  of  them  were  im- 
prisoned. In  different  districts  their  churches  were  closed ;  and, 
generally,  their  worship  was  interdicted,  while  the  penalties  of 
recusancy  were  inflicted  on  both  ministers  and  people,  by  an  in- 
tolerant, time-serving,  and  reckless  magistracy.  So  long  did  this 
deplorable  state  of  affairs  continue,  and  so  severe  were  the  dis- 
tresses of  the  ministers  and  the  members  of  their  charges  in  the 
counties  of  Donegal  and  Derry,  that,  in  the  year  1684,  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Presbytery  of  Laggan  intimated  to  their  brethren 
in  other  presbyteries  their  intention  of  removing  to  America,  "be- 
cause of  persecutions  and  general  poverty  abounding  in  those 
parts,  and  on  account  of  their  straits  and  little  or  no  access  to 
their  ministry,  "f 

During  the  reign  of  James  II.,  the  Presbyterians,  as  well  as  the 
other  Protestants  of  the  country,  were  called  on  to  contend  against 
the  efforts  which  were  then  made  to  establish  Popery  in  the  king- 
dom. Favoured  by  William  III.,  and  even  endowed  by  that 
prince,  yet  no  sooner  had  Anne  ascended  the  throne  than  the 
same  intolerant  High-Church  party  that  had  formerly  oppressed 
them  renewed  their  assaults.  At  one  time,  their  annoyances 
arose  from  embarrassments  about  the  marriages  which  the  minis- 

tbis  period.  Of  these,  seven  only  conformed  to  Prelacy,  and  sixty-one  remained 
faithful  to  their  principles.  Of  the  small  number  of  ministers  in  Ulster  who  were 
not  Presbyterian,  and  who  had  been  endowed  during  Cromwell's  time,  no  fewer 
than  eleven  appear  to  have  conformed  to  Prelacy. 

*  "These  ministers  enjoyed  the  painful,  though  honourable,  pre-eminence  of 
being  the  first  to  suifer  in  the  three  kingdoms,  the  Non-conformists  of  England  not 
being  ejected  till  the  month  of  August  in  the  following  year,  nor  the  Presbyterians 
of  Scotland  till  the  subsequent  month  of  October,  1662.  The  reason  of  the  minis- 
ters being  ejected  in  Ireland  so  long  before  their  brethren  in  the  sister  kingdom 
was  this : — The  old  form  of  church  government  and  woi-ship  had  never  been 
abolished  by  law  in  Ireland ;  and  therefore,  at  the  Restoration,  Prelacy,  being 
still  the  legal  Establishment,  was  immediately  recognised  and  enforced.  Both  in 
England  and  in  Scotland  it  had  been  abolished  by  acts  of  their  respective  Parlia- 
ments, and  the  Directory  substituted  in  room  of  the  Common  Prayer  Book.  It 
was  necessary,  therefore,  that  these  acts  should  be  first  repealed,  and  new  acts  of 
Parliament  passed,  before  the  bishops  had  power  to  proceed  against  those  who  did 
not  conform."     (Reid,  vol.  ii.  p.  350,  and  note  16  on  same  page.) 

J  From  MS.  Minutes,  quoted  by  Reid,  vol.  ii.  p.  425. 


58  INTRODUCTION. 

ters  were  accustomed  to  celebrate  among  their  own  people.  At 
another  time,  they  were  assailed  because  their  ministers  obeyed 
their  presbyteries  by  preaching  in  vacant  charges ;  while  the  most 
absurd  charges  of  disloyalty  were  urged  against  them  in  virulent 
pamphlets,  and  often  made  the  subject  of  legal  investigation  before 
unscrupulous  magistrates.  To  such  lengths  were  these  harsh  pro- 
ceedings carried,  that  a  presbytery,  which  had  met  for  the  pur- 
pose of  forming  a  new  congregation,  were  arrested  and  indicted 
for  a  riot,  while  they  were  sitting  peaceably  engaged  in  the 
discharge  of  their  duties,  making  provision  for  the  spiritual  edifi- 
cation of  their  own  members.  Add  to  these  trials  the  compli- 
cated insults  and  vexations  which  flowed  from  the  adoption  by  the 
Government  of  the  "Sacramental  Test-Act,"  an  act  which,  in  its 
operation,  was  most  oppressive,  and  it  will  not  seem  strange  that, 
at  this  period,  considerable  numbers  of  the  Presbyterians  began  to 
seek  relief  by  emigration  to  the  colonies.  In  England,  the  Dis- 
senters enjoyed  full  security  for  their  religious  observances ;  but 
in  Ireland,  and  among  the  Presbyterians,  the  disabilities  created 
by  this  act  extended  to  all  civil  and  military  offices  held  under  the 
Crown.  In  fact,  no  Presbyterian  could  hold  any  situation  in  the 
army,  the  navy,  the  customs,  the  excise,  or  the  post-office,  in  any 
court  of  law,  or  officiate  as  a  magistrate,  without  conforming  to  the 
Established  Church. 

After  the  accession  of  the  House  of  Hanover  to  the  throne, 
the  Ulster  Presbyterians  continued  to  endure  many  grievances  of 
the  most  mortifying  and  irritating  character,  even  subsequent  to 
the  period  when  their  worship  was  legalized  by  the  "Act  of  Tole- 
ration." Many  of  the  largest  estates  were  in  the  hands  of  Epis- 
copalians, who  utterly  refused  to  allow  Presbyterian  churches  to 
be  erected  on  their  properties.  To  enforce  conformity,  many 
landlords  exacted  a  higher  rental  from  Presbyterians  than  they 
demanded  from  their  Episcopal  tenantry;  and,  as  soon  as  any 
yielded  to  this  pressure,  and  joined  the  Established  Church,  their 
rents  were  reduced  to  a  just  standard.  Though  constituting  two- 
thirds  of  the  population  of  Ulster,  no  gentleman  of  their  com- 
munion could  fill  the  office  of  magistrate  or  sheriff,  and  even  their 
teachers  had  much  difficulty  in  conducting  their  schools.  At 
length,  on  the  accession  of  George  II.,  such  changes  occurred  in 
many  districts  of  Ulster,  that  emigration  to  America  began  to  be 
carried  out  on  a  scale  far  beyond  any  thing  known  in  the  history 
of  the  province.  After  the  Revolution,  and  with  a  view  to  en- 
courage the  agricultural  prosperity  of  the  North,  many  of  the 
landholders  had  given  leases  to  their  tenants  in  conformity  with 
the  article  in  the  "  Condition"  to  which  we  have  already  referred. 
Many  of  these  leases  were  only  for  thirty-one  years ;  and,  now 
that   they   had   expired,    the   landlords    took    advantage   of    the 


INTRODUCTION.  59\ 

tenants,  and  raised  the  rents  of  their  holdings  to  an  unwonted 
sum,  because  of  the  increased  value  of  the  lands,  which  had  been 
improved  by  the  tenants'  skill  and  industry.  Add  to  this  the 
annoyance  of  a  proportionate  increase  of  tithe  paid  to  a  hier- 
archy and  clergy  who  not  only  rendered  the  Presbyterians  no 
spiritual  benefits  in  return,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  were  their 
most  determined  oppressors, — and,  still  further,  the  distresses 
arising  from  a  number  of  uncongenial  seasons,  which  produced 
scanty  harvests, — and  it  will  not  be  thought  strange  that  emi- 
gration should  be  hailed  as  a  boon  by  any  people  so  unfavourably 
circumstanced. 

Addressing  the  Secretary  of  State  in  England,  Archbishop 
Boulter  gives  a  melancholy  picture  of  the  condition  to  which  the 
Northern  Presbyterians  had  been  reduced.  According  to  his 
statement,  a  number  of  agents  from  the  colonies,  and  masters  of 
vessels,  aware  of  the  distress  which  existed  and  of  the  dissatis- 
faction which  was  felt  by  the  people  with  the  administration  of 
law,  had  travelled  through  the  country,  pointing  out  the  advan- 
tages which  might  be  enjoyed  by  those  who  would  resolve  to  cross 
the  Atlantic  and  seek  that  peace  and  prosperity  which  were 
ofiered  in  an  American  home.  The  archbishop  also  shows  that, 
in  three  years,  no  less  than  four  thousand  two  hundred  men, 
women,  and  children  had  deserted  the  country,  and  that,  of  these, 
no  less  than  three  thousand  one  hundred  had  gone  in  the  summer 
of  1728.*  The  wisdom  of  the  Head  of  the  church  in  all  these 
providences  is  abundantly  manifest.  Had  the  Ulster  Presbyte- 
rians been  permitted  to  abandon  their  country  at  the  time  Avhen 
Livingston  and  Wallace  were  deputed  to  prepare  for  carrying 
out  the  scheme,  their  numbers  were  then  so  few  that  a  small  body 
only  could  have  reached  the  colonies,  while  it  is  probable  that  a 
weak  remnant  only,  unable  to  contend  with  the  trials  which  were 
still  to  be  encountered,  would  have  remained  at  home.  Had  the 
voyage  of  "The  Eagle-Wing"  succeeded,  a  similar  result  must 
have  taken  place.  Ulster  would  never,  in  that  case,  have  become 
the  great  nursery  for  our  church  which  it  has  been  for  a  century 
and  a  quarter,  sending  off  the  excess  of  its  population  from  year 
to  year  to  strengthen  the  cause  which  had  been  established  on 
this  great  continent,  while  the  parent-stock,  which  remained  in 
its  own  land,  continued  to  grow  and  prosper.  The  church  had 
now,  however,  attained  to  a  considerable  magnitude ;  and,  from 
this  time  forward,  the  American  colonies  presented  attractions  to 
the  Ulster  Presbyterians  which  the  lapse  of  time  and  the  occur- 


*  Boulter's  "  Letters,"  vol.  i.  pp.  260-261.  Writing  in  the  spring  of  next  year,  | 
be  says,  "Tliere  are  now  seven  ships  at  Belfast,  carrying  otF  about  one  thousand  ' 
passengers." 


60  INTRODUCTION. 

rence  of  many  social  changes  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean  have  not 
served  to  diminish.  The  tide  which  then  commenced  to  flow  has 
never  ceased  to  set  in  the  same  direction,  until,  at  the  present 
time,  it  is  probable  that  the  descendants  of  the  Irish  Presbyte- 
rians in  the  United  States  are  threefold  more  numerous  than  the 
whole  Presbyterian  population  now  in  Ireland.* 

The  circumstances  here  enumerated  will  account  for  the  fact, 
that  a  greater  number  of  settlers  arrived  in  this  country  from 
Scotland  than  from  Ireland  during  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  that  afterwards  this  proportion  was  decidedly  re- 
versed, and  the  majority  were  supplied  from  Ireland.  The 
troubles  in  Scotland  were  mainly  terminated  by  the  Revolution 
settlement;  but  many  of  the  grievances  of  the  Ulster  Presbyte- 
rians were  only  then  commencing.  In  Scotland,  the  diflSculties 
connected  with  the  tenure  of  land  did  not  exist,  while  it  was 
chiefly  after  the  Revolution  that  the  evils  of  the  landlord  system 
in  Ireland  began  to  be  fully  experienced.f  These  trials  were 
endured  by  the  people  of  Ulster  until  patience  became  exhausted ; 
and,  as  hope  died  out,  the  disheartened  people  began — at  first  in 
small  numbers,  and  then  in  greater  bodies — to  desert  their  homes. 
Although  a  goodly  number  of  emigrants  had  gradually  been 
leaving  the  country  for  the  colonies,  and  even  Makemie  and 
others  had  commenced  their  labours  among  the  Scotch  and 
Ulster  settlers  before  the  Revolution,  still,  it  was  after  that  period 
that  the  great  emigration-movement  commenced,  which,  at  length, 
attained  to  such  a  magnitude  that  certain  leading  authorities;};  in 
Ireland  began  to  dread  the  removal  of  the  entire  Presbyterian 
population  of  Ulster.  §  For  instance,  six  thousand  Irish  are 
reported  as  having  come  to  this  country  in  1729,  and,  before  the 
middle  of  the  century,  nearly  twelve  thousand  arrived  annually 
for  several  years. ||  Of  these,  the  greater  number  arrived  in 
Pennsylvania,  although  many  of  them  afterwards  removed  to  Vir- 
ginia and  the  Carolinas.  At  the  same  time,  Charleston  had  be- 
come a  favourite  port  of  arrival  for  Irish  and  Scottish  settlers, 
many  of  whom  found  their  way  out  into  the  agricultural  districts 


*  Vide  Reid,  vol.  iii.  p.  514,  note  55. 

■j-  Many  of  these  evils  still  exist  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and,  for  several 
years  past,  an  effort  has  been  made  to  settle  the  questions  in  dispute  between  the 
landlords  and  the  cultivators  of  the  soil.  The  measure  is  popularly  known  as 
the  "Tenant-right"  movement. 

X  Wodrow's  MS.  Letters,  xx.,  No.  129. 

§  Vide  Hodge's  History,  p.  65;  Holmes's  Annals,  vol.  ii.  p.  123.  Holmes  says, 
that,  "in  the  first  fortnight  of  1773,  three  thousand  five  hundred  passengers  ar- 
rived in  Pennsylvania  from  Ireland.  In  October,  a  ship  arrived  from  Gal  way.  in 
the  North  (west)  of  Ireland,  with  eighty  passengers,  and  a  ship  from  Belfast,  with 
one  hundred  and  seventy  passengers."  Vol.  ii.  p.  305. 

II  Proud's  History  of  Pennsylvania,  vol.  ii.  pp.  273-274. 


INTRODUCTION.  61 

of  North  and  South  Carolina,  and  numbers  of  the  remainder  con- 
stituted the  early  settlers  of  Georgia.* 

The  religious  views  of  these  founders  of  our  church — whether 
they  came  from  Scotland  or  from  Ireland — were  equally  decided 
and  well  known.  They  steadfastly  adhered  "  to  the  form  of 
sound  words"  laid  down  in  the  Westminster  Standards,  which  they 
held  to  be  the  fullest,  the  clearest,  and  the  most  scriptural  ex- 
hibition of  the  truths  of  revelation  which  had  been  drawn  up  for 
the  use  of  the  church  in  any  age.  All  the  influences  which  had 
been  brought  to  bear  on  the  Scottish  population,  from  the  reign 
of  James  I.  till  that  of  William  III.,  had  never  infected  them 
witb  the  leaven  of  Pelagian  or  Socinian  error.  The  Moderatism 
which  afterwards  grew  up  in  the  country,  and  produced  such  a 
harvest  of  evil,  was  a  plant  of  later  growth.  The  seed  of  this 
Upas-tree  was  sown  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  settlement, 
when  the  "compromise"  or  "comprehension"  was  assented  to, 
which  allowed  the  ijitruded  Prelatists  to  remain  in  the  parishes 
which  they  then  held  in  the  Scottish  church.  In  Ireland,  the 
population  were  equally  Calvinistic  and  Evangelical.  The  allure- 
ments of  place  and  power,  the  fascinations  of  the  national  Esta- 
blishment, the  tyranny  of  the  Government,  the  continued  perse- 
cutions of  the  hierarchy,  and  the  insolent  conduct  of  the  gentry, 
for  upwards  of  a  century,  were  powerless  to  seduce  or  to  drive 
them  from  their  integrity.  The  Ulster  Scots  maintained  their 
principles  through  the  storm  as  well  as  in  the  calm,  resisting 
alike  the  minions  of  the  Stuarts  during  the  monarchy,  and  the 
proffered  endowments  or  the  fi'owns  of  the  officials  of  Cromwell  iu 
the  days  of  the  commonwealth.  They  could  leave  the  country,  but 
they  could  not  abandon  their  principles.  No  prelatic  forms  had 
crept  into  the  system  of  church  government  to  which  they  were 
attached,  and  they  were  equally  free  from  Arminian  views  ;  while 
no  elements  of  Congregationalism  had  been  adopted  into  their 
discipline.  They  were  as  much  opposed  to  Independency,  on  the 
one  hand,  as  they  were  to  Prelacy,  on  the  other ;  and  that  form 
of  church  government  which  they  loved,  and  for  the  maintain- 
ance  of  which  they  had  testified  in  days  of  trial,  they  brought 
with  them  to  these  shores.  Politically  and  religiously,  they 
were  in  a  strait  between  three  parties,  and  from  the  enmity 
of  each  they  had  to  calculate  on  ill-will  and  suffering.  The 
Papists  hated  them,  as  being  heretics,  and  as  intruders  on  a 
soil  which  formed  the  heritage  of  their  fathers.  The  Prelatists 
trampled  upon  them,  as  a  stiff-necked  generation,  because  they 
refused  to  acknowledge  the  lawfulness  of  the  power  which  the 


*  Holmes,  vol.  ii.  pp.  131,  142. 


62  INTRODUCTION. 

heads  of  the  church  assumed.  And  the  civil  rulers  of  the  day  sub- 
jected them  to  penalties,  because  tlicy  protested  agiilnst  tyranny, 
and  demanded  the  exercise  of  constitutional  power  in  the  state. 

Even  as  early  as  1559  we  find  Willock — the  colleague  of  Knox 
— propounding  to  the  Convention  of  Estates,*  in  Edinburgh,  the 
doctrine,  "  that  the  power  of  rulers  was  limited  both  by  reason 
and  by  Scripture,  and  that  they  might  be  deprived  of  it  upon 
valid  grounds."  To  these  sentiments  Knox  assented,  with  certain 
limitations,  not  of  the  principle,  but  merely  to  guard  against  pas- 
sion or  prejudice  being  allowed  to  rule  in  the  practical  application 
of  the  principle  in  individual  cases.  The  Assembly  of  1649  de- 
clared "  that,  as  magistrates  and  their  power  are  ordained  of  ^od, 
so  they  are,  in  the  exercise  thereof,  not  to  walk  after  their  own 
will,  but  according  to  the  law  of  equity  and  righteousness ;  that 
a  boundless  and  unlimited  power  is  to  be  acknowledged  in  no 
king  or  magistrate ;  and  that  there  is  a  mutual  obligation  betwixt 
the  king  and  his  people, — each  of  them  is  tied  to  the  other  for  the 
performance  of  mutual  and  reciprocal  duties."  From  these  posi- 
tions the  Scottish  people  were  never  driven.  To  these  sentiments, 
and  to  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  Covenants,  both  the  Scot- 
tish and  the  Ulster  Presbyteriansf  adhered  during  that  long  war- 
fare, in  which  they  resisted  the  power  of  the  Stuart  dynasty,  and 
in  which  they  ultimately  triumphed,  while  the  faithless  race  that 
had  oppressed  them  was  hurled  from  tlie  throne. 

The  training  through  which,  in  Scotland  and  Ireland,  our 
emigrant  fathers  had  been  conducted  was  admirably  adapted  to 
constitute  them  wise  and  energetic  founders  of  new  states.  They 
•were  lovers  of  liberty,  but  they  respected  law ;  and  it  was  a  por- 
tion of  their  creed  that  the  office  of  the  civil  magistrate  is  of 
God.  Such  a  people  were  eminently  qualified  for  establishing  and 
maintaining  the  institutions  of  a  free  country.  All  national  asso- 
ciations of  men  require  the  influence  of  a  restraining  power.  An 
atheistical  or  an  immoral  people  may  be  controlled  by  the  pre- 

*  Vide  Hetherington,  3cl  ed.,  Edinbui-gh,  p.  25. 

f  When  the  Irish  Presbyterians  were  charged  with  disloyalty  by  one  of  their 
many  traducers,  in  the  reign  of  Anne,  their  defender,  Kirkpatrick,  justifies  their 
views  by  an  appeal  to  the  principles  which  placed  William  III.  on  the  tlirone.  lie 
quotes  the  sentiments  of  Iloadly  as  expressing  Presbyterian  views.  Hoadly  had 
received  the  thanks  of  the  House  of  Commons  for  his  writings ;  and  Kirkpatrick 
quotes,  from  the  sermon  preached  by  him  before  the  Lord-Mayor  of  London,  the 
following: — "If,  therefore,  they  (;'.  e.  magistrates)  use  their  power,  to  the  hurt 
mid  prejudice  of  human  society,  tliey  act  not,  in  any  such  instances,  by  authority 
from  God,  but  contrary  to  His  will.  Nor  can  they,  in  such  instances,  be  called 
his  vicegerents  without  the  highest  profaneness :  and,  therefore,  to  oppose  them 
in  such  cases  cannot  be  to  oppose  the  authority  of  God ;  nay,  a  passive  non- 
resistance  would  appear,  upon  examination,  to  be  a  much  greater  opposition  to  the 
wiU  of  God  than  the  contrary."  [Vide  Kirkpatrick's  "Presbyterian  Loyalty," 
Belfast,  1713,  p.  4.) 


INTRODUCTION.  63 

sence  of  a  military  force  which  represents  and  carries  out  the 
will  of  an  autocrat;  but  a  moral,  religious,  and  educated  people, 
among  whom  the  fear  of  God  dwells  and  the  influences  of  religion 
are  in  full  operation,  will  require  little  external  force  or  compul- 
sion to  secure  the  observance  of  order  or  obedience  to  just  and 
equitable  laws.  Their  religion  and  their  politics  both  take  hold 
on  the  sanctions  of  eternity ;  and  in  their  integrity,  their  obedience 
to  law,  and  their  respect  for  those  who  rule,  it  will  be  seen  that 
true  religion  is  the  only  safe  foundation  on  which  the  edifice  of 
civil  society,  especially  in  a  republic,  can  be  erected  with  any 
rational  prospect  of  permanence. 

Such  were  our  emigrant  fathers.  "  Their  moral  principles 
were  derived  from  the  words  of  Him  who  lives  and  abides  forever ; 
and  the  commands  of  God,  and  the  awful  retributions  of  eternity, 
gave  force  to  these  principles,  which  became  a  living  power  and 
a  controlling  influence.  The  time  has  but  just  passed  when  the 
schoolmaster  from  Ireland  taught  the  children  of  the  Valley  of 
Virginia  and  the  upper  part  of  the  Carolinas  as  they  taught  in 
the  mother-country, — when  the  children  and  youth  at  school  re- 
cited the  Assembly's  Catechism  once  a  week  and  read  parts  of  the 
Bible  every  day.  The  circle  of  their  instruction  was  circum- 
scribed ;  but  the  children  were  taught  to  speak  the  truth  and 
defend  it,  to  keep  a  good  conscience,  and  fear  God, — the  founda- 
tion of  good  citizens  and  great  men.  Wherever  they  settled  in 
America,  besides  the  common  schools,  they  turned  their  attention 
to  high-schools  and  academies,  and  to  colleges,  to  educate  men 
for  all  the  departments  of  life,  carrying  in  their  emigration  the 
deep  conviction,  that  without  sound  education  there  could  be  no 
permanence  in  religious  or  civil  institutions,  or  any  pure  and  un- 
debased  enjoyments  of  domestic  life."* 

This  work,  in  the  body  of  which  and  in  the  biographical  depart- 
ment an  attempt  is  made  to  record  the  incidents  of  the  lives  of  a 
goodly  number  of  those  honoured  men  and  to  chronicle  their 
labours  in  founding  our  Zion,  will  form  an  enduring  monument  to 
their  intelligence,  their  social  worth,  and  their  earnest  religious 
convictions.  The  seed  which  they  sowed  in  troublous  times,  and 
which  they  watered  with  their  tears,  has,  under  the  divine  bless- 
ing, grown  up  a  goodly  tree,  and  prospered,  until  its  branches  are 
spreading  out  and  overshadowing  this  fair  land  !  "  The  memory 
of  the  just  is  blessed."     Esto  perpetua  ! 

William  Blackwood. 

Maech,  1857. 

*  Foote's  Sketches  of  North  Carolina,  pp.  122,  123. 


PART  I. 


THK 


insl)|ti;rian  Cljurdj  in  Jmcrica. 


The  northern  district  of  L*eland  was  to  the  Presbyterians 
of  Scotland  in  the  days  of  James  and  Charles  what  New  Eng- 
land was  to  the  Puritans, — a  refuge  from  oppression  ;  and  the 
intelligence,  the  integrity,  and  the  prosperity  of  Ulster  is  the 
memorial  of  their  wisdom  and  their  piety.  There  was  a  time 
when  the  most  judicious  ministers  thought  that  they  must 
leave  their  new  homes  and  lead  their  brethren  to  the  wild 
tracts  of  America  as  once  they  had  gone  with  them  to  the 
devastated  and  confiscated  fields  of  Irish  rapine.  They  took 
the  Eagle's  "Wing*  to  sj)eed  them  across  the  ocean  ;  but  the  sea 
wrought  and  was  tempestuous,  and,  after  many  disasters,  they 
abandoned  their  project.f  Bishop  Bramhall,  in  Latin  verse, 
derided  the  return  of  the  Puritanical  Argo  without  the  golden 
fleece.  They  were  not  sufiered  to  come  hither;  there  they 
were  to  build  the  church  of  God,  and  be,  though  not  imme- 
diately, yet  really,  the  instruments  of  planting  religion  in  our 
land ;  for  the  individuals  who,  single-handed,  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  our  church,  owed  to  Ulster  their  birth,  and  to  her 


*  1G37.  Reid's  Hist.  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland. 

f  The  saintly  Rutherford  wrote,  in  1637,  to  John  Stuart,  Provost  of  Ayr: — 
"I  would  not  have  you  think  it  strange  that  your  journey  to  New  England  has  got 
such  a  dash.  It  hath  indeed  made  my  heart  heavy  ;  but  I  know  that  it  is  no 
dumb  providence,  but  a  speaking  one  whereby  the  Lord  speaks  his  mind  to  you, 
though  for  the  present  ye  do  not  well  understand  what  he  saith.  However  it  be, 
He  that  sitteth  on  the  floods  hath  shown  you  his  marvellous  kindness  in  the  great 
depths.  .  .  .  Let  me  hear  from  you,  for  I  am  anxious  what  to  do.  If  I  saw  a  call 
for  New  England  I  would  follow  it."     90th  Letter  also. 

5  65 


66  WEBSTER'S   HISTORY   OF   THE 

pastors  and  faithful  teachers  the  training  in  knowledge  and 
goodness  which  made  them  benefactors  of  this  whole  nation. 

In  1641,  Mr.  Castell,  the  Parson  of  Cortenhall,  published* 
a  plan  for  introducing  the  gospel  into  the  colonies.  It  was 
approved  by  seventy  of  the  Westminster  divines,  by  Alexander 
Henderson  and  the  Scottish  Commissioners.  But  forty  years 
passed,  and  nothing  was  done  by  the  Establishment  or  the 
Dissenters.  The  Church  of  Scotland  at  that  period,  like  the 
Church  of  Ireland,  had  too  many  foes,  to  say  nothing  of  her 
poverty,  to  attempt  the  extension  of  her  doctrine  and  her 
discipline  in  parts  beyond  sea. 

But  the  folly  and  the  cruelty  of  the  Government  contributed 
to  effect  a  result  which  the  Church  was  unable  to  accomplish. 
As  in  the  Apostolic  age  persecution  led  to  the  disciples  being 
scattered  abroad  throughout  Judea  and  Samaria ;  so  the  oppres- 
sion of  men  in  high  places  in  Britain  became  the  occasion  of 
settling  the  wilds  of  America  mth  the  fathers  of  our  Presby- 
terian Zion. 

Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Dunbar,  the  victorious  gene- 
ral sent  the  Scots  prisoners  by  shiploads  to  the  Plantations  to 
be  sold.  A  list  of  those  sent  in  one  vessel  is  preserved  in  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Collections.  After  the 
Restoration  the  same  method  was  pursued  by  the  king ;  and 
many  of  those  concerned  in  the  risings  at  Pentland  and  Both- 
well  were  consigned  to  servitude  beyond  the  Atlantic.  A 
stream  of  emigration  flowed  from  the  oppressed  congrega- 
tions, and  Scottish  merchants  and  physicians  were  found  from 
New  York  to  Charleston,  and  throughout  the  West  Indies. 
Robert  Livingston  came  to  'New  York  in  1672t  with  his 
nephew.  He  was  a  son  of  the  venerable  minister  of  Ancrum, 
who  was  banished  to  Holland,  and  whose  name  is  linked  in 
honourable  remembrance  with  the  signal  refreshing  at  the 
Kirk  of  Shotts. 

Between  1670  and  1680,  Scottish  Presbyterians  settled  on 
the  eastern  branch  of  Elizabeth  River,  near  Norfolk,  in 
Virginia,  and  had  a  minister  from  Ireland,  who  died  in 
August,  1683. 

In  the  lower  counties  of  Maryland,  on  the  Eastern  Shore, 

*  Reprinted  in  Force's  Collections. 

f  Sedgwick's  Life  of  Governor  William  Livingston. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  67 

they  established  themselves,  during  the  persecution  m  their 
native  land.  They  had  meeting-houses*  in  Snow  Hill,  Pitt's 
Creek,  Wicomico,  Monokin,  and  Rehoboth,  at  least  twenty 
years  before  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Their  appli- 
cation is  the  first  that  is  known  to  have  been  made  to  the  British 
churches  for  a  minister.  In  December,  1680,  a  letter  from 
Colonel  Stevensf  was  laid  before  Laggan  Presbytery,  in 
Ireland,  to  send  a  minister  to  the  people  in  Maryland,  beside 
Virginia."! 

The  Scottish  noblemen  and  gentlemen  who  opposed  the 
introduction  of  arbitrary  power  under  the  guise  of  prelacy, 
were  in  close  correspondence  with  Shaftesbury  and  other 
leaders  of  the  Country  party  against  the  Court.  While 
seeking  his  aid  and  counsel  to  effect  a  political  change  at 
home,  they  embarked  also  in  his  scheme  of  settling  Carolina.  § 
The  king  signified,  toward  the  end  of  1682,  to  his  council  in 
Scotland,  that  Sir  John  Cochran,  of  Ochiltree,  and  Sir  George 
Campbell,  of  Cesnock,  had  been  sent  up  to  him  as  commis- 
sioners about  the  project,  and  he  recommends  the  council  to 
encourage  them.  These  commissioners  contracted  with  the 
lords-proprietors  of  Carolina  for  a  county  of  thirty-two  square 
vplats  of  twelve  thousand  acres,  with  a  quit-rent  of  one  penny 
an  acre,  and  engaged  to  advance  ten  pounds  for  each  hundred 
acres  before  October,  1682,  and  ten  thousand  pounds  besides, 
if  necessary  for  charges.  Among  the  thirty-six  "  under- 
takers" were  the  Lords  Callender,  Cardross,  Haddington,  and 
Tester,  with  Sir  Patrick  Hume,  of  Polwarth,  and  the  eminent 
lawyer  Sir  George  Lockhart.  Their  agent  in  London  was  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Ferguson,  who  was  constantly  engaged  in  schemes 
against  the  government,  always  detected  and  never  punished. 
It  was  suspected  and  openly  charged  at  the  trial  of  Baillie  of 
Jerviswood,  that  there  was  no  purpose  to  promote  emigration, 


*  Spence's  Early  History. 

f  Colonel  William  Stevens  died  23d  Dece^  tber,  1687,  aged  57,  at  his  residence  in 
Rehoboth,  Md. ;  having  been  for  twenty-two  years  a  judge  of  the  county  court 
and  one  of  Lord  Baltimore's  council,  and  a  deputy-lieutenant  of  the  province. 
(From  his  tombstone^  by  Eev.  J.  L.  Vallandingham.) 

J  Reid's  History  of  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland. 

^  Wodrow.  In  1685,  "  the  great  and  good  Earl  of  Cassilis,"  who  sat  in  West- 
minster Assembly,  proposed  to  leave  Scotland.  Archibald  Kennedy,  a  merchant  in 
New  York,  returned  at  a  later  date,  having  succeeded  to  the  earldom. 


68  WEBSTER'S    HISTORY   OF   THE 

and  that  it  was  a  cover  of  the  designs  which  were  defeated  by  the 
discover}'  of  the  Kye-liouse  plot  and  by  Monmouth's  overthrow. 

After  the  defeat  at  Bothwell,  the  king*  allowed  the  pri- 
soners who  made  acknowledgment  of  repentance  to  be  trans- 
ported, and  great  numbers  were  banished  in  the  summer  of 
1684.  Two-and-twenty  were  sent  over  to  Carolina  in  one 
ship,  principally  from  Glasgow,  Eaglesham,  and  Eastwood. 
AVith  them  sailed  William  Dunlop,  a  probationer,  and  Henry 
Erskine,  Lord  Cardross,  leaving  their  families.  After  a 
voyage  of  great  hardship,  they  reached  Charleston  in  the  fall. 
The  settlement  was  at  Port  Royal,  at  the  mouth  of  Broad 
River.  "The  place  was  sickish;"  and  as  early  as  1686,  "the 
English  were  very  much  off  that  plantation  of  Carolina." 
Adverse,  disheartening  circumstances  caused  Cardrossf  to  go 
over  to  Holland,  and  Dunlop  returned  on  the  accession  of 
William,  and  was  made  principal  of  Glasgow  University. 
Scarce  a  tradition  of  the  entei-prise  remains. 

Presbyterians  from  Fifeshire,  under  the  auspices  of  Colonel 
Kinian  Beall,|  took  up  their  abode  between  the  Potomac 
and  Patuxent,  during  the  time  of  Scotland's  trouble,  and 
formed  the  congregations  of  Marlborough  and  Bladensburg. 
Thomas  Wilson, §  an  English  Friend,  in  1691,  coming  north, 
after  preaching  in  Virginia  and  Carolina,  was  invited  to  his 
house  by  "  an  ancient,  comely  man,  an  elder  among  the 
Presbyterians,"  who  lent  him  his  boat  next  morning  across 
the  Potomac,  on  his  way  to  Patuxent. 

Scotsmen  joined  with  Penn  and  others  in  the  purchase 
of  the  Jerseys.  Fair  were  the  terms  and  ^svise  the  consti- 
tution promulgated  by  the  proprietors;  numbers  removed 
from  Scotland  to  East  Jersey,  taking  many  servants  with 
them,  having  received  as  a  gift  from  the  council  their 
brethren  who  could  not  comply  with  the  outrageous  measures 
of  the  government.  Among  others  who  removed  was  George 
Scot,||  of  Pitlochie,  who  had  suffered  grievously  by  fine  and 
imprisonment  for  his  non-conformity.     He  was  the  son  of  Sir 

*  Wodrow.  f  He  was  created,  on  the  Revolution,  Earl  of  Buchan. 

J  He  was  a  prominent  man  in  the  colony  in  1G89,  when  he  joined  in  representing 
to  the  council  that  there  was  no  ground  for  suspecting  the  Papists  of  a  plot. 
MSS.  Maryland  Hist.  Soc 

§  Friends'  Library.  j|  Wodrow. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  69 

John  Scot,  of  Scotstarbet,  and  a  man  of  large  estate.  In  1674, 
he,  with  several  gentlemen,  appeared  before  the  council,  and, 
on  their  acknowledgment  of  having  been  present  when  John 
Welsh  and  other  "outed"  ministers  preached,  they  were  fined 
and  ordered  to  lie  in  prison  till  payment  was  made.  Pitlo- 
chie's  fine  was  one  thousand  pounds  Scots, — the  heaviest  of  all ; 
and  for  his  alleged  impertinent  and  outrageous  carriage  before 
the  council,  five  hundred  merks  were  added  to  it.  Would 
they  have  taken  the  oath  of  supremacy,  the  fine  would  have 
been  remitted ;  they  remained  in  prison  till  it  was  paid. 
"By  and  attour"  all  this,  he  was  fined  in  the  next  month  one 
thousand  pounds  for  harbouring  that  excellent  man,  Mr. 
Welsh.  After  this,  he  was  intercommuned,  and,  being  seized 
for  attending  conventicles,  was  sent  by  the  council,  February 
8,  1677,  to  the  Bass,  and  remained  prisoner  till  the  beginning 
of  October,  when  he  was  released  on  giving  bond  to  appear 
when  called.  His  wife,  the  daughter  of  that  eminent 
Christian,  William  Rigg,*  of  Aitherney,  not  appearing  when 
cited  by  the  council,  was  fined  one  thousand  merks  for  fre- 
quenting conventicles,  and  was  intercommuned.  Pitlochie, 
on  leaving  the  Bass,  gave  security  in  ten  thousand  merks  that 
he  would  confine  himself  to  his  own  lands,  and  not  keep 
conventicles.  He  was  before  the  council  May  14,  1679,  on 
a  charge  of  having  violated  his  engagement ;  he  was  ordered 
to  pay  three  thousand  merks  and  confine  himself  to  his  own 
lands,  the  rest  of  the  penalty  in  the  bond  being  superseded 
"until  they  see  how  the  said  George  carries  in  time  coming." 
He  was  fined  on  the  23d  of  January  following  seven  hundred 
pounds  for  not  attending  musters  and  the  king's  host.  In 
1683,  he  was  indicted  for  treason,  rebellion,  and  favours  done 
to  rebels  ;  but,  being  out  of  the  kingdom,  the  prosecution  was 
dropped.  He  was  however,  on  his  return,  sent  to  the  Bass. 
He  petitioned  the  council  to  be  let  out  to  remove  to  East 
Jersey,  promising  to  take  with  him  his  fellow-prisoner,  the 
Rev.  Archibald  Riddel,  and  to  be  "caution  for  him"  in  five 
thousand  merks.  He  was  released  in  the  spring  of  1684,  and 
published  an  appealf  to  the  Presbyterians,  showing  them  the 
advantages  of  settling  there,  especially  of  having  the  free 

*  Livingston's  Memoirs. 

f  Printed  in  Whitehead's  East  Jersey  under  the  Proprietaries. 


70  WEBSTER'S   HISTORY  OF  THE 

enjoyment  of  their  own  mode  of  worship,  which  was  no  longer 
tolerated  at  home.  The  appeal  was  seconded  by  letters  from 
Scotsmen  already  established  there,  particularly  from  James 
Johnston,  of  Spotswood.  Beside: Mr.  liiddel,  the  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Aisdale  accompanied  him,  but  died  at  sea.  The  Hev. 
Thomas  Patterson,*  who  had  been  "outed"  from  the  parish 
of  Borthwick  by  the  council,  in  August,  1662,  and  who  seems 
to  have  escaped  the  notice  of  the  persecutors,  was  expected  to 
go  also;  but  it  is  not  known  whether  he  went.  The  council 
recommendedf  the  king  to  grant  Pitlochie  "  a  gratification," 
in  consideration  of  services  rendered  by  his  father,  and 
gave  him  warrant,  February  11,  1685,  to  transport  from  the 
prisons  of  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  and  Stirling,  one  hundred 
persons  who  were  willing  to  go,  not  having  landed  property 
worth  one  hundred  pounds  a  year.  He  petitioned  afterwards 
for  some  of  those  who  had  recently  been  banished,  and,  on 
the  7th  of  August,  twelve  more  were  given  him.  The  names 
of  over  seventy  men  and  of  ten  or  twenty  women  given  him 
are  preserved  by  Wodrow. 

They  were,  some  of  them,  men  of  great  worth,  and  had 
already  passed  through  much  suiiering.  At  the  head,  was 
John  Frazer,  J  who,  having  taken  his  degree  of  Master  of  Arts, 
and  gone  to  London  for  his  safety  and  preparation  for  the 
ministry,  was  seized  at  a  meeting  while  the  Rev.  Alexander 
Shiels  was  preaching.  The  minister,  with  Frazer,  John 
Foreman,  and  five  others  of  his  hearers,  were  sent  up  to 
Scotland,  having  first  lain  in  Newgate.  They  were  marched 
through  London,  manacled  two-and-two,  as  criminals.  They 
were  examined  by  the  council  and  sent  to  Dunotter.  One 
hundred  persons  were  thrust  into  a  vault  under  ground,  with 
one  window  which  opened  to  the  sea:  there,  ankle-deep  in 
mire,  with  nothing  on  which  to  sit  or  lie,  they  were  pent  up 
through  the  summer.  Frazer,  weak  and  sick,  was  marched 
on  foot  to  Leith,  where  a  Newcastle  ship,  Richard  Hutton, 
master,  was  lying  to  receive  him  and  his  companions  in  tri- 
bulation. Twenty-eight  persons  left  at  this  time  a  testimony 
dated  August  28,  1685,  against  their  unjust  banishment, 
and   for   the   covenants  and  the  preaching  of  the  word  in 

*  Wodrow.  t  I'^i'l-  t  Ibid. 


PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH   IN  AMERICA.  71 

fields  and  houses.  Those  who  could  not  pay  their  passage 
were  given  to  Pitlochie,  and  all  the  banished  were  put  into 
his  care. 

After  long  delay,  the  ship  sailed,  September  5;  the  pro- 
visions began  to  putrefy ;  malignant  fever  attacked  nearly 
all  on  board,  and  swept  away  twenty-two  of  the  prisoners, 
with  most  of  the  crew.  Pitlochie  and  his  excellent  lady  died, 
with  their  sister-in-law.  Lady  Aitherney  and  her  son  and 
daughter,  and  the  wife  of  Mr.  Riddel.  The  captain  was 
inhuman  beyond  measure.  Upwards  of  sixty  died,  many  of 
whom  were  voluntary  exiles  for  the  word  of  God. 

They  reached  New  Jersey  about  the  middle  of  December. 
The  people  on  the  coast  showed  them  no  kindness ;  but 
"a  town*  a  little  way  up  the  country  sent  horses  for  the 
feeble,  and  entertained  all  of  them  till  the  spring."  Pitlochie 
had  sold  what  remained  of  his  estate  to  pay  the  freight,  and, 
dying,  he  gave  the  prisoners  to  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  John 
Johnston.  They  resisted  his  claim ;  and  the  governor,  on 
hearing  both  parties,  summoned  a  jury,  whose  verdict  was, 
that,  not  having  of  their  own  accord  come  in  that  ship,  nor 
bargained  with  Pitlochie  for  money  or  service,  they  were  free. 
Most  of  them  went  to  New  England,  and  were  kindly  enter- 
tained. 

Frazer  was  ordainedf  in  Hartford  county,  Connecticut,  and 
preached  at  Woodbury.  His  labours  were  blessed  ;  but  on  the 
accession  of  William,  he  returned  with  his  wife  to  Scotland, 
and  became  the  minister  of  Alness.  His  son  was  the  author 
of  the  admirable  work  on  Sanctification. 

Among  the  voluntary  exiles  was  Robert  McLellan,  of  Bal- 
magechan.  He  had  been  forfeited  in  1680.  He  made  his 
home  at  Woodbridge ;  and  on  the  revolution,  in  returning 
to  Scotland,  was  captured  by  the  French,  and,  on  being 
released,  he  was  shipwrecked  on  the  Irish  coast.  He  reached 
home  at  last,  and  was  reinstated  in  his  lands. 

Another  was  William  Niven,  of  Pollockshaws ;  like  McLel- 
lan, honourable  and  excellent.     He  also  returned. 

The  Rev.  Archibald  Riddel  had  a  call  to  a  congregation  on 
Long  Island ;  but  he  preferred  to  settle  at  Woodbridge.     He 

>*■  Wodrow.  f  Preface  to  Frazer  on  Sanctification. 


72  Webster's  history  of  the 

also  returned,*  suiFeriiig,  by-the-way,  years  of  imprisonment  in 
France.  He  was  the  brother  of  the  Laird  of  lliddel,  in  liox- 
burghshire, — a  heavy  sufferer  for  conscience.  In  the  summer 
of  1677,  he  joined,  with  Mr.  Welsh  and  other  "  outed"  ministers, 
in  dispensing  the  sacrament  at  Maybole,  in  Carrick.  Search 
was  ordered  to  be  made  for  him  after  Both  well ;  and  proclama- 
tion was  made,  June  26,  1679,  against  harbouring  or  resetting 
him.  In  September,  1680,  he  was  seized  while  riding  from 
Moffat-well,  and  imprisoned ;  he  demanded  to  be  tried  for  his 
accession  to  the  rising.  He  would  not  engage  to  abstain  from 
field-preaching ;  and,  not  being  able  to  find  security,  he  was 
left  seven  months  in  Edinburgh  prison  and  three  years  and  a 
half  in  the  Bass.  He  was  liberated  in  the  spring  of  1681  to 
see  his  dying  mother,t  and  in  June  was  again  sent  to  the  Bass 
for  holding  a  conventicle  at  Kippen.  There  he  remained  till 
he  sailed  for  America. 

Among  the  prisoners  were  John  Foreman,  John  Henderson, 
John  Foord, — names  still  familiar  in  Freehold.  These  ban- 
ished men  formed  a  large  part  of  our  early  congregations  in 
East  Jersey. 

Colonel  Barclay,  of  Urie,  was,  like  Pitlochie,  concerned  in 
the  shipment  of  prisoners.  He  had  twenty-three  given  him 
at  one  time.  He  settled  at  Amboy,  and,  though  nearly 
related  to  the  great  Quaker  apologist,  was  a  churchman. 

"That  excellent  person,"  Lord  Neil  Campbell,  the  son  of 
the  Marquis  of  Argyle,  and  the  brother  of  the  earl,  was  not 
suffered,  after  1681,  to  live  in  his  own  house';  and,  having 
refused  the  test,  he  was  forced  to  go  to  America  at  hazard  of 
life,  leaving  his  family  behind.  He  returned  on  the  downfall 
of  the  Stuarts. 

The  Rev.  David  Simpson,  minister  of  Killean,  was,  after 
the  indulgence,  placed  by  the  council  at  Kintyre.  He  was 
imprisoned,  but  liberated  March  17,  1685,  on  condition  of 
leaving  the  kingdom.    He  went  to  New  Jersey  and  died  there. 

In  the  parish  of  Dalserf,  in  Lanarkshire,  the  curate,  Mr. 
Joseph   Clelland,  was   very   active    against   non-conformists. 

*  His  daughter,  Mrs.  James  Duodas,  remaiaed  here. — W.  A.  Whitehead,  Esq., 
of  Newark. 

f  She  had  been  denounced  as  a  rebel  while  a  widow.  Her  husband  had  been 
heavily  fined. — Wodrow. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  73 

Many  families  were  scattered.  Jolin  Harvie  and  "Walter  Ker 
were  seized.  The  former  was  given  to  Pitlochie.  The  latter 
was  banished  September  3,  1685 ;  he  settled  in  Freehold, 
was  greatly  serviceable  in  promoting  the  interests  of  religion, 
and  lived  till  1744  to  witness  the  great  awakening.  The  liev. 
Dr.  Ker,  of  Goshen,  New  York,  and  the  Rev.  Jacob  Ker,  of 
Somerset,  Maryland,  were  his  grandsons. 

Mr.  Hume,*  living  near  Paisley,  a  man  of  property  and 
respectability,  was  imprisoned  for  his  zeal  as  a  Whig,  and 
released  on  condition  of  removing  to  America.  A  contagious 
fever  carried  off  himself  and  his  wife  while  at  sea  in  a 
crowded  vessel.  His  only  child,  a  daughter  of  fifteen,  was 
kindly  received  by  her  mother's  brother.  Dr.  Johnson,  of 
New  York.  She  married  William  Hoge,  an  exile  for  Christ's 
sake :  they  settled  at  Amboy.  Their  son  was  the  Rev.  John 
Hoge,  of  Opequhon,  Virginia,  and  their  grandson  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Moses  Hoge. 

Little  companies  of  Scotsmen,  driven  from  home  by  brutal 
oppression,  were  scattered  through  East  Jersey,  Delaware, 
and  along  York  and  Rappahannock,  in  Virginia.f  There  was 
a  large  emigration  to  Charleston. 

The  closing  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  marked  by  the 
subsiding  of  the  flood  of  religious  feeling  which  had  so  power- 
full}'  for  three  generations  agitated  Great  Britain. 

The  turbid  waves  were  almost  at  rest,  and  the  atoms  lately 
tossing  on  the  top  of  the  billows  were  precipitated  as  from 
a  chemical  solution,  and  gradually  congealed  and  stratified  in 
forms  and  masses  as  distinct  and  unchangeable  as  the  second- 
ary and  tertiary  formations  of  our  globe. 

A  similar  tendency  to  assume  and  adhere  to  distinctive 
forms  and  denominational  peculiarities  was  displayed  in  this 
country. 

The  Dutch'  Reformed  congregations,  surrounded  in  the 
larger  towns  by  an  English  population,  and  living  under  a 
government  which  favoured  the  sole  use  of  the  English 
tongue,  abated  not  one  jot  of  their  tenacity  for  the  exclusive 

*  MS.  Life  of  Dr.  Moses  Hoge. 

f  Dr.  Beilby  Porteus,  Bishop  of  London,  was  born  of  parents  both  natives  of 
Virginia,  his  grandparents  having  removed  from  Newbottle,  the  parish  served  by 
Leigh  ton,  to  York  River,  where  "it  was  at  least  two  miles  over." 


74  Webster's  history  of  the 

use  of  Low  Dutch  in  their  religious  services.  The  necessity 
thus  created  favoured  the  introduction  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land ;  and  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  increased  rapidly  in 
numbers,  through  the  falling  off  of  the  young  people  from  the 
language  and  the  Church  of  Holland.  The  Livingstons  and 
some  other  Scotsmen  adhered  to  the  Reformed  Dutch  church, 
though  barely  able  to  follow  the  preacher  through  the  mazes 
of  a  strange  language. 

The  Society  of  Friends,  shaken  by  the  rupture  with  Keith, 
and  constantly  roused  by  the  earnest  appeals  of  ministers 
from  England,  "was  in  the  process  of  cr3'stariization.  Vital 
heat  departed  and  left  the  beautiful  transparent  forms  sub- 
sisting till  now. 

The  Ranters — a  portion  of  the  gangrene  which  consumed 
the  cause  of  truth  and  godliness  in  Cromwell's  day — still 
claimed  to  possess  divine  attributes  and  to  be  able  to  do 
actions  inconceivably  vile  without  incurring  guilt.  They  still 
intruded  on  the  worship  of  others,  hooting  like  owls,  dancing 
and  defaming ;  but  they  were  almost  extinct,  and  in  a  few 
years  no  trace  and  scarcely  a  remembrance  of  them  remained 
in  Rhode  Island,  at  Oyster  Bay,  and  Mattinecock,  Long  Island, 
or  in  Middletown,  New  Jersey,  where  once  they  were  in 
admiration.* 

A  community  existed  near  Chester,t  Maryland,  formed  on 
the  model  devised  by  John  Labadie,  who  died  in  1674. 
Samuel  Bownas  visited  "  the  Labadies"  in  1702.  When 
supper  came  in,  twenty  men  entered  a  large  room  at  a  call ; 

*  Friends'  Library. 

f  Bownas's  Journal,  in  Friends'  Library.  Mr.  Ward  wrote,  September  15, 
1666,  to  his  fellow-exile,  John  Brown,  of  Wamphray: — "If  worthy  Labadie  come 
to  see  you,  (for  the  French  Synod  have  begun  to  persecute  him  already,  and  have 
summoned  him  to  appear  at  Amsterdam  to  answer  to  a  commission  that  they  have 
appointed  to  question  him  about  some  things ;  they  pretend  he  favours  the  Mil- 
lianary  opinions ;  but,  the  truth  is,  they  cannot  bear  his  zeal  for  God ;)  if  he  come, 
I  say,  be  very  kind  to  him,  and  ye  may  think,  if  it  were  not  fit,  having  him  dine 
with  you.  I  am  much  taken  with  the  man,  for  the  great  report  he  hath  of  pietie, 
zeal,  and  learning,  and  for  which  he  is  in  repute  among  all  the  godly  who  know 
him."  John  de  Labadie  had  been  a  Jesuit,  and  entered  the  Reformed  church. 
William  Penn  visited  at  Weiwart,  in  Holland,  a  religious  society  which  had  been 
awakened  by  him  to  seek  after  a  more  spiritual  fellowship,  and  had  followed  him 
in  the  way  of  a  refined  Independency.  The  Brownists  also  held  Labadie  in  high 
esteem. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  75 

Bitting  down,  one  after  another  took  off  his  hat,  and,  after  a 
season  of  silence,  one  after  another  put  on  his  hat  and 
began  to  eat.  The  women  ate  by  themselves.  They  had  all 
things  in  common,  but  could  take  nothing  when  they  went 
away.  They  were  in  all  about  one  hundred.  They  made 
linen,  and  had  a  plantation  of  corn,  tobacco,  and  flax,  besides 
much  cattle.  But  as  early  as  1720  they  were  all  scattered. 
They  were  probably  from  North  Holland. 

"The  Labadeans  were  correct  on  the  subject  of  justifica- 
tion." Whitefield  said,  "John  Labidee  went  on  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  Moravians,  in  Maryland.  His  plan  was 
carried  as  high  as  theirs ;  but  it  fell  remarkably." 

New  England  saw  a  form  of  delusion  in  the  followers  of 
Banks  and  Case.*  Many  under  their  influence  fell  down  as 
in  a  fit,  and  rose  up  crying,  "  Oh,  the  joy !"  "  Many  now  living 
have  not  forgot  the  mad  freaks  of  the  infamous  Case  and 
Banks,  with  their  followers.  "Who  could  have  a  stronger  per- 
suasion of  their  interest  in  Christ  than  they  had  ?  How  did  they 
frequently  go  about  the  streets  in  a  kind  of  rapture,  crying, 
'Joy,  joy !'  "f  They  were  like  those  in  Scripture  whose  "  sins 
were  open  beforehand,  going  to  judgment."  They  went,  in  the 
spring  of  1699,  into  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  then  called 
"the  new  country,"  and,  after  a  season,  came  to  naught. 

The  attempt  made  by  Massachusetts  to  send  the  gospel  to 
Virginia,  in  1643,  was  promptly  crushed  by  the  banishment 
of  the  ministers  and  the  expulsion  of  the  congregations.  The 
homeless  people  established  themselves  on  the  western  shore 
of  Maryland,  in  Anne  Arundel,  and  the  adjacent  counties  of 
Charles  and  Prince  George. 

The  Rev.  Matthew  Hill,|  ejected  from  Thirsk,  in  Yorkshire, 
by  the  Uniformity  Act,  settled  in  Charles  county  in  1674. 
The  prospect  of  usefulness  was  encouraging  at  first ;  but  new 
troubles  arose,  and  his  hopes  were  blighted.  Those  driven 
from  Nansemond§  retired  to  North  Carolina;  and  Durant's 
Neck,  in  Perquimans  county,  perpetuates  the  name  of  "  the 
godly  elder  of  that  orthodox  congregation."  His  Geneva  Bible 
is  preserved  by  the  Historical  Society  of  North  Carolina. 


*  Mather's  Magnolia.  f  Dickinson's  Display  of  Sovereign  Grace. 

X  Calamy's  Memorials.  §  Mather,  quoted  by  Bancroft. 


76  Webster's  history  of  the 

The  New  Haven  colonies  in  West  Jersey  seem  to  have 
remained  without  stated  ministers  till  the  close  of  the  cen- 
tury, when  the  llev.  Thomas  Bridge,  from  England,  settled 
at  Cohanzy. 

The  Puritan  settlements  on  Long  Island  were  early  sup- 
plied with  ministers.  These  were  East  Hampton,  South- 
ampton, Southold,  Setauket  in  Brookhaven,  Hempstead, 
Jamaica,  and  Newtown ;  even  Flushing*  also,  before  1657, 
had  a  Presbyterian  minister  who  went  to  Eastern  Virginia. 

In  "West  Chester  county,  New  York,  Bedford  and  East 
Chester  had  a  minister  from  Connecticut. 

In  East  Jersey  were  the  congregations  of  Elizabethtown, 
Newark,  Woodbridge,  and  Freehold.  The  minister  at  New- 
arkf  was  the  only  one  who  did  not  have  recourse  to  some 
other  calling  for  maintenance. 

The  French  churches  in  the  province  of  New  York  gra- 
dually merged  in  part  in  the  Reformed  Dutch  body ;  a 
portion  received  missionaries  from  the  Gospel  Propagation 
Societ}^,  and  laid  aside  their  distinct  character  for  the  Epis- 
copal form. 

The  few  Swede  churches,  of  the  discipline  of  Augsburg, 
retained  their  separate  existence  till  of  late  years  they  have 
come  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishops  of  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware. 

In  the  province  of  New  York  there  was,  before  1699,  but 
one  Church  minister  except  the  chaplains  of  the  forces ;  none 
in  the  Jerseys  or  Delaware,  and  but  one  in  Pennsylvania. 
Trinity  Church  was  erected  in  New  York  in  1696  ;  and  Mr. 
Vesey,  formerl}^  an  Independent  minister  in  Queen's  county. 
Long  Island,  celebrated  divine  service  for  the  first  time,  Feb- 
ruary 6,  1697.  Christ  Church  was  erected  in  Philadelphia 
in  1695,  and  was  served  by  Dr.  Clayton,  Rector  of  Crofton,  in 
Yorkshire,  and  afterward  by  Mr.  Evans.  In  1700,  prayer- 
books  were  given  "as  fine  as  those  in  the  queen's  chapel." 
In  Maryland  and  Virginia,  there  was  provision  by  the  statute 
for  the  clergy,  and  the  parishes  were  mostly  supplied.  In 
North  Carolina  there  were  no  ministers  of  any  persuasion  but 
those  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 


*  O'Callaghan's  New  York.  -j-  Whitehead's  East  Jersey. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN  AMERICA.  77 

In  South  Carolina,  there  were  Congregatioualists  from  ^ew 
England,  and  Scottish  Presbyterians.  They  were  so  much 
mingled  in  Charleston  that,  while  the  church  was  independent 
in  its  government,  its  ministers,  for  twenty  years,  were  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland. 

There  was  a  Baptist  congregation  and  several  French 
churches;  yet,  in  1704,  when  there  was  but  one  Episcopal 
congregation,  the  Church  of  England  was  established  by  law, 
and  her  sacramental  test  enacted. 

There  were  Baptist  congregations  from  Ireland  in  Middle- 
town,  Cohanzy,  and  Cape  May,  in  ISTew  Jersey;  there  were 
congregations  from  l^ew  England,  at  Piscataway  and  Cohanzy, 
not  in  fellowship  with  the  other  churches  of  that  order  in  the 
province.  In  Pennsylvania  there  was  a  Welsh  Baptist  mi- 
nister serving  Pennepek  and  Philadelphia.  In  Delaware 
there  was  a  minister  with  his  flock,  at  Pencader,  from  the 
principality  of  Wales. 

In  Philadelphia,  a  Presbyterian  congregation  was  slowly 
formed  during  the  last  ten  years  of  the  century.  It  is  highly 
probable  that  the  visit  of  Francis  Makemie  to  the  city  in  1692 
led  to  the  gathering  of  the  Protestant  dissenters  for  worship 
at  the  Barbadoes  store.  Jedediah  Andrews,  from  Massachu- 
setts, began  to  preach  statedly  to  them  in  the  autumn  of  1698. 

Francis  Makemie  came  to  Maryland  in  1682,  and  spent  one 
or  two  years  as  the  minister  in  Lynnhaven  parish,  Virginia. 
He  subsequently  fixed  his  abode  in  Accomac  county,  and  in 
1699  took  license  under  the  Toleration  Act.  The  ministers 
of  Laggan  Presbytery*  intimated  to  the  other  presbyteries  in 
Ireland,  in  1684,  their  intention  to  remove  to  America,  (some 
of  them  having  been  invited  thither,)  the  course  of  "the  Pre- 
lational  party"  being  so  vexatious;  but  a  favourable  turn  of 
afi:airs  detained  them  in  Ulster. 

The  only  other  Presbyterian  ministers  known  to  have  been 
in  any  besides  the  New  England  States  at  an  earlier  date  than 
1706  are  Nathaniel  Taylor,  at  Marlborough,  Maryland;  Dugald 
Simson,  at  Brookhaven,  on  Long  Island,  from  1685  to  1691, 
who  returned  to  Scotland,  and  was,  in  1696,  a  member  of 
Lochmaben  Presbytery ;  Thomas  Bridge,  who  was  called  from 

Reid's  History, 


78  WEBSTER'S   HISTORY   OF   THE 

Cohanzy  to  tlie  first  church  in  Boston,  in  1704;  Mr.  Blar-k, 
who  lahourecl  in  West  Jersey  and  in  Lewes,  Delaware;  John 
Wilson  at  Newcastle,  and  Samuel  Davis,  also  in  Delaware. 

The  state  of  morals  was  generally  good,  the  people  solier 
and  "not  over-zealous." 

Liberty  of  worship  existed  in  every  province.  Virginia  was 
no  exception;  for  Makemie  in  no  instance  complains  of  ill- 
usage  or  molestation,  and,  in  his  "Plain  and  Loving  Persuasive 
to  the  Lihabitants  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,"  published  in 
1705,  he  clearly  assumes  that  intolerance  was  not  the  order  of 
the  day.  The  IsTew  York  law  of  1693,  dividing  the  provinces 
into  parishes  and  precincts,  and  directing  assessments  of  a 
rate  for  the  support  of  the  ministry,  was  purposely*  worded 
indefinitely,  so  as  not  to  awaken  a  suspicion  in  the  minds  of 
the  majority  of  the  Assembly  of  intention  to  secure  the  com- 
pulsory maintenance  of  the  Episcopal  clergy.  There  was  then 
not  one  Church-of-England  congregation  in  the  province,  and 
the  only  churchman  in  the  Assembly  was  James  Grahame,  the 
speaker.  The  vestry  of  Trinity  Churchf  having  inquired,  in 
1695,  if  by  "able  Protestant  minister"  was  to  be  understood  a 
Dissenting  minister,  the  Assembly  declared  that  under  the  act 
any  congregation  might  call  and  settle  a  Protestant  Dissenting 
minister.  Governor  Fletcher  denied  their  right  to  put  such 
an  interpretation  on  the  words;  but  it  is  not  known  that  he 
refused,  in  any  instance,  to  order  the  induction  of  a  Dissenter 
"when  regularly  chosen  by  the  people.  Increase  Mather,  seeing 
provision  made  for  support  of  the  gospel,  induced  Mr.  Vesey, 
who  was|  labouring  on  Long  Island,  to  go  to  the  city  of  Xew 
York  and  serve  the  spiritual  interest  there.  Governor  Fletcher 
is  said§  to  have  bought  him  ofi:  He  sailed  for  England,  and, 
obtaining  orders,  was  inducted||  Rector  of  Trinity  Church  by 
the  two  Dutch  Reformed  divines. 


*  Colonel  Morris,  quoted  in  Macdonald's  Hist,  of  Jamaica. 

•)■  Proceedings  of  New  York  Assembly. 

X  The  Rev.  Mr.  Miller;  reprinted  in  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll 

§  Doc.  Hist,  of  New  York. 

II  Dr.  Browulee's  Sketch  of  History  of  Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  America. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  79 


CHAPTER  n. 

The  eigliteenth  century  opened  with  the  accession  of  Anne, 
and  the  restoration  to  favour  of  the  patrons  of  High-Churchism 
and  the  enemies  of  the  hberty  of  the  subject. 

'New  Jersey  passed  from  under  the  control  of  the  pro- 
prietaries, and  was  united  by  the  crown  with  the  pro\ance  of 
New  York,  under  the  government  of  the  Queen's  cousin, 
Edward  Hyde,  Viscount  Cornbury.  He  was  the  grandson  of 
Clarendon,  the  historian.  Lacking  his  talents  and  his  grave 
dignity  of  manner,  he  was  the  inheritor*  of  his  rapacious, 
despotic  principles.  Clarendon,  when  he  knew  Charles  the 
Second  to  be  a  Papist,  made  it  felony  for  any  man  to  say  so ; 
while  persecuting  the  non-conformists  without  limit  or  mercy, 
he  protected  the  chief  instruments  of  the  great  rebellion,  who 
could  purchase  his  favour  by  gifts  of  money,  or  of  the  por- 
traits of  the  noble  families  they  ha-l  despoiled  in  the  civil  war. 
Destitute  of  honourable  feeling,  he  made  his  history  a  vehicle 
of  calumny.  He  was  displaced  by  men  as  worthless  as  himself, 
and  died  in  exile. 

Cornbury  was  a  spendthrift,  transported  to  the  Plantations 
to  save  him  from  his  creditors.  He  at  once  assumed  to  be  the 
patron  of  the  church,  and  required  all  congregations  to  apply 
to  him  for  leave  to  settle  ministers.  The  sect  of  the  Hero- 
diaus  existed  at  that  day;  they  knew  no  king  but  Cffisar:  and 
loud  were  their  professions  of  zeal  for  the  Church  of  England, 
now  that  zeal  for  her  was  the  passport  to  favour. 

In  1701,  the  Church  partyf  in  Pennsylvania  refused  to  sign 
a  paper  clearing  Penn's  government  of  the  charge  of  persecu- 
tion. In  1703,  they,  with  a  packed  vestry  headed  by  John 
Moore,  waited  on  Lord  Cornbury,  and,  among  many  compli- 
ments, hoped  they  should  prevail  on  the  Queen  to  extend  the 

*  Lord  Dover's  Notes  on  Clarendon.  ■]•  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia. 


80  Webster's  uistory  of  the 

limits  of  his  government  over  them,  that  so  "they  may  enjoy 
the  same  blessings  others  do  under  his  authority."  Cornbury 
came  again  to  Philadelphia.  Colonel  Robert  Quarry  headed 
the  address^  and  asked  him  to  beseech  the  Queen  to  grant 
them  this  favour.  AVilliam  Penn  was  otfendcd  at  these_turbu- 
lent  churchmen,  and  asked  the  Lords  of  Trade  either  to  buy 
him  out,  or  to  let  him  buy  out  "the  hot  Church  party." 

Colonel  Quarry,  an  officer  in  the  customs,  was  a  zealous 
churchman,  and  indefatigable  in  ferreting  out  causes  of  com- 
plaint against  the  colonial  assemblies  and  the  governors  who 
were  not  of  his  temper  and  notions.  His  letters  in  the  Brod- 
head  collection  in  Albany  unveil  his  exertions  for  the  esta- 
blishment of  thorough  despotism. 

The  chief  instigator  of  all  these  movements  was  George 
Keith,  born  in  Scotland  in  1638,  and  a  graduate  of  Aberdeen 
in  the  class  with  Burnet,  Bishop  of  Salisbury.  A  prominent 
minister  in  the  Society  of  Friends,  he  was  disowned,  in  Phila- 
delphia, as  a  disturber.  Failing  in  his  attempts  to  form  a  sect 
embodying  the  differences  for  which  he  contended,  he  took 
orders  in  England;  and  his  efforts  in  America,  from  New 
Hampshire  to  Currituck,  entitle  him  to  the  credit  of  being  the 
apostle  of  Prelacy,  and  the  successful  founder  of  the  English 
church  on  a  permanent  basis  along  the  sea-coast. 

The  appointment  of  a  bishop  for  Virginia  was  resolved  on 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second.  The  revenues  of  the  see 
were  to  be  drawn  from  the  customs;*  but  there  were  so  many 
other  less  sacred  but  more  -^scinating  persons  to  be  supported 
out  of  that  branch  of  royal  income,  that  the  scheme  wag 
abandoned.  Fears  of  the  establishment  of  Episcopacy,  and 
of  compulsor}'-  enforcement  of  conformity  to  human  appoint- 
ments in  divine  things,  arose  in  the  colonies  soon  after  Sir 
Kobert  Carrf  entered  on  his  government.  The  conduct  of 
Colonel  Fletcher  in  New  York,  in  assuming  the  right  to  fur- 
nish the  towns  with  ministers  of  his  own  choosing,  gave  new 
uneasiness.  The  A'^enerable  Society  for  Propagating  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  was  incorporated  in  1701 ;  wdth  royal 
favour,  large  funds,  and  a  strong  array  of  zeal  and  political 

*  Seeker's  letter  to  Walpole.  The  scheme  failed  through  the  resignation  of 
Clarendon. 

f  MS.  letter  in  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 


PKESBTTERIAN   CHURCH   IN  AMERICA.  81 

influence,  it  commenced  vigorous  operations.  The.  amazing 
proposal  was  made  by  Colonel  Morris,*  a  pupil  of  Keith's, 
that  the  society  should  see  that  only  churchmen  were  sent  out 
as  governors  of  the  colonies,  and  should  endeavour  to  have 
the  rule  introduced,  that  no  person  should  be  competent  to 
receive  a  considerable  benefice  in  England,  who  had  not  per- 
formed three  years  of  missionary  labour  in  America.  Colonel 
Ileathcotef  wrote  to  the  Venerable  Society,  that  as  early  as 
November,  1705,  it  was  reported  that  the  Queen  would  main- 
tain from  her  own  purse  a  suffragan  bishop  in  America.  He 
felt  no  doubt  that,  when  this  was  done,  many  educated  at 
Boston  College  would  conform  and  be  content  to  take  the 
support  secured  by  law,  without  being  burdensome  to  the 
society. 

This  report  gained  so  much  confidence  that  Mr.  John  Lil- 
lingston.  Rector  of  St.  Paul's,  in  Talbot  county,  and  senior 
clergyman  in  Maryland,  who  was  judged  the  fittest  person, J 
was  sent  to  Great  Britain  to  be  in  readiness  for  consecration. 
Perhaps  the  chief  hinderance  to  the  consummation  of  the 
project  was,  that  the  clergy  here  and  at  home  were  mostly 
attached  to  the  Jacobite  cause ;  and  that  the  Scots  here,  as  well 
as  in  their  native  land,  were  greatly  embittered  against  the 
government,  by  reason  of  the  union  of  the  kingdoms.  As 
Dr.  Chauncey§  said  to  President  Stiles,  "The  ministry  regard 
bishops  as  mere  tools;  but  they  are  edge-tools,  and  they  use 
them  only  when  there  is  a  needs-be."  The  scheme,  however, 
was  on  foot;  for  the  Bishop  of  London||  addressed  the  Queen's 
Council  in  December,  1707,  urging  that  the  appointment  of  a 
suffragan  in  Virginia  would  excite  no  clamour,  and  for  the 
want  of  one,  bigamy  and  all  other  evils  infested  the  provinces 
and  grew  apace.  Archbishop  Seeker  wrote  an  appeal  in  1750 
in  favour  of  sending  a  bishop  to  Virginia.^f  Dr.  Johnson,  of 
King's  College,  New  York,  applauded  the  good  design.  There 
was  much  talk  in  London  of  the  matter,  when  the  death  of 


*  Hawkins's  Missions  of  the  English  Church. 

I  Bolton's  History  of  West  Chester  County,  New  York.  J  Hawkins. 

^  Stiles's  MSS.,  Yale  College.  ||  Albany  Documents. 

^  Seeker's  letter,  and  a  critical  commentary  on  it,  are  so  curious  and  illustrative 
of  the  times  as  to  deserve  reprinting  together.  The  critical  commentary  is  in  the 
New  York  State  Library. 

6 


82  Webster's  history  of  the 

Mr.  Henry  Pelliam  threw  this,  with  many  other  schemes,  out 
of  mind.  Dr.  Stennet  related  to  Davies,  in  1753,  "  a  confer- 
ence he  had  witli  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  and  the  Archbishop 
of  York  about  the  mission  of  bishops  into  America.  It  was 
very  entertaining." 

Two  Jacobite  clergymen,*  Talbot,  of  Burlington,  and  Dr. 
Ricliard  Welton,  of  Christ  Churcli,  Philadelphia,  were  conse- 
crated by  some  of  the  English  non-juring  bishops  in  1723,  and 
came  to  America,  exercising  their  functions  secretly  over  as 
many  as  received  them.  The  British  government  commanded 
them  to  return  immediately.  Talbot  took  the  oaths  of  alle- 
giance, and  Welton  retired  to  Lisbon.  Talbot  would  not  read 
the  prayers  for  the  reigning  family,  nor  give  thanks  for  the 
defeat  of  her  majesty's  enemies.  Governor  Ilunterf  said,  in 
1715,  that  he  incorporated  the  Jacobites  at  Burlington  to 
sanctify  his  sedition  and  insolence.  The  Venerable  Society 
ceased  to  employ  Talbot,  on  account  of  his  disaflection  to  the 
House  of  Hanover. 

I  Gibson,  J  Bishop  of  London,  wrote  to  the  clergy  in  America 
to  beware  of  asserting  the  invalidating  the  baptism  of  Dis- 
senters; for  it  had  been  set  on  foot  by  the  non-jurors,  to  injure 
the  Church  of  England,  and  was  in  opposition  to  the  constant 
doctrine  of  the  church. 

In  1699,  Vesey§  declared  that  experience  had  undeceived 
him  as  to  the  comforts  to  be  found  in  his  new  situation  as  the 
Rector  of  Trinity  Church  in  New  York : — ^^  We  find  ourselves 
under  all  discouragements  imaginable."  Lord  Bellamont  de- 
scribes him  "  as  capable  of  any  wickedness,  base,  unchristian ; 
his  wickedness  is  plain;  he  wants  honesty."  With  Governor 
Hunter  he  came  into  direct  conflict,  and  used  all  means  to 
destroy  his  credit  at  home.  The  sin  of  Bellamont  and  Hunter 
consisted  in  refusing  to  bestow  on  Trinity  Church  "a  small 
farm,"  called  "The  King's  Bowerie."  They  gave  the  rector  a 
lease  of  it  during  their  continuance  in  office  as  governor. 
Vesey  wanted  it  in  fee ;  he  subsequently  obtained  it.  That 
"small  farm"  now  lies  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  yields  a 
princely  revenue. 

*  Dorr's  History  of  Christ  Church.  f  Albany  Documents. 

X  MSS.  of  Ebenezer  Hazard,  of  Philadelphia.  ^  Albany  Documents. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  83 

In  1702,  besides  Yesey,  the  clergj-men  in  ISTew  York '"in 
orders"  were  Bartow,  church  missionary  at  West  Chester,  and 
Stuart,  in  Bedford.  They  were  missionaries.  Patrick  Gordon 
was  "expected  suddenly." 

The  town  of  Jamaica*  was  settled  entirely  by  Presbyterians ; 
and  ill  1702  there  were  considerably  above  a  hundred  families, 
exemplary  for  all  Christian  knowledge  and  goodness.  They 
had  a  stone  church  worth  £600,  and  a  parsonage  valued  at 
.£1500 :  the  glebe  consisting  of  an  orchard  and  two  hundred 
acres  of  land.  The  Act  of  1693  had  constituted  Jamaica, 
ISTewtown,  and  Flushing,  a  parish,  and  imposed  the  obligation 
to  raise  £Q0  for  the  support  of  a  minister.  This  had  been 
wholly  disregarded  until  the  accession  of  Cornbury,  when  the 
town  elected  (Jan.  1702)  Presbyterians  for  churchwardens 
and  vestrymen,  and  settled  in  the  following  month  the  Rev. 
John  Hubbard,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  act.  He 
was  born  in  Ipswich,  Massachusetts,  in  1677,  and  graduated 
at  Harvard  in  1695,  in  the  same  class  with  Andrews  of  Phila- 
delphia. 

Hubbard  took  a  journey  to  Boston,  and  on  his  return  in 
the  summer,  of  a  Saturday,  learned  that  Bartow,  the  church 
missionary  at  West  Chester,  had  just  arrived;  and  he  sent  to 
inquire  if  he  intended  to  preach  on  the  morrow.  He  answered 
that  he  did.  The  next  morning,  Bartow  went  to  church  on 
the  last  ringing  of  the  bell;  and,  finding  that  Hubbard  had 
begun  his  service,  he  went  straightway  to  the  "pew"  or  pulpit 
and  sat  down,  expecting  he  would  desist,  "being  he  knew  I 
had  orders  from  the  government  to  officiate  there."  Hubbard 
did  not  desist,  and  Bartow  forbore  to  make  any  interruption ; 
but,  in  the  afternoon,  he,  with  the  countenance  of  Chief-Justice 
Mompesson,  and  Mr.  Carter,  her  majesty'»s  controller,  went 
very  early,  and  when  Hubbard  arrived  he  found  Bartow  read- 
ing the  liturgy.  He  withdrew,  and  assembled  the  congrega- 
tion in  an  orchard  hard  by.  Many  went  in  and  took  benches  ^^ 
and  seats  out  of  the  church.  Bartow,  on  finishing,  locked  the 
church  and  gave  the  key  to  Cardale,  the  sheritf.  The  people 
asked  for  the  key  and  were  refused;  and  Bartow  says,  jocosely, 
"  The  scolding  and  wrangling  that  ensued  are  by  me  ineffable." 

*  Macdonald's  History  of  Jamaica. 


84  Webster's  nisioiiT  or  the 

Lord  Cornbuiy  thanked  Bartow,  as  doubtless  Ahah  also 
thanked  the  scarcely  more  iniquitous  elders  of  Jezreel,  and 
told  him,  he  would  do  the  church  and  him  justice.  Accord- 
ingly, in  1703,  Bartow  is  reported  as  receiving  a  benevolence 
of  X30,  in  addition  to  a  salary  of  .£50  from  the  Venerable 
Society. 

My  lord  summoned  Mr.  Hubbard  and  the  heads  of  his  con- 
gregation, and  forbade  him  ever  more  to  preach  in  that  church ; 
"for,  in  regard  it  was  built  by  a  public  tax,  it  did  belong*  to 
the  Establishment."  He  threatened  them  with  the  penalty  of 
the  statute  for  disturbing  divine  worship,  but,  on  their  submis- 
sion and  promise,  he  forgave  them.  He  suspended  Hubbard 
for  a  breach  of  the  public  peace,  and  afterward  gave  him  a 
"during  pleasure"  license;  which  he  held  till  his  death  in 
1705. 

The  Venerable  Society,  in  1706,t  acknowledged  most  thank- 
fully the  continual  bounty  of  the  Queen,  "  which  has  had  veiy 
good  effects  abroad,  by  influencing  and  exciting  the  governors 
and  inhabitants  to  build  several  new  churches,  and  even  to 
convert  some  of  the  meeting-houses  of  the  Quakers  and  other 
sectaries  into  houses  of  worship  according  to  the  Church  of 
England." 

It  was  during  the  great  plague  in  London,  that  Clarendon 
induced  his  >pliant  master  to  add  heavier  burdens  to  the  op- 
pressed non-conformists;  it  was  during  the  great  sickness  in 
New  York,  in  the  summer  of  1702,  that  Cornbury  sought  a 
refuge  in  Jamaica.  He  entreated  Hubbard  in  a  friendly  man- 
ner for  the  use  of  the  parsonage:  it  was  granted,  and,  on 
returning  to  the  city,  his  lordship  delivered  the  house  into  the 
bands  of  the  churchmen.  "The  warrant,"  says  Colonel 
Morris,  "which  he  gave  to  the  sheriff  to  dispossess  the  dis- 
senting minister  of  the  glebe,  was  wholly  without  form  or  due 
course  of  law."  Cardale  seized  the  glebe,  surveyed  it  out 
into  lots,  and  leased  them  for  the  benefit  of  his  party. 

Gordon,  who  was  "  expected  suddenly,"  arrived  in  April, 
1702,  and,  going  from  the  city  to  Jamaica,  he  took  sick  on 
Saturday,  and  died  in  eight  da3's.  The  Rev.  William  Urqu- 
hart,  who  was  supportefl  by  the  subscriptions  of  the  Yorkshire 

*  Macdonald's  History  of  Jamaica.  f  Report  of  Venerable  Society. 


PRESBYTEKIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  85 

clergy,  was  inducted  July  4, 1704,  and  Hubbard,  being  then  in 
possession  of  the  parsonage,  was  ordered  by  Cornbury  to  de- 
liver it  to  the  rector:  he  did  so  quietly  and  peaceably.  Hub- 
bard died  in  his  twenty-ninth  year,  October  11,  1705.  Urqu- 
hart  retained  the  church  and  parsonage  unmolested  till  his 
death,  in  August,  1709. 

Cotton  Mather,  in  his  letter  to  the  London  ministers  in 
1706,  tells  them,  the  good  people  of  Jamaica  adorned  the 
doctrine  of  God  their  Saviour  by  a  most  laudable  silence  and 
wonderful  patience  under  these  wrongs. 

The  next  instance*  of  the  success  of  Keith  in  engaging 
Cornbury  in  his  daring  schemes  was  the  seizure  and  impri- 
sonment, November  21,  1702,  of  Samuel  Bownas,  a  minister 
of  the  Society  of  Friends.  Keith  informed  against  him;  and 
William  Bradford,  a  printer,  who  had  been  disowned  by 
Friends,  gave  evidence  that  he  heard  Bownas,  in  his  preach- 
ing at  the  house  of  ISlathauiel  Pearsall,  in  Hempstead,  speak 
disparagingly  of  the  Church  of  England  in  relation  to  the 
sacrament  of  Baptism. 

A  warrant  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Thomas  Cardale, 
High-Sheriif  of  Queen's  county,  for  the  apprehension  of 
Bownas.  Colonel  Heathcote,  in  a  letterf  to  the  secretary, 
said,  "Many  of  the  instruments  made  use  of  to  settle  the 
church  in  Jamaica  were  of  warm  tempers,  and,  if  report  is 
true,  indifferent  in  their  morals.  One  Mr.  Cardcll,  a  transient 
person,  and  of  very  indifferent  reputation,  was  recommended 
and  made  high-sheriff  of  the  county,  and  the  settling  of  the 
church  was  left  in  a  great  measure  to  his  care  and  conduct." 
The  Hon.  "William  Smith  calls  him  "one  Cardwell,  a  mean 
fellow."  Thompson!  says  he  sustained  a  despicable  character, 
and,  being  afterwards  thrown  into  prison  for  some  offence,  he 
hanged  himself. 

The  warrant  was  served  on  Bownas  while  at  meeting,  in 
Flushing,  on  the  29th ;  and,  though  he  was  wrongly  named,  he 
took  no  advantage  of  the  defect.  The  sheriff  was  very 
moderate,  and  in  a  very  good  humour;  he  spoke  mildly  and 
courteously,  and  blamed  Keith  and  Bradford.    He  let  him  stay 


*  Bownas's  Journal.  j  February  11,  1711,  quoted  by  Macdonald. 

ij;  B.  F.  Thompson's  History  of  Long  Island. 


86  Webster's  history  of  the 

three  days  with  his  friends,  and  then  carried  him  to  Jamaica. 
The  four  justices,  on  pretence  of  cold,  met  in  a  small  room, 
and  thus  disappointed  the  great  crowd  which  had  gathered. 
A  priest  was  with  them,  who  put  the  worst  construction  on 
evef7'+liing,  and  the  next  day  he  was  committed. 

On  the  26th  of  Decemhcr  a  special  commission  of  Oyer  and 
Terminer  was  held,  and  John  Bridges,  Esq.,  Chief-Justice,  gave 
"an  uncommon  charge"  and  adjourned  the  court  till  Monday. 
The  grand  jurj-  ignored  the  bill  against  Bownas.  "The  other 
justices,  being  mostly  Presb^'terians,  cared  nothing;  but  Bridges 
said  to  the  grand  jury,  'You  have  forgotten  your  oaths;  I  de- 
mand your  reasons  for  not  finding  the  bill.' "  James  Clement, 
a  bold  man  and  skilled  in  the  law,  refused  to  give  the  reasons. 
The  grand  jury  were  sent  back;  and,  finding  no  bill.  Bridges 
threatened  to  send  Clement  to  London,  "  chained  to  the  deck 
of  a  man-of-war,  like  other  vile  criminals."  Bownas  was  con- 
fined in  a  room  which  had  two  years  before  been  protested 
against  as  an  unlawful  prison ;  his  friends  were  denied  admit- 
tance ;  and,  that  he  might  be  chargeable  to  no  man,  he  learned 
to  make  shoes  and  earned  his  food.  The  grand  jury  refusing 
to  find  any  bill  against  him  in  August,  he  was  released,  having 
been  in  prison  a  year  lacking  twenty-three  days. 

Thomas  Hicks,  who  had  been  a  justice  man}^  years,  em- 
braced him,  and  said,  "Dear  Samuel,  the  Lord  has  made  use  of 
you  as  an  instrument  to  put  a  stop  to  our  arbitrary  courts  of 
justice,  which  have  met  with  great  encouragement  since  his 
Lordship  came  here  for  governor.  The  judge  frets  because 
he  cannot  have  his  wa}'  of  you;  and  the  governor  is  dis- 
gusted, he  expecting  to  have  made  considerable  advantage  by 
it.  But  the  eyes  of  the  country  are  now  opened.  You  are  not 
alone;  it  is  the  case  of  every  subject,  and  they  will  never  be 
able  to  get  a  jury  to  answer  their  end.  Had  the  Presbyterians 
Jtiave  stood  as  you  have  done,  they  had  not  so  tamely  left  their 
meeting-houses  to  the  church.  He  blamed  that  people  very 
much  for  l)eing  so  compliant  to  all  the  claims  of"the  gover- 
nor, although  ever  so  unreasonable  and  against  law."  But 
their  compliance  secured  them  from  no  hardship  which  Coru- 
bury  could  inflict. 

The  next  town  on  the  island,  Hempstead,  was  settled  from 
the  North  of  England,  the  first  minister  being  the  Rev.  Rich- 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  87 

ai'cl  penton,*  a  Presbyterian  minister  of  Coley  Cliapel  in  Hali- 
fax. "^He  was  small  in  stature  and  blind  of  an  eye:  the  quaint 
annalist  styles  him  an  Iliad  in  a  nutshell.  He  was  not  accept- 
ablef  to  the  Puritan  portion  of  his  flock ;  they  made  no  oppo- 
sition until  he  baptized  the  children  of  those  who  were  not 
church-members;  then  they  broke  away  from  him.  He  re- 
turned to  England  before  1663,  and  a  long,  angrj^  controversy  J; 
is  said  to  have  arisen  between  the  Independents  and  the  Pres- 
byterians, similar  to  that  which  caused  Governor  Webster,  of 
Hartford,  and  Mr.  Pussel,  the  minister  of  Wethersfield,  to 
remove  with  many  others  to  Hadley,  Mass.,  in  1659.  The 
Independents  contended  for  the  exclusion  from  all  authority 
in  the  state,  and  from  all  privileges  in  the  church,  those  who 
were  not  Christians,  by  an  open  covenanting  with  the  visible 
church. 

The  lax  party  triumphed;  and  at  the  end  of  twenty-five 
years  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Hobart  was  settled,  and  remained 
fifteen  years;  when,  many§  falling  away  to  the  Quakers,  and 
more  becoming  irreligious  and  refusing  to  support  the  gospel, 
he  removed  to  Connecticut. 

George  Keith  ||  preached  there  and  found  the  people  gene- 
rally well  afifected  and  greatly  desiring  the  services  of  the 
church.  The  Venerable  Society  sent  thither,  in  1704,  the  Rev. 
John  Thomas,  who  had  been  a  missionary  in  Philadelphia;  and 
he  took  possession  of  the  church  and  parsonage  in  direct  op- 
position to  the  will  of  the  people,  for  they  were  more  unwilling 
to  be  taxed  to  sustain  a  Conformist  than  a  Presbyterian.  "  The 
country,"T[  said  he,  "is  exceedingly  attached  to  a  Dissenting 
ministry;  and,  were  it  not  for  his  Excellency  my  Lord  Corn- 
bury's  most  favourable  countenance  to  us,  we  might  expect 

the  severest  entertainment  here I  have  scarcely  a  man 

in  the  parish  real  and  steady  to  the  interest  and  promotion  of 
the  church,  any  further  than  they  aim  at  the  favour  or  dread 
the  displeasure  of  his  lordship The  people  are  all  stiflf 


*  Mather's  Magnalia. 

•}■  Letter  to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam:   quoted  in  O'Callaghan's  History. 
J  Letter  of  Church  Missionary :   quoted  by  Rev.  Dr.  Carmichael,  Rector  of  St. 
George's,  Hempstead.  §  Trumbull's  Hlstary  of_Connecticut. 

II  Keith's  Journal :   reprinted  by  Protestant  Episcopal  Historical  Society. 
^  Letters  to  Venerable  Society :  quoted  by  Thompson,  Carmichael,  &c. 


\ 


88  Webster's  history  of  the 

Dissenters ;  not  above  three  church-people  in  the  whole  parish. 
....  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  countenance  and  support  of 
Lord  Cornbury  and  his  government,  it  would  have  been  im- 
possible to  have  settled  a  church  on  the  island." 

Thomas  gives,  in  1717,  as  the  result  of  twelve  years'  experi- 
ence of  "rowing  against  wind  and  tide,"  that  "the  pious  fraud 
of  a  caressing  and  well-ordered  hosi)itality  has  captivated  and 
inclined  their  afiectious  [to  the  church]  more  powerfully  than 
the  most  carefully-digested  sermons  from  the  pulpit." 

The  church  and  parsonage  remained  in  the  possession  of  the 
Episcopalians,  no  eftbrt  having  been  made  to  recover  them  at 
the  law.  To  insure  quiet  occupation,  Governor  Cosby,  some 
thirty  years  after  the  seizure,  granted  them  by  a  royal  charter, 
to  those  who  detained  them  from  their  lawful  owners. 

The  proprietaries  of  East  Jersey  had  from  the  first  granted 
religious  liberty,  giving  two  hundred  acres  in  each  parish  for 
the  support  of  the  gospel,  and  securing  to  the  people  the  right 
to  select  their  own  minister.  They  surrendered  the  govern- 
ment to  the  crown  in  1702,  mainly  through  the  urgency  of 
Colonel  Lewis  Morris.  On  the  accession  of  Cornbury,  the 
Prayer-book  was  ordered  to  be  read,  the  sacraments  to  be  ad- 
ministered only  by  persons  episcopally  ordained ;  and  all  minis- 
ters, without  ordination  of  that  sort,  were  required  to  report 
themselves  to  the  Bishop  of  London.  A  bill  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  church*  in  the  Jerseys  was  defeated  solely 
through  the  unflinching  perseverance  of  a  Baptist  and  a 
Quaker, —  Richard  Ilartshorne  and  Andrew  Browne.  The 
Baptist  ministers  in  West  Jersey  qualified  themselves  accord- 
ing to  the  Toleration  Act,  and  had  their  places  of  meeting  cer- 
tified, "the  Dissenters  being  troubled  in  Queen  Anne's  reign." 

A  minister  was  needed  for  the  Falls,  in  Shrewsbury,  where 
Colonel  Morris  was  about  to  build  a  church, — "and  he'll  en- 
dow it;"  and  Episcopal  churches  were  about  to  be  erected  in 
Amboy,  Hopewell,  Monmouth,  Burlington,  and  Crosswicks. 

The  benefits  of  the  Toleration  Act  were  secured  to  Dis- 
senters in  Maryland  in  1702.  The  irregularities  of  the  clergy 
of  the  Established  church  rose  to  such  a  height,  men  of  such 
known  infamy  being  put  in  orders  by  the  Bishop  of  London, 


*  Morgan  Edwards's  History  of  the  New  Jersey  Baptists. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  89 

,  that  "a  Maryland  parson"  came  into  vogue  as  an  epithet  ex- 
1  pressive  of  unparalleled  insolence  and  immorality.  Governor 
Seymour*  proposed  to  establish  a  court,  consisting  partly  of 
laymen,  to  take  cognizance  of  the  manners  of  gentlemen  in 
orders.  The  necessity  was  admitted  of  something  more  effec- 
tual than  the  supervision  of  the  commissary  to  restrain  the 
disorders;  but  the  governor's  plan  seemed  to  savour  too 
strongly  of  Presbyterianism,  with  its  ruling  elders,  to  be 
accepted  in  any  exigency. 

In  Virginia,  Governor  Nicholson  drew  on  himself  the  dis- 
like of  Mr.  Blair,  the  bishop's  commissary,  and  the  Scottish 
clergy  in  the  province.  He  presented  such  a  view  of  the  affair 
to  the  Government  that  the  council  forbade  Mr.  Blair  to  leave 
England.  He  however  returned  to  Virginia,  and  the  dispute 
between  the  English  and  the  Scotch  rectors  raged  virulently. 
The  publicationsf  on  both  sides  were  painfully  unbecoming. 
The  clergyl  in  Pennsylvania  came  to  the  governor's  aid,  and 
drew  up  an  address  against  Mr.  Blair. 

Mr.  Blair,§  describing  the  state  of  things  in  Virginia,  said, 
in  1702,  "There  is  a  sort  like  Presbyterians  here  which  is 
upheld  by  some  idle  fellovvs  that  have  left  their  lawful  employ- 
ment, and  preach  and  baptize  without  orders."  Beverly,  in 
1705,  speaks  of  the  two  small  conventicles  of  the  Presby- 
terians:— "'Tis  observed  that  those  counties  where  they  are 
produce  very  mean  tobacco,  and  for  that  reason  can't  get  an 
orthodox  minister  to  stay  among  them."  Thus  unwittingly 
he  accords  to  Makemie  the  praise  of  preaching  the  gospel  to 
y^  the  poor;  and,  to  do  so,  belies  Accomac  county,  which  was  the 
garden  of  plenty.  He  does  not  go  so  far  as  the  Quaker  who 
asserts  that  the  soil  around  Boston  became  so  impoverished, 
after  the  hanging  of  Quakers,  that  they  could  not  raise  wheat 
or  peas. 

The  aspect  of  affairs  throughout  the  colonies  was  a  grief 
of  heart  to  the  Presbyterians,  and  doubtless  led  to  much  con- 

*  Dr.  Hawks's  History  of  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Maryland.  It  was, 
however,  enacted  in  South  Carolina,  but  negatived  by  the  Crown  on  the  representa- 
tion of  the  Lords,  Spiritual  and  Tempoi-al. 

•}■  Reprinted  in  the  Church  Review. 

\  Pennsylvania  Colonial  Records  :    edited  by  Mr.  Samuel  Hazard. 

\  Reports  of  the  Venerable  Society. 


'90  Webster's  history  of  the 

siiltation  by  letter  and  personal  conference  on  the  part  of 
Makemie,  Taylor,  Davis,  and  the  devout  men  ^vho  wor- 
shipped with  them.  They  devised,  as  the  best  plan,  that 
ISIakemie  should  visit  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  repre- 
sent the  circumstances  of  "those  favouring  our  way  in  the 
Plantations,"  and  endeavour  to  interest  the  ministers  in  Lon- 
don, and  those  in  Scotland  and  Ireland,  in  the  defence  of 
their  rights  and  in  the  supply  of  their  wants.  With  a  view 
to  this  vova^e,  Makemie  executed  a  power  of  attorney  for  the 
management  of  his  property  in  his  absence,  and  in  case  of  his 
death,  and  sailed  some  time  after  May  30, 1704.* 

"  He  prevailedf  with  the  ministers  of  London  to  undertake 
the  support  of  two  itinerants  for  the  space  of  two  years,  and, 
after  that  time,  to  send  two  more  on  the  same  condition, 
allowing  the  former  after  that  time  to  settle ;  which,  if  accom- 
plished, had  proved  of  more  than  credible  advantage,  con- 
sidering how  far  scattered  iiiost  of  the  inhabitants  be;  but, 
alas !  they  drew  back  their  hands."  He  returned  in  the  fall 
of  1705,  accompanied  by  the  Rev.  John  Hampton  and  George 
McNish,  and,  it  is  not  unlikely,  by  M?^  John  Boyd,  a  proba- 
tioner. Makemie's  field  of  labour  was  on  both  sides  of  the 
Pocomoke,  the  meeting-house  being  in  Maryland,  and  the 
congregation  being  called  Pocomoke,  or  Coventry,  but  most 
generally  Rehoboth.  Twenty-five  miles  distant  was  Snow 
Hill  and  the  associated  congregation  of  Pitt's  Creek;  and 
fifteen  miles  from  Snow  Hill  were  the  united  congregations 
of  Monokin  and  Wicomico.  These,  having  four  places  of 
"worship,  were  reckoned  as  two  congregations ;  and  the  pres- 
bytery says,  in  1710,  there  were  four  congregations  in  Mary- 
land, counting  these  as  two,  together  with  Rehoboth  and 
Marlborough. 

The  four  meeting-houses  in  Somerset  county  had  shared 
with  Rehoboth  the  labours  of  Makemie ;  and,  when  (aSTovem- 
ber  14,  1705)  he  waited  upon  Somerset  Court  with  McNish 
and  Hampton,  that  they  might  be  qualified  to  serve  them,  the 
Rev.  Robert  Keith,|  of  Coventry  parish,  and  Mr,  Alexander 
Adams,  anticipated  the  application.     These  gentlemen  repre- 

*  Spence's  Early  History  of  Presbyterianism. 

f  Letter  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery  iu  1710  to  Dublin  Presbytery. 

J  Speuce. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  91 

sented  to  the  court,  then  sitting  at  Dividing  Creek,  that  they 
had  reason  to  believe  that  Makemie  and  his  assistants  de- 
signed to  ask  to  be  qualified  as  Dissenting  teachers,  and  they 
requested  the  court  to  refer  the  application  to  the  governor. 
McNish  applied ;  but  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  governor. 
In  January,  1706,  McMsh  and  Hampton  made  a  joint  appli- 
cation to  Somerset  Court,  and  it  was  in  like  manner  referred. 
The  business  was  long  delayed ;  but,  at  last.  Governor  Sey- 
mour issued  his  order,  and  McISTish  and  Hampton  presented 
it  to  the  court,  and  were  qualified  (June  12,  1706)  to  preach 
in  the  meeting-houses  at  Snow  Hill,  the  Head  of  Monokin, 
near  Mr.  Edgar's,  and  on  Captain  Joseph  Veuable's  land. 
Captain  Venable  w^as  at  this  time  one  of  the  justices  on  the 
bench ;  his  residence  was  on  Wicomico.  The  other  place  of 
worship  was  on  Pitt's  Creek. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  presbytery  was  probably  held  in 
September,  1706  ;*  but  the  first  leaf  of  the  records  is  lost, — 
the  book  beginning  with  a  fragment  of  the  minutes  of  a  meet- 
ing, (December  26,)  probably  called  at  Freehold,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  ordaining  Mr.  John  Boyd. 

*  [In  the  Preliminary  Sketch  of  the  "  Records  of  the  Presbyterian  Church," 
printed  by  the  Board  of  Publication  by  the  authority  of  the  General  Assembly, 
Dr.  Engles,  the  editor,  says,  "  In  consequence  of  the  irrecoverable  loss  of  the 
first  leaf  of  the  minutes  of  this  body,  we  are  unable  to  ascertain  the  precise  date 
of  their  ecclesiastical  association ;  but,  judging  from  the  first  date,  which  appears 
on  page  third  of  these  records,  it  must  have  been  about  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1705.  This  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  consisted  of  seven  ministers, — viz. :  Francis 
Makemie,  John  Hampton,  George  McNish,  Samuel  Davis, — all,  from  the  best  ac- 
counts, emigrants  from  Ireland,  and  exercising  their  ministry  on  the  Eastern  Shore 
of  Maryland ;  John  Wilson,  also,  from  Scotland,  settled  in  New  Castle, — and 
Jedediah  Andrews,  from  New  England,  and  settled  in  Philadelphia.  To  these 
may  be  added  John  Boyd,  who  was  the  first  person  ordained  by  the  new  pres- 
bytery in  1700,  and  settled  in  Freehold,  New  Jersey."     Ed.] 


^ 


92  Webster's  history  of  the 


CHAPTER  ni. 

The  records  of  the  Synod  of  Ulster  before  1697*  are  lost; 
but  the  Rev.  Mr.  Iredell  declared  to  the  synod,  in  1721,  that 
lie  had  assented  to  the  Confession  of  the  Westminster  divines 
in  1688;  and  it  is  improbable  that  any  persons  were  licensed 
without  giving  to  the  presbytery  entire  satisfaction  of  their 
doctrinal  soundness,  even  in  minor  matters.  What  had  been 
matter  of  custom  was,  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  synod  in 
1698,  made  a  matter  of  statute ;  candidates,  on  being  licensed, 
were  required  to  subscribe  the  Confession,  and  in  June,  1705, 
"such  ministers  as  are  to  be  licensed  shall  subscribe  the 
Westminster  Confession  to  be  the  confession  of  their  faith, 
and  promise  to  adhere  to  the  doctrine,  discipline,  and  govern- 
ment therein  contained;  as  also  those  that  are  licensed  and 
have  not  subscribed  are  to  be  obliged  to  subscribe  before  they 
are  ordained."  This  was  unanimously  approved  of;  and  the 
next  year  the  presbyteries  reported  that  the  rule  was  uniformly 
complied  with.f  When  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  met, 
this  doubtless  made,  of  course,  a  part  of  their  constitution. 

The  first  leaf  of  their  records  being  lost,  we  can  know  no- 
thing of  the  articles  of  agreement  embraced  in  their  bond  of 
union;  but  if  it  were  not  for  the  paging,  one  might  naturally 
suppose  that  a  thousand  leaves  were  gone,  with  the  pro- 
ceedings of  a  century  spread  upon  them;  for  there  is  no 
appearance  in  the  movements  of  the  body,  indicating  that  it 

*  The  facts  concerning  the  Synod  of  Ulster  are  taken  from  the  report  of  "The 
Clough  Case,"  in  which  autlienticated  extracts  from  the  minutes  were  admitted  in 
evidence,  [before  the  Court  of  Exchequer,  in  Dublin,  on  the  celebrated  trial  which 
involved  the  right  of  the  Trinitari^an  portion  of  "The  Clough  Congregation"  to  pre- 
vent Unitarians  from  cari'ying  oflF  the  meeting-house  and  Congregational  pro- 
perty.    Ed.] 

f  In  1708,  the  churches  of  Connecticut,  represented  by  delegates  at  Saybrook, 
unanimously  adopted  the  Westminster  Confession,  leaving  out  some  things  relating 
to  divorce  and  chuixh-discipline. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  93 

was  oppressed  with  a  cumbrous  system  which  it  had  not 
proved.  The  machinery  goes  on  as  quietly  as  though  by  long 
use  every  part  had  become  thoroughly  fitted  for  its  place  and 
work.  "Were  it  not  for  the  names  of  places  incidentally  men- 
tioned, one  could  easily  believe  that  he  had  taken  up  the 
minutes  of  some  of  the  original  presbyteries  of  the  Irish 
church. 

The  book  opens  with  the  brethren  in  session  at  Freehold, 
on  a  Thursday,  engaged  in  examining  Boyd  for  ordination ; 
they  held  "Sederunt  2d"  on  Friday,  sustained  his  trials,  and 
on  the  Lord's  daj^,  December  27,  1706,  his  ordination  was 
performed  at  "the  public  meeting-house  in  this  place, 
before  a  numerous  assembly."  This  was  an  adjourned 
meeting. 

The  meetings  were  annual.  The  second  was  at  Philadelphia, 
March  22,  1707 ;  four  ministers  with  their  elders  were  present. 
The  ministers  are  ranged  according  to  seniority,  but  the  elders 
according  to  their  position  in  society  or  their  age.  Wilson  is 
first  on  the  roll,  and  his  elder  John  Gardner  is  third;  An- 
drews is  second,  and  his  elder  Joseph  Yard  is  first;  Taylor  is 
third,  and  his  elder  William  Smith  is  second;  while  McNish 
and  his  elder  James  Stoddard  stand  side  by  side.  Wilson  was 
chosen  moderator  by  a  plurality  of  votes,  and  McMsh  clerk. 
It  being  Saturday,  they  adjourned  till  Tuesday  at  4  p.m.,  after 
having  refused  to  accept  the  excuse  Davis  had  sent  by  letter 
for  his  absence  from  this  and  the  preceding  meeting.  On 
Tuesday,  Makemie,  Hampton,  and  Boyd  ajipeared,  and  the 
meeting  was  opened  by  Makemie  and  Wilson  with  discourses 
on  the  first  and  second  verses  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
as  appointed  at  the  meeting  of  the  last  year.*  They  had  little 
business.  Wilson  wrote  requiring  Davis  to  attend  the  next 
meeting;  Hampton  gave  reasons  for  not  accepting,  at  this 
time,  the  call  to  Snow  Hill,  now  tendered  to  him,  and  it  was 
left  in  his  hands;  Taylor  wrote  to  the  people  to  encourage 

*  These  were  by  way  of  exercise  and  addition,  and  were  approved.  After  the 
Restoration,  the  Scottish  bishops  modelled  their  synods  after  the  Presbyterian  cus- 
tom, and  appointed  a  committee,  called  "The  Brethren  of  the  Exercise,"  to  arrange 
religious  services  during  the  session.  Principal  Forrester,  at  the  time  of  forsaking 
the  prelatic  establishment,  had  been  appointed  to  deliver  "  The  Addition"  at  the 
opening  of  the  synod. 


M  WEBSTER  S   HISTORY   OF  THE 

their  endeavours  for  a  settled  minister  among  them ;  and  An- 
drews and  Boyd  were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  over- 
tures for  the  propagating  of  religion  in  the  congregations. 
The  next  day  closed  their  sessions.  Makemie  wrote  to  Mr. 
Alexander  Golden,  the  minister  of  Oxnam,  in  Scotland,  giving 
an  account  of  the  state  of  the  Dissenting  Presbyterian  interest 
in  and  about  Lewestown,  and  signifying  the  earnest  desires  of 
that  people  for  him  to  come  and  be  their  minister.  "Wilson 
wrote  to  the  presbytery  of  \vhich  Golden  was  a  member,  to  the 
same  effect.  This  was  probably  the  Rev.  Alexander  Golden, 
of  Dunse-in-the-Merse,  w^ho  had  a  sister  of  his  wife's  residing 
in  Philadelphia.  His  son,  Gadwalader  Golden,  M.D.,  visited 
his  aunt  in  1710 ;  and,  going  to  New  York,  he  acquired  the 
favour  of  Governor  Hunter,  and  was  made  sun'-eyor-general 
of  the  province,  and  was  afterwards  appointed  lieutenant- 
governor. 

The  aid  from  London  to  sustain  missionaries  was  continued 
but  for  a  short  time.  The  need  of  its  continuance  was  pressing, 
and  Dr.  Gotton  Mather  and  the  Boston  ministers,  in  1709, 
cheerfully  gave  their  concurrence  in  applying  for  its  renewal. 
"Wilson  and  Andrews  wrote  to  Sir  Edmund  Harrison  in  con- 
cert with  the  letter  from  New  England ;  and  in  1710,  McXish 
"wrote  to  Dr.  Tongue  in  London.  Henry,  in  the  following 
year,  wrote  to  the  Presbytery  of  Dublin ;  Wilson  and  Ander- 
son wrote  to  the  Sj^nod  of  Glasgow  on  the  same  heiKl. 

The  application  to  London  failed.  The  Hev.  Thomas  Rey- 
nolds generously  sent  assistance  and  continued  it  for  several 
years. 

The  intercourse  of  the  brethren  for  nine  years  w^as  harmo- 
nious and  happy;  quiet,  steady  growth  in  numbers  marked 
each  successive  meeting,  and  the  churches  which  had  retained 
their  New  England  connection  and  their  independent  form, 
gradually,  with  their  ministers,  joined  their  fellowship  and 
walked  by  the  same  rule.  Newtown  and  Southampton,  on 
Long  Lsland,  led  the  way:  Elizabethtown  and  Newark,  ac- 
companied by  their  neighbours,  followed. 

Thus  in  the  formation  of  the  churches,  and  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  presbytery,  the  fathers  of  our  Zion  brought  Avith 
them  and  planted  on  our  soil  the  same  system  of  church  order 
and  government  to  which  they  were  attached,  and  for  which 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  95 

many  of  them  had  borne  hardness  in  their  native  land.  The 
essential  elements  of  presbytery,  containing  the  parity  of 
pastors  and  the  prerogatives  of  ruling  elders  in  their  respective 
churches,  together  with  the  action  of  the  "Kirk  Session,"  from 
which  an  appeal  might  be  taken  to  a  higher  court,  in  which 
the  subject  under  consideration  should  be  authoritatively  dis- 
posed of,  were  pi'inciples  of  government  as  well  known  to 
them  as  to  their  descendants  in  more  modern  times. 

The  formation  of  the  synod  also  occurred  with  as  little 
parade  as  the  opening  of  a  flower;  the  bud  burst  its  leaty 
bonds  and  expanded  its  beauty  to  the  eye  and  poured  its  fra- 
grance on  the  air.  It  was  rendered  necessary  by  the  extension 
of  territory.*  The  Presbytery  of  Long  Island  embraced  the 
province  of  New  York  ;  Philadelphia  Presbytery  covered  East 
and  West  Jersey  and  so  much  of  Pennsylvania  as  lay  north  of 
the  Great  Valley.  All  the  other  churches  belonged  to  New- 
castle Presbytery,  the  project  of  forming  the  ministers  on  the 
peninsula  between  the  Delaware  and  the  Chesapeake  into  the  ' 
Presbytery  of  Snow  Hill  having  failed. 

The  synod  met  on  the  17th  of  September,  1717,  and  w^as 
called  upon  by  Newcastle  Presbytery  to  pronounce  authorita- 
tively on  the  marriage  of  a  man  to  his  brother's  widow.  Con- 
siderable time  was  spent  in  discoursing  on  it :   they  made  a 

*  [The  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  met  in  that  city  on  Tuesday,  September  18, 
1716,  and  was  engaged  with  business  until  Saturday,  the  22d.  On  Friday,  the  21st, 
the  Presbytery  adopted  the  following  minute : — 

"  It  having  pleased  Divine  Providence  so  to  increase  our  number,  as  that,  after 
much  deliberation,  we  judge  it  may  be  more  serviceable  to  the  interest  of  religion 
to  divide  ourselves  into  subordinate  meetings  or  presbyteries,  constituting  one 
annually  as  a  synod,  to  meet  at  Philadelphia  or  elsewhere,  to  consist  of  all  the 
members  of  each  subordinate  presbytery  or  meeting  for  this  year  at  least :  There- 
fore, it  is  agreed  by  the  presbytery,  after  serious  deliberation,  that  the  first  subor- 
dinate meeting  or  presbytery  to  meet  at  Philadelphia  or  elsewhere,  as  they  shall 
see  fit,  do  consist  of  these  following  members, — viz. :  Masters  Andrews,  Jones, 
Powell,  Orr,  Bradner,  and  Morgan.  And  the  second  to  meet  at  Newcastle  or  else- 
where, as  they  shall  see  fit,  to  consist  of  these, — viz. :  INIasters  Anderson,  McGill, 
Gillespie,  Witherspoon,  Evans,  and  Conn.  The  third  to  meet  at  Snow  Hill  or  else- 
where, to  consist  of  these, — viz. :  Masters  Davis,  Hampton,  and  Henry.  And,  in 
consideration  that  only  our  brethren  Mr.  McNish  and  Mr.  Pumry  are  of  our 
number  on  Long  Island  at  present,  we  earnestly  recommend  it  to  them  to  use  their 
best  endeavours  with  the  neighbouring  brethren  that  are  settled  there  which,  as 
yet,  join  not  with  us,  to  join  with  them  in  erecting  a  fourth  presbytery."  Records 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  .pp.  43,  44.     Board  of  Publication,  1841.     En.] 


^U)  I. 


96  Webster's  history  of  the 

unanimous  declaration  of  its  being  incestuous  and  unlawful, 
the  parties  not  to  be  restored  to  church  privileges  until  they 
parted. 

They  also  began  a  fund  for  pious  uses,  to  which  yearly  con- 
tributions were  made  by  the  congregations :  by  it  they  aided 
feeble  churches,  assisted  in  building  places  of  worship,  and 
relieved  the  widows  of  their  deceased  members. 

Al)out  this  period,  a  large  emigration  commenced  from  the 
north  of  Ireland;  year  after  year  it  flowed  into  Maine,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  New  Hampshire,  and  ISTew  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Maryland,  The  immediate  cause 
is  supposed  to  have  been  the  refusal  to  renew  the  leases  to  the 
tenants  on  the  old  terms,  or  on  any  terms  which  they  judged 
reasonable. 

Cotton  Mather*  wrote  to  Principal  Sterling,  of  Glasgow,  on 
the  3d  of  Fourth  month,  1713,  expressing  the  hope  that,  "as 
great  numbers  are  like  to  come  to  us  from  the  north  of  Ire- 
land, the  bond  between  the  churches  of  Scotland  and  Xew 
England  will  every  day  grow  stronger  and  stronger."  On  the 
6th  of  Eighth  month,  1718,  he  writes  to  him : — "We  are  com- 
forted with  great  numbers  of  the  oppressed  brethren  coming 
from  the  north  of  Ireland.  The  glorious  providence  of  God, 
in  the  removal  of  so  many  of  a  desirable  character  from  the 
north  of  Ireland,  hath  doubtless  very  great  intentions  in  it." 

Among  these  were  Thomas  Creaghead,  who  came  in  1715 ; 
James  McGregoire,  in  1718,  with  a  number  of  families,  who 
established  themselves  at  Londonderry,  New  Hampshire ; 
Edward  Fitzgerald,  at  the  head  of  a  company  who  settled  at 
"Worcester,  Massachusetts ;  William  Cornwell,  from  Mona- 
ghan  Presbytery,  with  a  body  of  settlers  at  Casco  Bay,  in 
Maine,  in  Falmouth  township,  near  Portland;  and  William 
Boyd,  minister  of  IMecaslr)^  (or  Macosquin,)  who  returned 
Boon  after  and  settled  at  Taboyn.  Mather  also  speaks  in  high 
terms  of  James  Woodside,  who  also  returned. 

On  the  10th  of  Sixth  month,  1718,  Mather  wrote  to  An- 
drews : — "  Sir :  it  has  been  a  great  satisfaction  to  your  bre- 
thren here  to  understand  how  comfortably  and  admirably  you 
are  strengthened  by  an  accession  of  excellent  men  to  carry  on 

*  Mather  MSS.,  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Worcester. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN    AMERICA.  97 

the  work  of  the  ministry  with  you.  The  compassion  which 
our  dear  Saviour  has  herein  shown  to  the  sheep  in  tlie  wilder- 
ness and  the  encouragement  given  to  his  faithful  servants  who 
wanted  such  faithful  lahourers,  we  have  observed  with  delight 
and  veneration.  And  we  promise  ourselves  that  your  wise, 
gracious,  candid,  and  condescending  union  with  one  another, 
and  your  continual  progression  of  services  to  be  done  for  the 
kingdom  of  God,  will  be  attended  with  many  happy  con- 
sequents in  your  parts  of  the  world." 

The  Act  of  Toleration,  relieving  Dissenters  from  the  oppres- 
sive Act  of  Uniformity,  was  not  enacted  by  the  Parliament  of 
Ireland  till  1719,  in  the  sixth  year  of  George  I. 

The  Dissenters  in  England,  in  order  to  enjoy  relief  under 
the  Toleration,  were  required  to  subscribe  the  doctrinal  Arti- 
cles of  the  Church  of  England.  The  L'ish  Presbyterians  were 
determined  not  to  accept  of  the  toleration  if  tendered  on  those 
terms.  On  the  10th  of  November,  1714,  there  was  a  meeting 
of  ministers  and  gentlemen  at  Antrim,  to  consider  on  what 
grounds  they  would  receive  it ;  and  their  unanimous  resolve 
was,  that  "  the  first  thing  we  shall  propose  to  the  government 
and  insist  upon  is,  that  the  terms  on  which  we  will  accept  it 
shall  be  our  subscribing  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith." 
At  a  full  synod  in  Belfast,  June  19,  1716,  an  interloquitur  was 
held,  and  the  resolution  was  unanimously  approved  and  ad- 
hered to ;  yet,  as  the  government  might  refuse  to  allow  sub- 
scription to  the  Westminster  Confession  to  be  enacted  as  the 
condition,  they  agreed  in  that  case  to  propose,  that  the  condi- 
tion be  subscription  to  this  formula : — 

"  I  profess  faith  in  God  the  Father,  and  in  Jesus  Christ  the 
Eternal  Son  of  God,  and  in  God  the  Holy  Ghost ;  that  these 
three  are  one  God,  the  same  in  substance,  equal  in  power  and 
glory.  I  believe  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  were  given  by  divine  inspiration,  and  that  they  are 
a  perfect  rule  of  faith  and  practice ;  and,  pursuant  to  this,  I 
believe  all  the  doctrines  common  to  the  Protestant  churches 
at  home  and  abroad,  contained  in  their  and  our  public  Con- 
fessions of  Faith." 

To  this,  some  objected  that  it  might  be  regarded  as  a  reced- 
ing from  the  Confession  to  propose  such  a  formula.  It  was 
replied,  that  the  formula  was  in  substance  the  same  with  our 

7 


98  Webster's  history  of  the 

Confession,  and  a  compendious  abridgment  of  divers  of  tho 
most  fundamental  articles  of  it,  and  that  to  tolerate  on  the 
ground  of  it,  would  give  the  public  sanction  of  authorit}^  to 
our  standing  by  and  preaching  up  to  all  known  principles  con- 
tained in  our  Confession.  It  was  agreed,  with  but  one  dissent- 
ing voice,  that  to  propose  the  formula  could  not  rightly  be 
construed  as  a  relinquishing  the  Westminster  Confession  as 
our  Confession.  From  the  determination  as  a  last  resort  to 
propose  this  formula,  three  ministers  and  two  elders  dissented, 
and  one  minister  and  one  elder  were  non  liquet. 

In  1721,  at  the  Synod  in  Belfast,  Mr.  Ilaliday,  having  been 
called  to  the  old  congregation  in  that  town,  declined  to  declare 
for  the  Confession,  though  he  had  assented  to  it  when  licensed 
at  Rotterdam.  Testimonials  of  his  soundness  in  the  faith 
were  produced  from  the  London  ministers,  from  Leyden,  Rot- 
terdam, Basle,  and  Geneva,  and  from  several  presbyteries. 
He  said,  "  My  refusal  to  declare  my  assent  does  not  proceed 
from  my  disbelief  of  the  important  truths  contained  in  the 
Westminster  Confession,  the  contrary  of  which,  by  word  and 
writing,  I  have  often  declared,  as  this  venerable  body  can  bear 
me  witness  ;  but  my  scruples  are  against  the  submitting  to  hu- 
man tests  of  divine  truth,  when  imposed  as  a  necessarj'  term 
of  Christian  and  ministerial  communion,  especially  in  a  great 
number  of  extra-essential  truths,  without  the  knowledge  or 
belief  of  which  men  may  be  entitled  to  the  favour  of  God  and 
the  hopes  of  eternal  life,  and,  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
gospel,  to  Christian  and  ministerial  communion." 

The  synod  utterly  disclaimed  all  power  of  imposing  on 
men's  consciences,  of  which  God  alone  is  Lord ;  and,  at  the 
solicitation  of  the  reverend  commissioners  from  Dublin  Pres- 
bytery, they  indulged  Hallyday,  who  declined  giving  the  rea- 
sons of  his  scruples,  lest  it  should  cause  heat  and  altercation  ; 
but  they  rebuked  the  Belfast  Presbytery  for  having  proceeded 
to  settle  him. 

They,  however,  by  a  majority  resolved  that  each  individual 
minister  should  express  his  opinion  distinctly  concerning  the 
Supreme  Divinity  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour ;  several  declined 
and  were  excluded.  Others  professed  their  faith  in  the  Trinity, 
but  refused  to  subscribe  the  Westminster  Confession. 

A  great  number  of  congregations  supplicated  the  synod. 


PKBSBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  99 

earncstl}',  that  all  its  members  and  all  the  inferior  judicatories 
should  be  obliged  to  subscribe  the  Westminster  Confession. 
An  overture  concerning  the  Eternal  Deity  of  the  Son  of  God 
was  brought  in ;  an  interloquitur  was  held,  and  the  overture 
remodelled,  read  three  times,  and  reasoned  upon  at  great 
length.  Some  withdrew,  and,  while  professing  in  the  strongest 
terms  to  believe  the  article,  objected  to  the  overture  as  unsea- 
sonable, and  because,  in  their  judgment,  they  were  against  all 
authoritative  decisions  and  human  tests  of  orthodoxy. 

The  synod  declared  it  to  be  an  aspersion,  wholly  groundless 
so  far  as  they  knew,  that  the  Deity  of  the  Son  of  God  was  im- 
pugned by  their  members ;  and  that  "  it  is  our  resolution  that 
whoever  denies  this  article  hereafter  in  the  pulpit,  or  in  con- 
versation, or  in  print,  shall  be  proceeded  against  according  to 
the  law  of  the  gospel  and  disowned." 

In  1721,  Gillespie  introduced  a  declaration  into  the  Synod 
of  Philadelphia,  which  was  adopted: — "Our  opinion  is,  that  if 
any  brother  have  any  overture  to  ofi'er  to  be  formed  into  an  act 
of  synod,  for  the  better  carrying  on  in  the  matters  of  our  go- 
vernment and  discipline,  he  may  bring  it  in  against  next 
synod."  The  design  of  Gillespie  was  probably  to  prepare  the 
wa}^  for  an  overture  concerning  some  material  point  of  doc- 
trine, perhaps  the  very  one  which  had  engrossed  the  attention 
of  the  mother-synod.  Dickinson  appears  to  have  occupied  the 
ground  of  Hallyday,  Abernethy,  and  others,  who,  while  profess- 
ing the  doctrine  of  the  Deity  of  Christ,  objected  to  any  authori- 
tative decision  by  a  human  tribunal.  He,  therefore,  with  Mor- 
gan, Jones,  D.  Evans,  Pierson,  and  Webb,  protested  against 
adopting  the  resolution,  and  against  its  being  recorded. 

Andrews*  wrote  to  Colman,  April  30, 1722 : — "  Two  or  three 
things  have  happened  within  a  twelvemonth  among  us  of  no 
very  promising  aspect  among  some  few  other  better  things. 
The  business  of  the  protestation  that  happened  at  our  last 
synodical  meeting,  I've  endeavoured  to  heal,  and  I  hope  'twill 
be  healed.     I  know  not  but  the  Pacificf  Articles  have  had  their 

*  MSS.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

f  The  Pacification  Articles  were  adopted,  in  1720,  by  the  Irish  Synod.  "  If  any 
person  called  to  subscribe  shall  scruple  any  phrase  or  phrases  in  the  Confession,  he 
shall  have  leave  to  use  his  own  expression,  which  the  presbytery  shall  accept  of, 
provided  they  judge  such  a  person  sound  in  the  faith:  the  explanation  shall  be 
entered  on  the  presbytery-book."     "  It's  a  larger  door,"  says  Wodrow,  "than  we 


100  WEBSTER'S   HISTORY   OF   THE 

good  use.  In  short,  I  think  the  difference  is  in  words,  for  I 
can't  find  any  real  difference,  liaving  sifted  the  matter  in  seve- 
ral letters  which  have  passed  between  Mr.  Dickinson  and  me 
upon  it.  I  am  still  of  the  mind,  as  I  told  yoii  before,  that  the 
squabble  at  New  York  is  at  the  bottom  and  lias  an  e^^l  influ- 
ence on  our  peace.     I  wish  it  may  not  do  more  hurt  hereafter." 

Dickinson,  as  the  moderator,  opened  the  synod  with  a  ser- 
mon* on  2  Timothy  iii.  17,  in  1722.  It  bore  directly  on  his 
position  assumed  in  the  protest;  asserting  that  the  church  has 
no  authority  to  make  new  laws  or  alter  or  add  to  what  is  pre- 
scribed in  the  Bible.  "I  challenge  the  world  to  produce  any 
such  dedimus  potestatem  from  Christ,  or  the  least  lisp  in  the 
Dible,  that  countenances  such  a  regal  power." 

They  had  accompanied  their  protest  with  reasons.  McGill 
and  McNish  produced  answers ;  when  Jones,  Morgan,  Dickin- 
son, and  Evans,  brought  in  a  paper  testifying  their  judgment 
concerning  church  government,  which  was  approved  by  the 
synod,  and  ordered  by  the  synod  to  be  recorded  in  the  synod- 
book.  Likewise,  the  said  brethren  being  willing  to  take  back 
their  protestation  against  the  act,  together  with  their  reasons 
given  in  defence  of  said  protest,  the  synod  doth  hereby  order 
that  the  protest,  together  with  the  reasons  of  it,  as  also  the  an- 
swers at  the  appointment  of  the  synod  given  in  to  the  reasons 
alleged  by  Mr.  Daniel  McGill  and  Mr.  George  McNish,  be  all 
withdrawn,  and  that  the  said  act  remain  and  be  in  all  respects  as 
if  no  such  protest  had  been  made.    The  articles  are  as  follows  : 

"1.  We  freely  grant  that  there  is  full  executive  power  of 
church  government  in  presbyteries  and  synods,  and  that  they 
may  authoritatively  in  the  name  of  Christ  use  the  keys  of 
church  discipline  to  all  proper  intents  and  purposes,  and  that 
the  keys  of  the  church  are  committed  to  the  church  oflicers 
and  to  them  only. 

"  2.  We  also  grant  that  the  mere  circumstantials  of  church 
discipline,  such  as  the  time,  place,  and  mode  of  carrying  on,  in 
the  government  of  the  church,  belong  to  ecclesiastical  judica- 
tories to  determine  as  occasions  occur,  conformable  to  the 
general  rules  in  the  word  of  God,  that  require  all  things  to  be 

allow  of.     The  synod  soon  saw  the  advantage  taken  of  these  articles  by  unsound 
men,  and  repealed  them." — Wodrow  Correspondence. 
*  MSS.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  101 

done  decentl}^  and  in  order.  And  if  these  things  are  called  ads, 
we  will  take  no  offence  at  the  word,  provided  that  these  acts 
be  not  imposed  on  such/ as  conscientiously  dissent  from  them. 

"  3.  We  also  grant,  that  synods  may  compose  directories  and 
recommend  them  to  all  their  members,  respecting  all  the  parts 
of  discipline;  provided  that  all  subordinate  judicatories  may 
decline  from  such  directories,  when  they  conscientiously  think 
they  have  just  reason  to  do  so. 

"4.  We  freely  allow  that  appeals  maybe  made  from  all  infe- 
rior to  superior  judicatories,  and  that  they  have  power  to  con- 
sider and  determine  such  appeals." 

"  The  synod  was  so  universally  pleased  with  the  abovesaid 
composure  of  their  difference,  that  they  unanimously  united  in 
a  thanksgiving-prayer,  and  joyful  singing  the  130th  Psalm." 
The  reasons  of  protest  and  the  answer  were  both  dropped 
from  the  record.  The  four  points  presented  as  the  basis  of 
agreement  were  so  material,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Synod  of 
mister,  that  they  decided,  in  1725,  that  those  who  denied  them 
should  not  be  allowed  to  vote  in  any  matter  affecting  those 
who  believed  them,  "it  being  contrary  to  common  equity, 
that,  where  there  is  a  parity  of  power,  the  obligation  to  mu- 
tual submission  should  not  be  equal  in  all  the  members." 
The  next  year  a  Committee  of  Bills  and  Overtures  was  ap- 
pointed, on  which  Dickinson  served;  but  Jones  and  D.  Evans 
dissented  from  the  appointment  of  it. 

Immediately  after  the  adoption  of  Gillespie's  proposal  in 
1721,  a  commission  of  synod  was  appointed  to  act  in  their 
name,  and  with  all  their  authority,  in  the  matter  of  the  fund 
or  any  other  business  which  may  come  before  them.  The 
commission  was  annually  appointed  until  the  formation  of  the 
General  Assembly.  The  loss  of  all  the  minutes  of  its  pro- 
ceedings is  much  to  be  regretted. 

In  1722,  the  Irish  Synod  resolved  firmly  and  constantly  to 
adhere  to  the  Westminster  Confession,  as  being  founded  on 
the  Word  of  God  and  agreeable  thereto ;  and  to  cleave  to  and 
maintain  the  Presbyterian  government  and  discipline,  hitherto 
exercised  among  them  according  to  our  known  rules,  agreeable^ 
to  the  Scripture. 

In  1723,  for  the  security  of  the  church,  they  resolved  that 
the  declaring  of  Articles  of  Faith  in  Scripture  language  only, 


102  Webster's  history  of  the 

wliich  had  been  permitted  by  the  Paeilication  Articles,  shall 
not  be  accepted  as  sufficient  evidence  of  a  person's  soundness 
in  the  faith;  and  that  the  condemning  of  all  creeds,  confes- 
sions, and  declarations  of  faith  in  human  words,  opens  a  door 
to  let  errors  and  heresies  into  the  church. 

These  proceedings  sent  a  wave  across  the  Atlantic ;  and  in 
1724,  the  Presbytery  of  iSTewcastle  entered  in  their  book  a  for- 
mula, expressing  adherence  to  the  "Westminster  Confession, 
and  their  candidates  on  being  licensed  cheerfully  signed  it :— « 
*'I  do  own  the  Westminster  Confession  as  the  confession  of 
my  faith."  "What  the  Presbyteries  of  Philadelphia  and  Long 
Island  did  during  these  years  cannot  be  ascertained,  their 
records  being  lost.  The  formula  used  by  Armagh  Presbytery, 
in  Ulster,  was,  "I  do  believe  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith  to  be  founded  on  and  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God, 
and  therefore  as  such,  by  this  my  subscription,  do  own  it  as 
the  confession  of  my  faith." 

In  1725,  the  Irish  Synod  resolved  to  suspend  from  the  mi- 
nistry all  who  reproached  the  church  judicatories  flpr  requiring 
subscription ;  and  "  that  whosoever  shall  maintain-  that  Christ 
has  not  lodged  any  authority  in  the  judicatories  of  this  church, 
but  that  they  are  mere  consultative  meetings,  whose  decisions 
even  in  matters  of  prudence  and  expediency  may  be  counter- 
acted and  defeated  by  every  man's  private  judgment,  ought 
not  to  be  allowed  to  vote  in  any  matter  the  decision  whereof 
may  affect  any  member  who  believes  the  proper  authority  of 
our  judicatories  as  the  ordinance  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  which 
submission  is  due  in  all  things  lawful  for  conscience."  They 
ordered  also  that  censure  be  inflicted  on  those  who  refused, 
when  required  by  a  regularly-constituted  judicatory,  to  give  a 
declaration  of  their  sentiments  on  any  important  article  of 
faith.  They  transmitted  the  following  overture  by  a  great 
majority  to  the  presbyteries: — Whether  or  not  we  should,  after 
the  laudable  example  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  in  their 
General  Assembly,  require  of  every  minister  and  ruling 
elder,  before  their  admission  to  vote  in  the  General  Synod, 
that  he  subscribe  or  declare  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith  to  be  the  confession  of  his  faith  as  a  qualification  of 
membership?  They  also  ordered,  that  if  any  inferior  judica- 
tory shall  reverse  or  alter  the  decisions  of  their  superior  judi- 


PKESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  103 

catories,  the  moderator  and  clerk  then  in  office  shall  incur 
suspension  as  long  as  the  next  higher  judicatory  shall  see  fit. 

In  1726,  the  non-subscribers  ofi:ered  propositions  for  an  ac- 
commodation, which  the  subscribers  rejected  as  inconsistent 
with  the  peace  and  unity  of  this  church;  and,  "by  these  their 
principles  and  their  declared  resolutions  to  adhere  to  them,  they 
put  it  out  of  our  power  to  maintain  ministerial  communion 
with  them  in  church  judicatories  as  formerly,  consistently 
with  the  faithful  discharge  of  our  ministerial  office  and  the 
peace  of  our  own  consciences."  The  non-subscribers  read 
their  observations  on  this  paper:  eighteen  ministers  and  four 
elders  objected  to  proceed  to  the  vote  on  it.  It  was  agreed  to 
by  a  great  majority,  eleven  ministers  and  one  elder  dissent- 
ing. The  non-subscribers,  being  thus  excluded,  withdrew,  and 
formed  the  Antrim  Presbytery. 

In  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  in  September,  1727,  Thomson, 
of  Lewestown,  introduced  the  following  overture  :* 

"  That  the  synod,  as  an  ecclesiastical  judicature  of  Christ, 
clothed  with  ministerial  authority  to  act  in  concert  in  behalf 
of  truth  and  in  opposition  to  error,  would,  by  an  act  of  its 
own,  publicly  and  authoritatively  adopt  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  Catechisms,  &c.  for  the  public  confession  of 
our  faith ;  and  oblige  each  presbytery  to  require  every  candi- 
date for  the  ministry  to  subscribe  or  otherwise  acknowledge, 
coram  presbyieris,  the  said  Confession,  and  promise  not  to 
preach  or  teach  contrary  to  it.  All  '  actual  ministers'  coming 
among  us  to  do  the  like,  and  no  minister  to  teach  or  preach 
contrary  to  said  articles,  unless  first  he  propose  the  point  to 
the  presbytery  or  synod  to  be  by  them  discussed.  Each  mi- 
nister to  recommend  to  his  flock  to  entertain  the  truth  in  love, 
be  zealous,  and  fruitful,  and  earnest  by  prayer  with  God,  to 
preserve  the  vine  from  being  spoiled  by  these  deluding 
foxes. "t 

Nothing  is  said  of  it  in  the  minutes  of  that  year;  but  New- 
castle Presbytery,  March  28,  1728,  requested  it  to  be  produced, 
and,  being  read,  a  judgment  on  it  was  deferred  till  the  next 
meeting.  They  say  subsequently  that  the  synod  slighted  it, 
and  that  Thomson  published  a  letter  which  took  effect.     lie 

*  Printed  in  Hodge's  History,  from  Mr.  Ebenezer  Hazard's  MSS. 
f  Page  92,  Synod  Records. 


104  Webster's  history  of  the 

printed  the  overture,  with  his  reasons  for  its  adoption.  It  was 
proposed,  he  says,  as  an  expedient  for  preventing  the  ingress 
and  spreading  of  dangerous  errors  among  ourselves  and  our 
flocks.  "Being  an  organized  body,  we  ought,  especially  when 
apparent  dangers  call  for  it,  to  exert  ourselves  in  vindication 
and  defence  of  the  truth  we  profess.  We  are  not  accountable 
to  the  judicial  inquiry  of  any  superior  earthly  judicatory;  and, 
if  we  do  not  exert  the  authority  inherent  in  us  for  maintaining 
the  purity  of  gospel  truth,  there  is  no  earthly  authority  to  call 
us  in  question  for  our  neglect,  our  errors  or  heresies. 

"Perhaps  my  unacquaintedness  with  our  records  may  cause 
me  to  mistake ;  but  it  seems  to  me  we  are  too  much  like  the 
people  of  Laish, — in  a  careless,  defenceless  condition,  as  a  city 
without  walls,  having  never,  by  a  conjunct  act  of  the  represen- 
tatives of  our  church,  made  it  our  confession  as  we  are  a  united 
body  politic,  and  there  being  nothing  to  keep  out  of  the  mi- 
nistry those  who  are  corrupt  in  doctrinals,  or  to  prevent  any 
among  us  from  propagating  gross  errors.  Pernicious  and  dan- 
gerous corruptions  in  doctrine  have  grown  in  fashion  among 
those,  whose  ancestors  would  have  sealed  the  now  despised 
truth  with  their  blood.  Our  infancy  and  poverty  prevent  us 
from  planting  a  seminaiy  of  learning ;  and  we  must  depend  on 
other  places  for  men  to  supply  our  vacancies,  and  so  are  in 
danger  of  having  our  ministry  corrupted,  by  those  who  are 
leavened  beforehand  wdth  false  doctrine.  K  such  an  expedient 
be  neglected,  (now,  I  hope  it  may  be  done,)  those  who  now 
discern  not  the  necessity  hereof,  may,  ere  many  years,  see  it 
when  it  will  be  too  late;  when  perhaps  the  number  of  truth's 
friends  may  be  too  few  to  carry  such  a  point  in  the  synod." 

The  synod  met  in  the  fall  by  delegates,  it  having  been 
resolved  to  do  so  in  1724,  and  to  have  "a  full  synod"*  every 
third  year.  The  delegates  were,  from  Philadelphia  Presby- 
tery, Andrews,  Morgan,  William  Tennent  and  his  son  Gil- 
bert, Pierson,  Dickinson,  and  Parris ;  from  Newcastle  Pres- 
bytery, Creaghead,  Thomson,  Anderson,  Gillespie,  McCook, 
Gelston,  Houston,  and  Boyd ;  from  Long  Island  Presbytery, 
Pomeroy  and  Cross.  There  were  twelve  elders,  all  Irishmen 
or    Scotchmen,   except   John  Budd,  from  Philadelphia,  and 

*  The  Synod  of  Ulster  speak  of  "  a  full  synod"  as  early  as  1716.  The  plan 
of  delegation  went  out  of  use  in  1730. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  105 

JSTathaniel  Hazard,  of  New  York.  Of  tlie  ministers,  six  were 
from  New  England. 

"The  overture  on  subscription  being  read,  tlie  synod,  judg- 
ing it  to  be  a  very  important  affair,  unanimously  deferred  the 
consideration  of  it  for  a  year,  recommending  it  to  the  mem- 
bers of  each  presbytery  to  give  notice  to  the  absent  members 
of  it,  and  agreeing  that  the  next  synod  should  be  a  full  one. 

Andrews*  wrote  to  Colman,  April  7,  1729: — "We  are  now 
likely  to  fall  into  a  great  difference  about  subscribing  the 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith.  An  overture  for  it — drawn 
up  by  Mr.  Thomson,  of  Lewestown — was  offered  to  our  synod 
the  year  before  last,  but  not  then  read  in  the  synod.  Measures 
were  taken  to  stave  it  oft';  and  I  was  in  hopes  we  should  have 
heard  no  more  of  it.  But  last  year  it  was  brought  again, 
recommended  by  all  the  Scotch  and  Irish  members  present ; 
and,  being  read  among  us,  a  proposal  was  made,  prosecuted, 
and  agreed  to,  that  it  should  be  deferred  till  our  next  meeting 
for  further  consideration.  The  proposal  is,  that  all  ministers 
and  intrants  should  sign  it,  or  be  disowned  as  members. 
Now,  what  shall  we  do?  They  will  certainly  carry  it  by 
numbers.  Our  countrymen  say  they  are  willing  to  join  in  a 
vote  to  make  it  the  Confession  of  our  church ;  but  to  agree  to 
making  it  a  test  of  orthodoxy  and  term  of  ministerial  com- 
munion, they  will  not.  I  think  all  the  Scotch  are  on  one 
side,  and  all  the  English  and  Welsh  on  the  other,  to  a  man. 
Nevertheless,  I  am  not  so  determined  as  to  be  incapable  to 
receive  advice ;  and  I  give  you  this  account  that  I  may  have 
your  judgment  what  I  had  best  do  in  the  matter.  Supposing 
I  do  believe  it:  shall  I,  on  the  terms  above  mentioned,  sub- 
scribe or  not  ?  I  earnestly  desire  you  by  the  first  opportunity 
to  send  me  your  opinion.  Our  brethren  have  got  the  over- 
ture, with  a  preface  to  it,  printed ;  and  I  intend  to  send  you 
one  for  the  better  regulation  of  your  thoughts  about  it. 
Some  say  the  design  of  this  motion  is  to  spew  out  our  coun- 
trymen,— they  being  scarce  able  to  hold  way  with  the  other 
brethren  in  all  their  disciplinary  and  legislative  notions. 
What  truth  there  may  be  in  this  I  know  not.  Some  deny  it ; 
whereas  others  say  there  is  something  in  it.     I  am  satisfied, 

*  Printed  in  Hodge's  History  from  the  MSS.  of  Ebenezer  Hazard. 


106  WEBSTER'S    niSTORT   OF   THE 

Bome  of  us  are  an  uneasiness  to  tliem,  and  are  thought  to  bo 
too  much  in  their  way  sometimes,  so  that  I  think  it  Avould  he 
no  trouble  to  lose  some  of  us.  Yet  I  can't  think  this  to  be 
the  thing  ultimately  designed,  whatever  smaller  glances  there 
may  be  at  it.  I  have  no  thought,  they  have  any  design 
against  me  in  particular;  I  have  no  reason  for  it.  This  busi- 
ness lies  heavy  on  my  mind ;  and  I  desire  that  we  may  be 
directed  in  it,  that  we  may  not  bring  a  scandal  on  our  pro- 
fession. Though  I  have  been  sometimes  the  instrument  of 
keeping  them  together,  when  they  were  like  to  fall  to  pieces, 
I  have  little  hope  of  doing  so  now.  If  it  were  not  for  the 
scandal  of  a  division,  I  should  not  be  much  against  it;  for  the 
different  countrymen  seem  to  be  most  delighted  with  each  other 
and  to  do  best  when  they  are  by  themselves.  My  congrega- 
tion being  made  up  of  divers  nations  of  different  sentiments, 
this  brings  me  under  greater  difficulty  in  this  contested  busi- 
ness than  any  other  minister  of  our  number.  I  am  afraid 
of  the  event.  However,  I  will  endeavour  to  do  as  near  as  I 
can  what  I  understand  to  be  duty,  and  leave  the  issue  to 
Providence." 

Dickinson  published  "Remarks"*  on  a  discourse  entitled 
"An  Overture."  It  is  dated  April  10,  1729,  and  was  printed 
by  J.  P.  Zenger,  Smith  Street,  New  York.  He  insists  that 
poor  defenceless  Laish  will  not  be  bettered  by  the  wall  of 
subscription,  which  will  fall  if  a  fox  go  over  it.  Her  true 
defence  is  the  thorough  examination  of  candidates  on  the 
saving  work  of  grace  in  their  hearts,  in  reviving  ancient  disci- 
pline, in  bringing  offenders  to  account,  and  being  diligent  in 
preacliing  the  whole  counsel  of  God.  He  shows  that  there 
may  be  a  bond  of  union  without  subscription,  that  the 
synod  had  already  a  bond  of  union  in  the  general  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  truth,  and  that  subscription  always  causes 
disunion.  To  shut  out  of  the  ministry  non-subscribers,  is  to 
make  the  Confession,  not  the  Bible,  our  standard,  and  is  an 
invasion  of  the  royalty  of  Christ. 

He  depicts  the  sad  condition  of  a  good  man  who  cannot  in 
conscience  subscribe:  he  is,  at  best,  treated  as  a  weak  brother, 
or  held  up  to  his  people  as  an  object  of  distrust.     He  refers  to 

*  Old  South  Clim-ch  Library. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  107 

the  dismal  group  of  heresies  which  crowded  into  the  church, 
within  seventy  years  after  the  adoption  of  the  Nicene  Creed ; 
all  of  which  "flowed  from  the  corrupt  fountain  of  impositions 
and  subscriptions.  This  was  the  mark  set  by  Providence  on 
the  first  subscription  of  this  kind,  and  this  the  defence  and 
propagation  of  the  truth  that  followed  from  it.  The  churches 
of  ivTew  England  have  always  been  non-subscribers,  and  yet 
retain  their  first  faith  and  love.  Subscription,  therefore,  is 
not  necessary  to  the  being  or  the  well-being  of  a  church; 
unless  hatred,  variance,  emulation,  wrath,  strife,  sedition,  and 
heresies  are  necessary  to  that  end."* 

To  this,  if  Thomson  replied,  no  copy  of  his  answer  is 
known  to  remain.  In  his  view,  "  secret,  bosom  enemies  of 
the  truth  (I  mean  those  who,  being  visible  members  of  the 
church,  do  not  openly  and  violently  oppose  the  truth  professed 
therein,  but  in  a  secret  way  endeavour  to  undermine  it)  are  as 
dangerous  as  any;  and  the  church  should  in  a  special  manner 
exercise  her  vigilance  against  such,  by  searching  them  out, 
discovering  them,  and  setting  a  mark  upon  them,  whereby 
they  may  be  known,  and  so  not  have  it  in  their  power  to 
deceive." 

The  result  of  this  delay  was  manifest  and  happy.  In  1729, 
all  the  members  of  synod  were  present,  except  Morgan,  Pem- 
berton,  Cross,  Webb,  Stewart,  Pomeroy,  and  Hook ;  four  of 
whom  were  ISTew  England  men.  There  were  thirteen  elders, 
of  whom  Mr.  Budd  was  of  American  birth,  and  William 
Williams  was  probably  a  Welshman. 

The  overture  was  referred  to  Anderson,  the  moderator, 
Andrews,  Dickinson,  Thomson,  Pierson,  Creaghead,  and 
Conn,  and  the  elder  John  Budd.  They  brought  in  an  over- 
ture, which,  after  long  debating,  was  agreed  on 

*  When  President  Clapp  established  the  Professorship  of  Divinity  in  Yale  Col- 
lege, and  made  subscription  to  the  Confession  binding  on  the  professor,  Dr.  John 
Gale,  of  Killingworth,  attacked  him,  and  quoted  the  passage  in  the  text.  Mr, 
Clapp  replied.  Dr.  Bellamy  •wrote  on  the  same  side,  under  the  signature  of 
"Paulinus."  Dr.  Hopkins  was  zealous  for  the  subscription.  Bostwick,  on  hearing 
of  Dr.  Dana's  settlement  at  Wallingford,  wrote  to  Bellamy,  (January  1,  1759,) 
'■'  'Tis  a  mercy  that  all  our  ministers  are  professed  adherers  to  the  Confession  of 
Faith.  No  Arminian  can  be  encouraged  or  get  his  bread  by  preaching  among  us. 
A  late  attempt  has  been  made  by  an  ingenious  young  clergyman  from  Ireland,  all 
along  the  coast,  but  to  no  purpose." 


108  Webster's  history  of  the 

"All  the  ministers  of  the  synod  now  present,  except  one 
that  declared  himself  not  prepared,  after  proposing  all  the 
scruples  that  any  of  them  had  to  make  against  any  articles 
and  expressions  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  Larger  and 
Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westmin- 
ster, have  unanimously  agreed  in  the  solution  of  those  scru- 
ples, and  in  declaring  the  said  Confession  and  Catechisms 
to  be  the  Confession  of  their  Faith;  excepting  only  some 
clauses  in  the  twentieth  and  twenty -first  chapters,  concerning 
which  clauses  the  synod  do  unanimously  declare  that  they  do 
not  receive  those  articles  in  any  such  sense,  as  to  suppose, 
that  the  civil  magistrate  hath  a  controlling  power  over  synods, 
with  respect  to  the  exercise  of  their  ministerial  authority,  or 
power  to  persecute  any  for  their  religion,  or  in  any  sense 
contrary  to  the  Protestant  succession  to  the  throne  of  Great 
Britain." 

The  ministers  present  were  Andrews,  Creaghead,  Anderson, 
Thomson,  Pierson,  Gelston,  Houston,  Tennent  and  his  son 
Gilbert,  Boyd,  Dickinson,  Bradner,  Hutcheson,  Thomas 
Evans,  Stevenson,  Conn,  Gillespie,  and  Wilson.  Observing 
the  unanimity,  peace,  and  unity  which  appeared  in  all  their 
consultations  and  determinations  in  this  aftair,  they  unani- 
mously agreed  in  giving  thanks  to  God  in  solemn  prayer  and 
praises. 

They  also  unanimously  ackowledged  and  declared  that "  they 
judge  the  Directory  for  worship,  discipline,  and  government, 
commonly  annexed  to  the  Westminster  Confession,  to  be 
agreeable  in  substance  to  the  word  of  God  and  founded 
thereon ;  and,  therefore,  do  earnestly  recommend  the  same  to 
all  their  members,  to  be  by  them  observed  as  near  as  circum- 
stances will  allow  and  Christian  prudence  direct." 

Elmer,  who  had  recently  come  from  ISTew  England,  pro- 
fessed himself  not  prepared  to  act ;  but,  in  1730,  he  gave  in 
his  adhesion.  Pemberton  and  Morgan  "  declared"  before 
their  presbyteries;  and  David  Evans,  who  had  withdrawn 
three  years  before,  returned  and  adopted  the  Confession. 

This    unanimity  was    remarkable,    and    ought   to  be    re- 

*  Pemberton,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Colman,  calls  it  "  our  happy  agreement." 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  109 

garded  as  a  signal  manifestation  of  God's  gracious  love 
and  care. 

The  Presbytery  of  Charleston  at  the  same  time  were 
sadly  divided.  The  Rev.  Josiah  Smith,  of  Cainhoy,  and 
Mr.  Basset,  of  Charleston,  appeared  as  non- subscribers. 
The  former  represented  to  Dr.  Colman*  that  the  matter 
was  urged  in  an  uubrotherly  and  unchristian  manner  by 
the  Scotch  brethren.  He  published  a  sermon,  in  1729  : — 
"  Human  Impositions  proved  unscriptural ;  or,  the  Divine 
Right  of  Private  Judgment."  The  Rev.  Hugh  Fisher,  of 
Dorchester,  South  Carolina,  published,  on  the  opposite  side,  a 
sermon  entitled  "A  Preservativef  against  Dangerous  Errors 
in  the  Unction  of  the  Holy  One,"  Smith's  reply  was  headed, 
"No  New|  Thing  for  Good  Men  to  be  evil-spoken  of." 
Smith  said  that  they  denied  the  right  of  private  judgment 
and  insisted  on  his  putting  the  Confession  on  the  same  footing 
with  the  Bible.  This  they,  of  course,  denied,  and  charged 
him  with  saying  that  Pierce,  of  Exeter,  had  as  good  right  to 
hold  his  heretical  views  of  the  Trinity  as  they  had  to  hold  the 
truth.  He  declared  that  he  believed  every  thing  in  the  "West- 
minster Confession,  except  the  clauses  on  the  power  of  the 
civil  magistrate,  on  the  divine  right  of  ruling  elders,  and  on 
the  subject  of  marriage  with  wife's  kindred.  "  There  is  but 
one  book  that  I  prefer  to  it."  His  adherence  was  read  in 
Presbytery;  but  the  majority  refused  to  accept  it,  unless  he 
subscribed  also  seven  articles  of  their  framing.  The  difii- 
culties  continued  from  March,  1728-9,  to  1731.  The  White 
Meeting-house  in  Charleston  had  been  occupied  by  Presby- 
terians and  Independents :  the  Presbyterians  withdrew,  and 
the  line  of  separation  was  drawn  between  the  two  bodies,  not 
because  of  their  different  modes  of  church  government,  but 
as  subscribers  and  non-subscribers. 

There  seems  to  have  been  a  general  acquiescence  in  the 
Adopting  Act,  each  Presbytery  reporting  yearly  that  those 
who  were  licensed  or  ordained  did  adopt,  subscribe,  or  declare 
for  the  Confession  in  the  fullest  manner.  A  formula  was 
entered   on  the  records  of  Newcastle   and  Donegal  Presby- 


*  MSS.  of  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

■j-  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Library.  J  Ibid. 


110  Webster's  history  of  the 

teries,  and  was  signed  by  each  member  on  being  received. 
At  Nottingham,  some  dissatisfaction  arose  from  the  suppo- 
sition of  a  laxness  in  the  matter  of  scruples ;  but  Newcastle 
Presbytery  hastened  to  allay  it  by  "  declaring  openly  before 
God  and  the  world  that  we  all  with  one  accord  adhere  to 
the  same  sound  form  of  doctrine  in  which  we  and  our 
fathers  were  trained,  and  own  the  "Westminster  Confession 
and  Catechisms  to  be  the  Confession  of  our  Faith,  being  in 
all  things  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God  so  far  as  we  are  able 
to  judge  and  discern,  taking  them  on  the  true,  genuine,  and 
obvious  sense  of  the  word." 

In  Boston,  an  Irish  minister  expressing  himself  strongly 
against  the  non-subscribers.  Dr.  Colman  laid  the  matter  before 
the  indefatigable  Wodrow.  He  was  shocked  at  such  unpa- 
ralleled conduct,  and  feared  it  was  "one  of  those  whose  heats, 
having  nearly  consumed  them  at  home,  have  carried  their 
fire  to  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania.  We  have  a  copy  of  their 
act  about  subscription ;  but  I  know  not  well  what  to  make 
of  it."*  He  had  lamented  so  much  the  divisions  growing  out 
of  this  controversy  in  England  and  Ireland,  that  he  feared  our 
Adopting  Act  might  issue  as  unhappil3^  "  We  are  saved  from 
these  things,"  says  he,  "by  the  Act  of  the  Revolution,  Parlia- 
ment making  subscription  binding  on  all." 

No  instance  of  erroneous  teaching  is  known  to  have  oc- 
curred until  1735,  in  the  case  of  Samuel  Hemphill.  He  could 
hardly  be  called  heretical, — being  a  trivial  man,  of  no  vigour 
of  thought  or  capacity  of  expression,  and  who  indifferently 
took  up  any  printed  discourse,  committed  it  to  memory,  and 
delivered  it  fluently  and  handsomely  as  an  extemporaneous 
effort.  As  soon  as  he  was  detected,  he  was  forsaken  by  his 
zealous  friends,  and  passed  at  once  out  of  notice.  Henry 
Hunter  was,  in  like  manner,  ready  to  sail  with  any  wind : 
he  used  whatever  came  to  his  hand,  and  his  folly  was  soon 
manifest.  Branded  as  heretics,  Hemphill  and  Hunter  might 
have  been  canonized  as  martyrs;  proved  to  be  plagiaries, 
popular  odium  made  them  glad  to  escape  from  disgrace  into 
obscurity. 

Hemphill  had  been  received  by  the  synod  from  the  Presby- 

*  Wodrow  Correspondence. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  Ill 

teiy  of  Strabane  in  1734,  and  he  adopted  the  Confession  in 
their  presence.  Letters  from  Ireland  induced  Newcastle  Pres- 
bytery (for  he  began  his  labours  at  New  London)  to  call  him 
to  account;  but  nothing  was  proved  to  his  disadvantage.  He 
spent  the  winter  in  Philadelphia,  expecting  to  find  a  congrega- 
tion in  the  country.  Being  a  young  man,  with  a  free,  hand- 
some delivery,  he  was  invited  to  preach  as  assistant  to  An- 
drews. He  drew  great  numbers  after  him ;  but  many  of  the 
congregation  were  disgusted  with  the  sentiments  he  uttered, 
and  ceased  to  attend.  Andrews  heard  him  regularly,  and 
notified  the  moderator  of  the  commission  that  he  wished  to 
present  charges  against  Hemphill  for  erroneous  teaching. 
Franklin  was  a  great  admirer  of  him;  and,  on  the  week  be- 
fore the  commission  met,  he  wrote  and  published  in  his  paper* 
a  dialogue  in  which  he  thus  speaks: — "Upon  the  supposition 
that  we  all  have  faith  in  Christ,  as  I  think  we  have,  where  can 
be  the  danger  of  being  exhorted  to  good  works?  Is  virtue 
heresy?  ....  Will  you  persecute,  silence,  and  condemn  a 
good  preacher  for  exhorting  men  to  be  honest  and  charitable  ? 
....  Supposing  our  fathers  tied  themselves  to  the  "West- 
minster Confession:  why  should  not  a  synod  in  George  the 
Second's  time  have  as  much  right  to  interpret  the  Scriptures 
as  one  that  met  in  Oliver's  time  ?  ....  If  any  doctrine  there 
maintained  is,  or  shall  be  thereafter  found  to  be,  not  altogether 
orthodox,  why  must  we  be  forever  confined  to  that  or  any  other 
Confession?"  The  commission  was  fully  attended.  Andrews 
presented  eight  articles,  drawn  from  the  sermons  he  had  heard, 
either  impugning  or  leaving  out  of  view  original  sin  and  the 
blood  of  Christ,  and  representing  salvation  by  the  merits  of 
Christ,  as  setting  God  forth  as  stern  and  inexorable. 

After  many  delays,  Hemphill  produced  his  notes,  and  the 
commission  declared  him  erroneous  in  doctrine,  and  sus- 
pended him.  They  published  an  extract  of  their  minutes  ;t 
and  Franklin,  early  in  July,  wrote  and  printed  "  Some  Obser- 
vations! on  the  Proceedings  of  the  Commission  in  the  Affair  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Hemphill,  together  with  a  Defence  of  his  Sermons 
against  the  Censure  passed  on  them  by  the  Commission."     In 


*  Gazette,  April,  1735:  in  Philadelphia  Library. 

t  Old  South  Church  Library.  J  Ibid. 


112  Webster's  history  of  the 

this  he  assails  Teiinent  of  ISTeshaminy,  and  his  son  Gilbert, 
and  with  virulence  defames  Ilubbell,  of  Westfield,  New  Jersey. 
He  takes  the  ground  that  the  old  man  (Andrews)  was  jealous, 
and  the  commission,  to  uphold  him,  would  have  declared  any 
doctrine  "necessary  and  essential."  He  also  advertised  "A 
Narrative  of  the  Proceedings  of  Seven  General  Synods  of  the 
Northern  Presbyterians  in  Ireland,  with  relation  to  their  dif- 
ference in  judgment  and  practice  from  the  year  1720  to  1726, 
in  which  they  issued  in  a  synodical  breach :  containing  the 
occasion,  rise,  true  state,  and  progress  of  the  difterence,  by 
Antrim  Presbyteiy,  with  Hallyday's  reasons  against  the  impo- 
sition of  human  tests."* 

Dickinson  published  anonymously,  in  September,  "Re- 
marks on  a  Letter  to  a  Friend  in  the  Country;!  containing  the 
substance  of  a  sermon  preached  at  Philadelphia  in  the  congre- 
gation of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hemphill,  in  which  the  terms  of  Chris- 
tian and  ministerial  communion  are  so  stated  that  human  im- 
positions are  exploded,  a  proper  enclosure  proposed  for  every 
religious  society,  and  the  commission  justified  in  their  con- 
duct toward  Mr.  Hemphill."t  To  this  he  appended  the  Adopt- 
ing Act,  "to J  convince  the  reader  that  we  govern  ourselves 
according  to  the  principles  here  asserted  and  pleaded  for." 
If  a  man  be,  in  the  society's  opinion,  qualified  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry,  and  like  to  serve  the  interests  of  Christ's 
kingdom,  they  can  with  a  good  conscience  admit  him  to  the 
exercise  of  the  ministry  with  them,  notwithstanding  lesser 
differences  of  opinion  in  extra-essential  points.  But  if  he 
embrace  such  errors  as,  in  the  judgment  of  the  society,  un- 
qualify him  for  a  faithful  discharge  of  that  important  trust, 
they  cannot  admit  him  to  the  cure  of  souls  without  unfaithful- 
ness to  God  and  their  own  consciences.  To  admit  him  were 
deliberately  to  send  poison  into  Christ's  household,  instead  of 
the  portion  of  meat  which  he  has  provided. 

*  Franklin's  Memoirs  of  his  own  Life.  The  pamphlets  he  issued  in  this  case  have 
escaped  the  search  of  Mr.  Sparks.  The  Letter  to  a  Friend  in  the  Country  we  have 
not  seen ;  but  the  Observations  on  the  Minutes  of  the  Commission,  and  the  defence 
of  the  observations,  are  both  in  the  Old  South  Church  Library,  and  are  evidently 
from  Franklin's  pen. 

■}•  American  Antiquarian  Society's  Library.     See  advertisement,  November,  1735. 

I  Quoted  by  Dr.  Hodge. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  113 

Hemphill  contemptuously  disregarded  the  synod's  citation, 
declaring  that  he  had  adopted  the  Confession  only  in  its  "es- 
sential and  necessary  doctrines,"  and  that  he  "despised  their 
claim  of  authority."  The  synod  disowned  him;  and  the 
speedy  detection,  in  the  printed  works  of  Dr.  James  Foster, 
Dr.  Ibbots,  and  Dr.  Clarke,  of  his  objectionable  discourses, 
covered  him  and  his  adherents  with  confusion. 

The  synod  desired  the  brethren  to  answer  any  complaint  of 
Hemphill  if  necessary,  and  agreed  to  defray  the  expense  out 
of  the  fund. 

While  this  case  was  before  the  synod,  it  was  resolved  that "  if 
any  member  prepare  any  thing  for  the  press  on  any  religious 
controversy,  he  shall  submit  the  same  to  be  perused  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  synod."  One  was  appointed  for  the  North,  con- 
sisting of  Andrews,  Dickinson,  liob.  Cross,  Pemberton,  and 
Pierson ;  another,  of  Anderson,  Thomas  Evans,  Cathcart, 
Stevenson,  and  Thomson.* 

The  people  of  Paxton  and  Derry  in  1736  supplicated  for  an 
explanation  of  some  expressions  and  distinctions  in  the  first 
or  preliminary  act  adopting  the  standards,  great  stress  having 
been  laid  by  the  friends  of  Hemphill  on  the  restriction  con- 
tained in  the  words  "necessary  and  essential  doctrines."  The 
synod  declared  they  adopted  and  adhered  to  the  Confession, 
Catechism,  and  Directory,  without  the  least  variation  or  altera- 
tion, and  without  any  regard  to  said  distinctions. 

The  conjunct  Presbyteriesf  of  New  Brunswick  and  New- 
castle declared  it  to  be  an  aspersion  that  they  do  not  cleave  to 
and  maintain  the  standards  as  fully  as  the  Synod  of  Philadel- 
phia in  their  public  acts  have  done.  "We  believe  with  our 
hearts,  and  profess  and  maintain  with  our  lips,  the  doctrines 
summed  up  and  contained  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  and 
Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at 
Westminster,  as  the  truths  of  God  revealed  and  contained  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  do 
receive,  acknowledge,  and  declare  the  said  Confession  and 
Catechisms  to  be  the  confession  of  our  faith;  yet  so  as  that  no 


*  In  1722,  Newcastle  Presbytery  forbade  Gillespie  to  publish  any  remarks  on  a 
decision  of  synod,  in  a  case  of  discipline,  until  they  gave  consent, 
f  Quoted  by  Dr.  Hodge. 

8 


114  Webster's  history  of  the 

part  of  the  twenty-third  chapter  of  said  Confession  shall  be 
construed  as  to  allow  civil  magistrates,  as  such,  to  have  any 
ecclesiastical  authority  in  synods  or  church  judicatories,  much 
less  the  power  of  a  negative  voice  over  them  in  their  eccle- 
siastical transactions ;  nor  is  any  part  of  it  to  be  understood  as 
opposite  to  the  memorable  settlement  of  the  crown  of  the 
three  kingdoms  in  the  illustrious  house  of  Hanover." 

The  jealousy  of  the  people  for  the  integrity  of  the  standards, 
and  for  exact  and  hearty  adherence  to  them,  was  most  reason- 
able, from  their  knowledge  of  the  spread  of  the  New  Light  "  at 
home,"  and  from  the  probability  that  errorists  would  cross  the 
ocean  to  corrupt  "our  church."  Great  alarm  prevailed  on  ac- 
count of  the  progress  of  error  in  the  British  Isles.  Dr.  Col- 
man*  wrote  feelingly  on  the  subject  to  Andrews,  deploring  the 
propagation  of  dangerous  heresies  by  men  who  "sheltered  ' 
themselves  under  the  covert  of  believing  the  Bible,  while  they 
refused  to  avow  how  far  they  had  departed  from  the  faith  of 
God's  elect." 

No  dispute  seems  to  have  arrayed  brother  against  brother 
until  1738,  when  Gilbert  Tennent  and  Cowell  carried  on  in  a 
correspondence  a  discussion  on  the  ingredients  of  holy  obedi- 
ence,— whether  a  view  to  our  own  eternal  interests  could  in 
the  sight  of  God  be  an  acceptable  motive  for  seeking  salva- 
tion and  keeping  his  commandments?  "Sundry  large  letters 
passed  between  them.  The  synod  appointed  a  committee  to 
converse  with  them  together,  and,  if  there  be  necessity,  dis- 
tinctly to  consider  the  papers.  They  ordered  them  to  refrain 
from  all  public  discourse  on  the  controversy,  and  all  methods 
of  spreading  it  among  the  populace,  until  the  committee  have 
made  their  report  to  the  sj-nod.  They  were  found  to  be  sub- 
stantially and  thoroughly  agreed,  although  Tennent  feared 
that  there  had  been  'slighting  and  shuffling'  to  hide  errors 
'  contrary  to  the  express  testimony  of  Holy  Scriptures,  our 
Confession  of  Faith,  and  Christian  experience.'  " 

Immediately  after  the  exclusion  of  Hemphill,  an  overture 
was  presented  and  adopted,  lamenting  the  great  and  uni- 
versal deluge  of  pernicious  errors  and  damnable  heresies,  "  and 
that  so  many  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing  are  invading  the  flock 

*  MSS.  of  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  115 

everywhere ;  and,  as  we  are  likely  to  have  the  most  of  our 
supply  of  ministers  from  the  north  of  Ireland,  the  synod 
bears  testimony  against  the  late  too  common  and  now  alto- 
gether useless  practice  of  some  presbyteries  in  that  region, 
in  ordaining  men,  sine  tilulo,  immediately  before  they  come 
hither,  and  depriving  us  of  the  just  right  of  inspecting  into 
their  qualifications." 

Robert  Cross,  Thomson,  and  Houston,  wrote  to  the  Gene- 
ral Synod,  that  "  the  continuance  of  the  practice  will  be  very 
disagreeable  and  disobliging  to  us ;  and  that  no  minister  so 
ordained  in  Ireland  shall  be  admitted  to  the  exercise  of  his 
ministry  among  us  unless  he  submit  to  such  trials  as  the  pres- 
bytery to  which  he  comes  may  appoint."  They  suggested, 
also,  that  it  is  "  our  earnest  desires,  that  ministers,  besides 
credentials,  should  bring  letters  from  brethren  w^ho  are  well 
known  to  us  to  be  firmly  attached  to  our  good  old  principles 
and  schemes." 

A  letter  was  received  from  the  Synod  of  Ireland  in  1738, 
Anderson  and  Thomson  were  directed  to  prepare  and  trans- 
mit a  respectful  answer.  Yearly  inquiry  was  made  concern- 
ing the  order  in  relation  to  ministers  coming  from  Europe. 
It  was  faithfully  observed. 

It  being  with  exceeding  difficulty  that  candidates  from  ITew 
England  could  be  induced  to  visit  our  vacancies,  there  was  no 
uneasiness  felt,  lest  we  should  be  overrun  from  that  quarter. 
Not  until  the  great  revival  did  "that  hive  of  preachers" 
Bwarm.  Of  the  few  w^ho  came,  several  returned  as  soon  as 
they  could  find  an  eligible  situation, — Joseph  Smith  to  Mid- 
dletown  Upper  Houses,  Moses  Dickinson  to  ISTorwalk,  Chalker 
to  Glastenbury,  Gould  to  Middlefield,  Tudor  to  East  Windsor ; 
while  four  others  made  only  a  transient  stay  and  passed  to 
parts  unknown.  Philadelphia  Presbj^tery,  in  1735,  wrote  to 
the  Rector  of  Yale  in  behalf  of  the  waste  places  in  West 
Jersey.  Daniel  Buckingham,*  who  graduated  at  Yale  in  1735, 
and  was  licensed  by  Hampshire  Association,  came ;  but,  though 
called  to  Pilesgrove  and  Gloster,  he  went  to  the  East.  Robert 
Small  has  the  credit  of  being  the  first  New  Englander  who 
sought  a  field  of  usefulness  in  Newcastle  Presbytery;  he  also 

*  MS.  Records  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery. 


116  Webster's  histort  of  the 

went  into  West  Jersey ;  but  the  lack  of  good  testimonials  and 
some  ill-reports  deterred  Philadelphia  Presbytery  from  en- 
couraging him.  The  Rev.  John  Adams,  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard, came  as  a  candidate  to  Philadelphia  for  the  post  of 
assistant  to  Andrews.  Dr.  Cooper,*  writing  to  Dr.  Colman, 
March  25,  1735,  said  that  he  intended  to  have  proposed  to  the 
ministers  of  Boston  to  resume  the  consideration  of  Mr,  Adams 
for  Philadelphia,  "  for  I  can't  but  think  it  a  pity  that  such 
superior  talents  as  his  should  be  so  much  unimproved." 
Adams  preached  the  opening  sermon  of  Presbytery  in  May, 
1736,  from  Isa.  xxxv.  2.    He  settled  at  ISTew^port,  Rhode  Island. 

In  two  cases  the  committee  of  synod  declined  to  ordain. 
They  had  no  uneasiness  as  to  the  orthodoxy  of  Cleverly;  but, 
owing  to  the  opposition  made  by  some  of  his  hearers,  they 
did  not  proceed  to  ordain  him  at  West  Hanover,  (Morristown,) 
New  Jersey.  The  congregation  of  Goshen  seems  to  have  been 
much  distracted  at  the  close  of  Bradner's  life  with  a  personal 
difference  betw^een  him  and  Samuel  Nealy.  On  his  death, 
Samuel  Tudor,  a  native  of  Poquonnok,  in  Windsor,  who  gra- 
duated at  Yale  in  1728,  came  as  a  candidate.!  Instead  of 
applying  to  the  presbytery,  the  congregation  supplicated  the 
synod,  in  1735,  to  send  as  soon  as  possibly  may  be,  a  committee 
to  ordain  him.  He  wrote  to  the  synod,  declaring  his  readiness 
to  adopt  the  Confession  and  submit  to  Presbyterian  rules. 
The  synod  appointed  him  a  Latin  exegesis  and  a  popular  ser- 
mon on  Rom.  xi.  6,  and  directed  Robert  Cross  to  preside  in 
that  afi'air,  and  with  Pumry,  Webb,  Nutman,  John  Cross,  and 
Chalker,  to  meet  there  in  the  course  of  the  next  month  and 
ordain.  The  congregation  was  publicly  notified,  on  a  Lord's 
day,  that  if  any  desired  they  might  lay  their  objections. 
Robert  Cross,  Pumry,  and  Chalker  met,  and  did  not  ordain 
him  because  of  insufficiency. 

Tudor  was  born  March  8, 1704-5,  in  East  Windsor,  and  was 
married  December  10,  1729,  to  Mary,  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Smith,  of  Cohanzy,  and  afterwards  of  Middletown. 
He  was  ordained  the  second  minister  of  Poquonnok  Society 

*  MSS.  of  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

■j-  The  New  York  papers  of  1734  describe  him  as  a  Prcshyterian  minister  in  the 
Highlands  who  had  been  pursued  by  robbers,  near  the  Fishkills,  on  the  12th  of 
August. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  117 

in  Windsor  in  January,  1740,  and  died  September  21,  1757, — 
a  faithful  and  useful  minister,  respected  for  intelligence,  appli- 
cation to  business,  and  dignity  of  manner. 

Only  one  minister  besides  John  Orme  seems  to  have  come  ' 
from  England  from  the  formation  of  the  synod  to  the  disrup- 
tion:— Mr.  Peter  Finch,  in  1724.  His  testimonials  were  ap- 
proved, and  leave  was  given  to  the  people  in  Kent  county, 
Delaware,  on  their  request,  to  employ  him.  The  next  year,  a 
small  sum  was  allowed  him  out  of  the  fund.  He  is  not 
again  mentioned.  He  was  probably  the  Rev.  Peter  Finch,  of  v 
iNorwich,  who  was  one  of  Matthew  Henry's  friends. 

John  Madowell  was  accepted  by  the  synod  in  1736  as  a 
probationer,  being  recommended  by  the  Presbytery  of  Temple- 
Patrick,  the  Session  of  Dunagor,  and  several  brethren  of  note 
in  the  north  of  Ireland.  He  was  appointed  to  supply  the 
new  erection  in  Philadelphia  duridig  the  months  of  October 
and  November.     His  name  never  again  appears  on  the  roll. 

Scotland  sent  us  few  men  during  the  twenty-five  years  before 
the  division.  Laing  and  Hutcheson  were  Scotsmen,  and  per- 
haps John  Cross,  Carlisle,  and  one  or  two  more.  The  great 
majority  were  North-of-Ireland  men,  educated  at  Glasgow. 
"  During  the  same  period,  only  one  impostor  intruded  him- 
self on  them, — James  Morehead ;  he  preached  with  acceptance  r 
in  West  Jersey  and  in  Newcastle  county,  and  for  several  years 
resisted  the  eftbrts  of  the  synod  to  reduce  him  to  obedience. 
He  sunk  into  contempt  and  was  forgotten. 

There  was  much  land  to  be  possessed.  There  were  none  to 
go  forth  with  them  into  the  wilderness  and  contest  the  inhe- 
ritance. Great  caution  was  used  in  meting  out  the  bounds 
of  each  congregation,  and  no  new  erection  was  encouraged 
hastily.  A  perambulation  of  the  territory  was  made  by  indif- 
ferent persons,  and  the  projectors  were  required  to  furnish  the 
neighbouring  ministers  with  lists  of  their  supporters  and 
members  who  were  to  embark  in  the  enterprise.  There  was 
no  lack  of  delay  on  the  part  of  the  presbyteries,  each  pastor 
being  naturally  sensitive  on  the  subject  of  the  invasion  or 
cession  of  his  legitimate  domain.  Generally,  the  people  strug- 
gled manfully  till  the  synod  or  presbytery  yielded,  and  in 
every  case  the  fears  which  had  made  the  reverend  judicatories 


118  Webster's  history  of  the 

pause  were  disappointed,  in  tlie  mutual  growth  of  the  mother- 
churches  and  their  nourishing  daughters.  The  opposition  to 
the  erection  of  the  Xevv  London  congregation  was  protracted 
for  years  ;  slowly,  point  by  point,  every  thing  was  yielded,  and 
for  the  ohvious  reason  that  ail  the  gloomy  apprehensions  of 
the  church  of  Elk  River  were  dispelled.  New  Loudon,  in  her 
tui'u,  seems  to  have  resisted  the  buildinoc  at  Facrsf's  Manor,  and 
with  the  like  result:  the  church  rose  on  the  site  selected  by 
the  people,  and  no  loss  was  sustained  by  JSTew  London.  Boyd 
had  a  field  from  1724  to  1735,  covering  Octorara,  Pequea, 
Middle  Octorara,  and  the  Forks  of  Brand^^wine.  Hanover,  in 
East  Jersey,  struggled,  as  thougla  its  existence  were  at  stake, 
against  giving  leave  to  West  Hanover  or  Morristown  to  have 
a  minister;  but,  seeing  no  prospect  of  reducing  "the  west 
part"  to  submission,  they  yielded,  and  at  length  admitted  that 
they  were  no  losers  thereby. 

In  Kew  England  the  boundaries  of  the  towns  and  the  con- 
gregations were  identical  and  unchangeable  until  the  colonial 
legislature  gave  leave.  This  was  a  cause  of  great  trial  to  the 
Irish  Presbyterians  in  Massachusetts.  In  1718,  they  settled  in 
Worcester,*  having  the  Rev.  Edw^ard  Fitzgerald  for  their 
minister.  Their  attempt  to  build  a  meeting-house  was  out- 
rageously defeated  by  a  mob  headed  by  some  of  "  the  con- 
siderable persons"  of  the  place.  They  had  afterwards  the  Rev. 
William  Johnston ;  but  they  w^ere  taxed  for  the  support  of  the 
first  church  in  the  town,  and  finally  he  left  them  and  settled 
in  Londonderry.  They  retained  their  Presbyterian  prefer- 
ences, and  carried  their  children  for  baptism  to  the  distant 
towns  where  there  were  Presbyterian  ministers;  and  the  most 
of  them,  about  1740,  removed  to  Otsego  county,  then  the 
western  frontier  of  I^ew  York.  Bitter  were  the  complaints 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Frink,t  of  Rutland,  because  of  the  obstinacy 
of  the  Irish  in  his  parish.  They  constituted  two-fifths  of  the 
population,  but  could  obtain  no  privilege  for  themselves  as  a 
separate  society  until  the  west  part  of  the  parish  was  formed 
into  a  town  called  Oakham.  Then  they  gathered  a  church 
after  the  model  of  the  church  in  North  Britain.     The  Rev. 


*  Lincoln's  History  of  Worcester. 

■J-  MSS.  of  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.    He  subsequently  took  holy  orders. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN  AMERICA.  119 

Mr.  Smith,  of  Falmoutli,  now  Portland,  went  over  to  Mr. 
Allen's,  May  29,  1736,  and  met  the  ministers  on  the  aflair  of 
the  Irish.  In  the  district  of  Maine,*  the  same  trouble  befell 
the  Irish  settled  at  Purpooduck,  on  Casco  Bay  :  the  Irish  Pres- 
bytery, with  William  Johnston  for  moderator,  and  William 
McClenaghan  for  clerk,  proposed  as  a  compromise  that  the 
second  church  of  Falmouth  should  allow  the  people  the  use 
of  their  meeting-house  two  Sabbaths  in  the  year,  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  sacrament  by  their  own  ministers.  This 
was  denied,  and  the  presbytery  proceeded  to  furnish  them 
with  regular  supplies. 

The  Irish  Presbytery  is  mentioned  in  the  Colman  MSS.  in 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Collection ;  but  its  real 
name  was  the  Presbytery  of  Boston,  and  the  date  of  its  origin 
and  its  extinction  are  alike  unknown.  Among  its  members 
were  the  Pev.  John  Moorhead,  of  Boston,  William  Johnston 
and  Davidson,  of  Londonderry,  William  McClenaghan,  of 
Blandford,  Massachusetts,  James  Morton,  of  Coleraine,  Ruth- 
erford, Urquhart,  John  Harvey,  and  John  Caldwell.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Lemercier,  of  the  French  church  in  Boston,  was  also  a 
member.  A  curious  pamphlet  warfare  arose  on  the  receiving 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hillhouse,  of  New  London,  Connecticut,  in 
1736 :  Moorhead  and  Harvey  approved,  while  Rutherford  ob- 
jected. The  ordination  of  David  McGregoire  over  the 
second  congregation  in  Londonderry  was  accomplished  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  presbytery,  and  when  he  oiFered  to 
take  his  seat,  he  was  refused.  Moorhead  withdrew  and  met 
with  them  no  more,  and  they  suspended  him  "«6  officio  et 
beneficio." 

No  mention  is  made  of  this  presbytery,  in  any  work  we  have 
seen,  except  in  a  few  pamphlets,!  rare  and  unimportant,  in 
two  sermons  preached  before  it,|  and  in  two  or  three  letters, 
which  are  the  only  vestiges  remaining  of  its  existence. 

The  influx  from  abroad,  from  1718  to  1740,  was  wholly  Pro- 

*  Smith's  Diary,  in  Deane's  History  of  Portland. — MSS.  of  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society. 

f  Letter  to  John  Presbyter,  by  Mr.  Lemercier,  in  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society's  Library. 

X  McClenaghan's  sermon  on  the  Christian  soldier,  and  Caldwell  on  the  false 
prophets,  in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Library. 


120  Webster's  history  of  the 

testant  and  largely  Presbyterian.  The  newspapers  furnish 
curious  items  of  the  extent  of  it.  In  September,  173G,  one 
thousand  families  sailed  from  Belfast  on  account  of  the  diffi- 
culty of  renewing  their  leases.  On  the  ninth  of  that  month, 
one  hundred  Presbyterians  from  Ireland  arrived  at  Philadel- 
~7'  phia,  as  many  more  soon  after  at  Newcastle,  and  twenty  ships 
were  daily  expected  from  Ireland.  At  this  time,  three  hun- 
dred and  eighty-eight  persons  from  Holland  landed  on  our 
shores.  The  loss  to  Ireland  is  deplored,  the  linen-weavers  and 
small  farmers  composing  a  great  portion  of  the  emigrants. 
AVodrow*  says,  the  departure  of  the  people  in  shoals  excited 
the  fears  of  the  government,  lest  Ireland  should  be  wholly 
abandoned  to  the  Papists.  He  hoped  it  would  lead  to  exten- 
sion of  privileges  to  the  Presbyterians. 

The  effect  was  soon  visible.  New  York  had  seen  for  twenty 
years  a  small  Presbyterian  flock  assembling  in  a  house  without 
galleries,  six  out  of  its  eight  windows  being  closed  with 
boards,  poverty  preventing  their  being  glazed,  and  the  frac- 
tion of  light  being  enough  for  the  handful  of  people.  But 
now  the  pews  on  the  ground-floor  were  filled,  three  galleries 
'  '  were  constructed,  and  the  sun  blazed  unobstructed  through 
the  whole  line  of  windows.  The  church  in  Philadelphia  had 
increased  so  much  that,  in  1733,  an  assistant  minister  was 
needed.  Newcastle  Presbytery  w^as  large  enough  in  1734  to 
set  oft'  Donegal  Presbytery  on  the  west,  and,  having  surren- 
dered Lancaster  county,  was  able  soon  after,  in  1738,  to  realize 
the  long-cherished  project  of  forming  the  Presbytery  of  Lewes 
out  of  the  churches  on  the  peninsula.  Philadelphia  Presby- 
tery was  divided  in  1733,  and  East  Jersey  Presbytery  was 
formed.  Long  Island  Presbytery,  declining  from  the  attach- 
ment of  the  ministers  in  "the  East  Riding"  to  Connecticut, — 
an  attachment  growing  out  of  its  being  the  land  of  their  birth, 
and  strengthened  by  matrimonial  ties  and  the  convenience  of 
crossing  the  sound  to  attend  its  associations, — was  united,  in 
1788,  to  East  Jersey  Presbyter)^  under  the  style  of  the  Pres-. 
bytery  of  New  York.  Portions  of  New  York  and  Philadel-  j 
phia  Presbyteries  were  constituted  the  Presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick  in  the  same  year. 

*  Correspondence  Wodrow  Soc.  Pub. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  121 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  methods  in  use  in  Ireland  and  Scotland  were  all  intro- 
duced on  the  erection  of  congregations.  They  were  so  gene- 
rally accustomed  to  modes  closely  similar,  that  no  solicitation 
was  needed  to  secure  the  acquiescence  of  the  people  in  them. 
The  emigration  brought  over  many  schoolmasters,  and  few 
Presbyterian  settlements  were  without  schools  during  most  of 
the  year.  It  was  rare  to  find  one,  (except  among  the  servants, 
and  even  among  them  it  was  very  rare,)  who  could  not  read 
and  who  did  not  possess  a  Bible.  The  Shorter  Catechism  was 
learned  at  home  and  recited  at  school ;  and  the  Psalms  in 
metre  were  largely  treasured  in  the  memory;  they  were  the 
lullaby  of  the  babe,  and  the  song  at  the  loom  and  at  the  wheel. 
They  formed  universally  a  part  of  family  worship.  That  pre- 
cious privilege  was  regarded  as  an  indispensable  duty. 
Inquiry  was  made  concerning  the  observance  of  it,  on  the 
occasion  of  asking  baptism  for  their  children.  Family  in- 
struction was  not  neglected;  the  Catechism  was  "gone 
through"  on  Sabbaths  by  parents,  children,  and  servants;  ser- 
mons were  repeated,  and  the  points  of  doctrine  duly  compared 
with  the  Scripture. 

The  congregations  were  divided  into  portions  called  "  quar- 
ters," each  of  which  was  committed  to  the  charge  of  an  elder, 
and  the  people  in  each  quarter  were  gathered  at  suitable  and 
oft-recurring  seasons  at  some  convenient  point, — it  might  be  a 
kitchen  or  a  barn,  to  accommodate  large  numbers, — and  old 
and  young  were  solemnly,  carefully,  and  at  length,  catechized. 
The  seed  sown  in  the  sanctuary  was  harrowed  in  by  the  cate- 
chizing. The  minister  knew  the  state  of  the  flock  and  how 
the}'  profited  by  the  word  preached. 

The  presbyteries*  visited  the  congregations,  taking  first  the 

*  MS.  Minutes  of  Donegal  Presbytery. 


122  Webster's  history  of  the 

minister  by  himself,  and  asking  him  how  he  performed  the 
duties  of  preaching,  visiting,  and  catecliizing,  how  the  elders 
discharged  their  office,  and  how  the  people  hearkened  to  the 
word  and  submitted  to  godly  discipline. 

He  being  put  forth,  tlic  elders  were  called  in  and  questioned 
concerning  their  minister's  doctrine,  life,  diligence,  and  faith- 
fulness ;  as  to  the  extent  to  which  they  laboured  in  their  quar- 
ters, and  how  the  people  deported  themselves  toward  those  who 
were  over  them  in  the  Lord.  Lastly,  the  people  were  called  in, 
to  answer  by  their  representatives, — who  were  strictly  what 
their  name  imported, — representatives.  These  were  chosen  to 
act  and  speak  for  the  people,  to  sign  the  call  and  be  the  respon- 
sible agents  in  all  secular  matters.  They  were  asked  how  the 
people  were  satisfied  with  their  minister  and  with  the  elders, 
and  how  they  performed  their  stipulations  for  his  support. 
Each  of  the  three  parties  was  asked  if  any  cause  of  complaint 
existed,  or  of  dissatisfaction,  and  the  presbytery  proceeded 
authoritatively  to  investigate  the  alleged  matter  and  to  remove 
it  or  rebuke  the  offenders. 

The  Lord's  Supper  was  celebrated,  according  to  the  usage 
"at  home,"  twice  in  the  year.  It  was  preceded  by  a  day  of 
fasting:  several  of  the  neighbouring  ministers  attended,  and 
sermons  suitable  to  the  approaching  solemnity  were  preached 
on  the  Thursday,  Friday,  and  Saturday  previous.  Ordinarily, 
a  large  body  from  adjacent  congregations  came  with  their  mi- 
nisters, and  were  on  the  ground  before  the  Sabbath.  Tokens 
were  distributed,  and  those  from  a  distance  received  them  on  the 
testimony  of  their  minister  and  his  elders.  Often  they  brought 
written  requests  from  their  pastors  that  they  might  share  in 
the  feast.  Commonly  it  was  in  the  open  air  that  most  of  the 
sermons  were  preached;  a  covered  stand,  called  a  tent,  being 
an  appendage  to  every  meeting-house.  The  tables  were 
spread  and  reached  across  the  house  and  from  the  pulpit  to 
the  door.  The  action-sermon  was  long  and  full  of  the  marrow 
of  the  gospel ;  the  fencing  of  the  tables  was  scarcely  less  solemn 
and  even  more  heart-searching. 

"  Then,  in  the  simple  music 
Of  the  old  glorious  clays, 
The  hearts  of  pious  thousands 
Gush'd  forth  in  streams  of  praise. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CnURCH    IN   AMERICA.  123 

The  Psalms  in  metre,  the  work  of  Francis  Rous,*  an  English 
gentleman,  of  Cornwall,  were  hallowed  by  innumerable  pious 
and  tender  associations.  Plain  of  speech,  our  fathers  stumbled 
not  at  the  roughness  of  the  verse  nor  sighed  at  the  lack  of 
melody.  The  same  words  and  the  same  tunes  charmed  unholy 
thoughts  from  the  mind  of  Burns,  as  he  sat,  of  a  Saturday 
night,  by  the  cotter's  ingle-side.  The  same  words  and  the 
same  tunes  harmonized  with  Brainerd's  devotions,  and  thrilled 
"Whiteiield  like  the  songs  of  heaven,  at  Cambuslang  and  White 
Clay.  Our  fathers  were  not  virtuosi,  charmed  even  in  God's 
house  with  rubbish  if  rare,  and  trifles  if  tasteful : 

"And  surely  God  was  praised, 

When  David's  words  to  David's  tune 
Five  hundred  voices  raised,  "f 

"When  the  sacred  symbols  were  uncovered,  how  many  hearts 
broke  as  if  in  bitterness  for  a  first-born !  and,  as  they  rose  to 
take  their  places  at  the  board,  it  was  reverently,  as  though 
seeing  Him  that  is  invisible;  even  as  though  before  their 
eyes  Christ  had  been  set  forth  evidently  crucified  among  them. 

The  Lord's  Supper  was,  in  its  fullest  sense,  a  monument  of 
the  great  facts  of  redemption, — a  memorial  of  the  necessity  of 
atonement,  the  glorious  Deity  of  the  Son  of  God,  the  freeness 
of  justification,  and  the  fulness  of  the  promises.     The  mode 

*  [Francis  Rous,  or  Rouse,  was  born  at  Halton,  in  Cornwall,  in  1579,  and  edu- 
cated at  Broadgate  Hall,  now  Pembroke  College,  Oxford.  He  studied  law ;  and  in 
the  first  Parliament  called  by  Charles  I.,  he  was  returned  for  Truro,  in  Cornwall, 
for  Tregony  in  the  third,  and  for  Truro  again  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  of  that 
reign.  He  was  one  of  the  few  laymen  appointed  by  the  Commons  to  sit  in  the 
Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westminster.  He  sat  in  the  Parliament  called  in  1G53,  and 
held  the  post  of  Speaker  for  a  month.  He  aimed  at  conforming  the  government 
to  the  model  of  the  Jewish ;  but,  failing  in  this  object,  he  proposed  that  Cromwell 
should  be  elevated  to  rule  with  the  title  of  Protector.  Cromwell  made  him  one  of 
his  privy-counsellors.  He  was  made  Provost  of  Eton  in  1643,  at  which  place  he 
died  in  1659,  and  was  bui-ied  with  great  pomp  and  splendour.  His  chief  works 
were  Meditations  dedicated  to  the  Saints  throughout  the  three  nations ;  The  Law- 
fulness of  obeying  the  Present  Government ;  The  Beauties  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
first  three  centuries ;  Interiora  Regni  Dei ;  and  a  Translation  of  the  Psalms  into 
English  Metre,  printed  in  1645,  by  order  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Vide  Rose's 
Biog.  Diet.,  vol.  xi.  p.  392.  London:  B.  Fellowes,  Ludgate  Street,  1847.  The 
Version  of  the  Psalms,  after  being  modified  by  a  committee,  was  adopted,  in  1649, 
by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. — Ed.] 

•j-  Mrs.  Gray,  of  Easton,  Pennsylvania. 


124  Webster's  history  of  the 

in  wlilcli  it  was  administered  rendered  it  necessary  that  the 
liighest  truths,  tlie  loftiest  themes,  should  be  preached,  and 
with  unction.  Every  circumstance  conspired  to  invest  even 
the  most  lifeless  preacher  with  such  a  feeling  of  the  greatness 
of  the  occasion,  as  made  him  surmount  at  least  for  the  time 
the  narrow  limits  of  his  talents,  and  speak  in  the  demonstra- 
tion of  the  Spirit  and  with  power.  The  closing  service  of 
thanksgiving  prepared  the  way  to  return  home,  pondering  in 
their  hearts  the  great  things  which  had  been  told  them. ,  Those 
were  golden  days,  when  souls  were  enlightened  with  such  a 
knowledge  of  Christ,  as  if  the  light  of  the  sun  had  been  seven- 
fold, as  if  the  light  of  seven  days  had  poured  at  once  on  the 
worshippers,  with  healing  in  every  beam.  / 

Many  of  the  congregations  furnished  their  ministers  with  a 
house  and  farm,  or  else  promised  him  in  the  call  a  sum  of 
money  to  buy  a  plantation.  The  salaries  were  mostly  paid  in 
kind,  wheat,  Indian  corn,  hemp,  and  linen  yarn  being  fre- 
quently specified  in  the  call ;  and,  from  a  riddle  to  a  squire's 
"  publishment  of  a  marriage"  or  an  "  estray,"  every  imaginable 
article  is  entered  on  their  surviving  "count-books"  as  being 
received  in  payment  of  stipend. 

Classical  schools  were  established  by  many  ministers.  An- 
drcAvs  probably  had  one  in  Philadelphia;  Dickinson  had  at 
Elizabethtown,  Thomas  Evans  at  Pencader,  and  William  Ten- 
nent  at  Neshamin}^  The  school  at  New  London  went  into 
operation  soon  after  Alison's  settlement.  Two-thirds  nearly 
of  the  ministers,  until  1738,  were  graduates  of  Glasgow  Uni- 
versity. The  New  England  men  were  mostly  from  Yale.  The  a 
few  Welshmen  were  scholars  of  a  high  standard,  their  educa-  « 
tion  having  been  thorough  and  on  a  liberal  scale. 

Of  the  style  of  preaching  little  judgment  can  be  formed. 
Franklin  evidently  had  no  favour  to  them ;  for  he  says,  he 
would  rather  hear  Hemphill  preach  other  people's  sermons 
fluently,  than  hear  the  old  synod  preach  their  own  dull  com- 
positions. Makemie  printed  but  one  sermon,  long,  full,  clear, 
and  valuable :  his  other  productions  are  plain  and  vigorous  in 
style. 

It  is  remarkable  that  Andrews,  during  a  ministry  of  forty- 
five  years  in  Philadelphia,  is  not  supposed  to  have  published 
a  line;  while  Morgan  put  forth  almost  as  many  sermons  as 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  125 

any  New  England  divine  of  his  day.  Dickinson  appears  to 
liave  passed  twelve  years  of  his  ministry  without  using  the 
press ;  but,  after  that,  he  was  before  the  public  to  the  latest 
year  of  his  life,  discussing  the  Evidences  of  Christianity,  the 
Doctrines  of  Grace,  the  Claims  of  the  Prelatists,  the  lifeless 
scheme  of  Baptismal  Regeneration,  and  the  serious  errors  of 
judgment  among  the  unwise  friends  of  the  Revival.  Robert 
Cross  published  one  sermon,  Pierson  three,  and  Pemberton 
several ;  while  Gilbert  Tennent's  writings  issued  from  the  press 
like  bees  from  a  hive ;  no  complete  list  of  his  multitude  of 
publications  will  probably  ever  be  made. 

None  are  known  to  have  left  any  w^ork  in  manuscript,  ex- 
cept Henry,  of  Rehoboth.  Scarcely  a  fragment  of  their  corre- 
spondence exists. 

They  were  mostly  worthy  men,  few  of  them  of  a  rare  order 
of  talent,  but  learned  and  competent  for  an  honourable  dis- 
charge of  their  office.  Of  their  success  in  winning  souls,  we 
may  hope  there  is  a  bright  record  on  high ;  but  on  earth  their 
memorial  has  perished  with  them. 

Morgan*  tells  us  that  at  one  or  two  periods  of  his  ministry, 
he  saw  the  word  take  eifect  on  many  souls.  In  1719  and  '20,t 
there  was  in  Monmouth  county  an  amazing  change;  new  con- 
gregations were  formed,  and  "the  marks  of  a  work  of  grace 
were  astonishingly  plentiful  among  those  who  had  lived  longer 
under  means  of  grace."  Hopewell  and  Maidenhead  received 
a  large  increase,  the  first-fruits  of  the  youthful  labours  of 
Moses  Dickinson.  There  is  a  tradition  of  a  revival  at  Jamaica 
under  Robert  Cross.  The  Dutch  Reformed  church  in  New 
Jersey  possessed,  in  the  Rev.  Theodore  James  Frelinghuysen, 
a  most  eminently  wise,  laborious,  and  successful  servant  of  God. 
His  faithful  counsel  roused  Gilbert  Tennent  to  consider  nar- 
rowly his  own  performances,  and  to  gird  himself  for  a  more 
vigorous  invasion  of  Satan's  kingdom.  A  considerable  degree 
of  success  attended  Tennent's  preaching  on  Staten  Island  and 
at  New  Brunswick.  His  brother  John  came  like  "  a  dew  from 
the  Lord"  on  the  plains  of  Monmouth,  and  changed  Freehold, 
from  a  feeble,  distracted  congregation  of  careless  hearers,  into 


*  Answer  to  an  Anonymous  Railer  against  Election. — Am.  Antiq.  See.  Lib. 
f  MS.  Letters  of  Morgan  to  Cotton  Mather. — Am.  Antiq.  Soc. 


126  Webster's  history  of  the 

a  large  and  united  body  of  devoted,  well-tanght  Christians. 
John  Cross,  also,  "at  a  place  called  the  Mountains,  back  of 
Newark,"  enjoyed  such  a  degree  of  success  that  the  fame  of 
it  reached  Northampton,  and  is  mentioned  by  Edwards  in  his 
Thoughts  on  Revivals. 

The  "Marrow  Controversy"  in  Scotland,  and  the  secession  of 
the  Erskines,  could  not  fail  of  interesting  deeply  the  members 
of  synod.  Gilbert  Tennent  and  his  father  were  correspondents* 
of  the  Erskines:  and  the-^alumni  of  Glasgow  partook  largely 
of  the  feeling  pervading  the  "West  of  Scotland  in  regard  to  the 
growth  of  Pelagianism  and  profanity  under  the  deathlike 
shadow  thrown  by  moderatism  and  patronage  over  "  the  hail 
kirk."  When,  therefore,  in  1733,  Gilbert  Tennent  introduced 
his  overture  concerning  ministerial  faithfulness  in  preaching 
and  in  dispensing  the  sacraments,  the  synod  accepted  it  and 
formed  it  into  an  act ;  each  presbytery  entered  it  on  their  book, 
and  took  order  for  the  careful  observance  of  it. 

For  the  first  thirty  years,  the  synod  received,  almost  without 
an  exception,  its  candidates  and  its  ministers  from  the  mother- 
country  or  New  England ;  but  towards  the  close  of  that  period, 
natives  of  the  middle  colonies,  or  persons  who  had  received 
all  their  education  here,  came  forward  to  be  taken  on  trials. 
The  first  w^ho  is  known  to  have  pursued  his  whole  course  of 
study  in  the  bounds  of  the  synod  was  Gilbert  Tennent,  who, 
shortly  after  being  licensed,  received  from  Yale  the  degree  of 
A.M.  His  brother  John  was  the  next,  and  his  performances 
were  universally  approved  by  Newcastle  Presbytery. 

The  state  of  feeling  in  the  synod  towards  other  denomina- 
tions appears  strikingly  in  the  circumstance  of  their  having 
allowed  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  to  ordain  the  first  Lu- 
theran minister  who  settled  in  Berks  county.  This  case  has 
been  sadly  misrepresented;  Dr.  Hill  having  charged  Andrews 
with  such  laxness  that  he  consented  to  ordain  a  Dunker. 

The  Lutherans  had,  very  early,  a  congregation  in  New  York 
city,  using  the  Low  Dutch  language.  In  their  settlements  on 
the  Mohawk,  and  in  Dutchess  county,  the  preaching  was  in 
High  Dutch.  The  Swedish  churches  were  Lutheran,  and  had 
ministers  from  their  own  country;  but  the  German  Lutherans 

*  Whitefield'3  Letters,  3  vols. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  127 

in  Pcnnsj'lvania,  though  numerous,  had  none  to  minister  to 
them  in  their  own  tongue.  They  had  been  involved  in 
trouble,  owing  to  objections  being  made  to  the  title  by  which 
they  held  their  land  in  Schoharie,  in  New  York;  and,  in  1729, 
maii}^  removed  to  Oley  and  Tulpehocken,  in  Berks  count}'. 
Among  them  was  the  well-known  Conrad  Weiser,  the  Indian 
interpreter. 

In  August,  1730,  John  Peter  Miller  arrived  in  Philadelphia 
and  began  to  preach  to  them.  He  was  born  in  Oberant  Lan- 
tern, in  the  Palatinate,  and  had  graduated  at  the  University  of 
Heidelberg.  He  presented  himself  for  ordination  to  the 
synod,  who  "  agreed  that  the  Dutch  probationer  be  left  to  the 
care  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery  to  settle  him  in  the  minis- 
try." Andrews,  writing  to  Dr.  Colman,*  October  4, 1730,  said, 
"There  is  lately  come  over  a  Palatine  candidate  for  the  minis- 
try, who,  having  applied  to  us  at  the  synod  for  ordination,  'tis 
left  to  three  ministers  to  do  it.  He  is  an  extraordinary  person 
for  sense  and  learning.  We  gave  him  a  question  to  discuss 
about  Justification,  and  he  has  answered  it  in  a  whole  sheet 
of  paper  in  a  notable  manner.  He  speaks  Latin  as  readily 
as  we  do  the  vernacular  tongue,  and  so  does  the  other,  Mr. 
"Weiss." 

Miller  was  "ordainedf  at  the  end  of  1730,  upon  order  of  the 
Scotch  Synod,  in  the  old  Presbyterian  meeting-house  in  Phila- 
delphia, by  three  eminent  ministers,  Tennent,  Andrews,  and 
Boyd."  He  officiated  for  the  Lutherans  in  Oley  and  Tulpe- 
hocken for  several  years;  but  in  September,  1735,  he  was  im- 
mersed by  Conrad  Beissel,  of  Ephrata,  having  adopted  the 
views  of  the  Seventh-day  Baptists.  In  this  he  was  followed 
by  AVeiser,  who  subsequently  returned  to  the  Lutheran  church. 
Miller  removed  to  the  "Kloster"  at  Ephrata,  and  assumed  the 
name  of  Jabez,  Beissel  being  called  Friedsam.  The  fraternity 
dressed  like  Capuchins.  Miller  was  well  known  in  the  literary 
world :  he  had  an  extensive  correspondence,  and  was  the  au- 
thor of  "Chronicon  Ephratense."  He  succeeded  Beissel  as 
head  of  the  society,  and  died  September  21,  1796. J 


*  Printed  in  Hodge's  History,  from  E.  Hazard's  MSS. 

I  Fahnestock's  Sketch  of  the  Bunkers. 

X  Dr.  Douglass,  in  his  work  on  the  Provinces,  speaks  of  him  as  writing  very 


128  Webster's  history  of  the 

Mr.  Weiss,  mentioned  by  Andrews  in  connection  with 
Miller,  was  the  minister  of  the  German  lieformed  Church  in 
Gosenhoppen,  Pa. 

Mr.  Johannes  Ilenricus  Goetschius,  or  Goetschy,  applied, 
through  Andrews,  to  the  synod,  in  May,  1737,  signifying  the 
desire  of  many  of  the  German  nation  that  he  might  be  or- 
dained on  the  synod's  order.  He  was  a  native  of  Switzer- 
land, and  had  been  educated  at  the  University  of  Zurich. 
His  testimonials  from  Germany  were  ample,  and  satisfied  the 
synod  as  to  his  learning  and  good  Christian  conversation. 
They  recommended  him  to  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  to  act 
upon  further  trials  of  him  as  to  them  should  seem  fit.  The 
presbytery  met  two  days  after,  and  agreed  that  he  might 
preach,  but  declined  to  ordain  him  for  a  season,  because, 
though  learned  in  the  languages,  he  was  deficient*  in  divinity 
and  college  learning.  Where  he  was  ordained,  or  by  whom, 
is  unknown  to  us;  he  served  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  in 
Bucks  county,  and  was  settled,  in  1741,  the  first  pastor  of 
Jamaica,  Newtown,  Success,  and  Wolver's  Hollow,  on  Long 
Island.     In  1751,  he  removed  to  Hackensack,  New  Jersey. 

In  1729,  the  synod  bore  testimony  against,  and  declared  their 
great  dissatisfaction  at,  the  religious  lawsuits  that  are  main- 
tained among  professors  of  religion,  so  contrary  to  that  peace 
and  love  the  gospel  requires,  and  the  express  direction  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  (1  Cor.  vi.  1-3,)  and  consequently  very  much  to 
the  scandal  of  our  holy  profession.  They  recommended  to  each 
minister  to  bring  his  congregation  into  a  joint  agreement  to 
avoid  all  unnecessary  lawsuits  for  the  future,  and  to  refer  diffi- 
culties which  cannot  easily  be  accommodated  between  them- 
selves, to  prudent,  religious,  and  indifterent  friends,  (if  it  may 
be,  of  our  own  profession,)  mutually  chosen  or  otherwise,  as 
such  society  shall  think  best,  to  decide  and  determine  such 
differences. 

The  particular  occasion  calling  for  this  testimony  was,  pro- 
bably, the  necessity  of  intrusting  church  and  parsonage  lands 
to  individuals,  to  be  held  in  their  own  name.     It  was  removed 


finely  in  Latin  on  Religious  Mortification.     Morgan  Edwards  mentions  him  with 
much  respect. 

*  Manuscript  Records  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  129 

in  Pennsylvania,  by  the  law  of  1731,  allowing  religious  socie- 
ties to  hold  lands,*  and  securing  to  them  the  property  already 
in  their  possession. 

In  1734,  the  s^-nod  forbade  its  members  in  "Pennsylvania 
and  the  lower  counties  from  this  time  forward  to  marry  any  by 
license  from  the  governor,  till  the  form  of  them  be  altered  and 
brought  to  a  nearer  conformity  to  those  of  the  neighbouring 
governments  of  ISTew  York  and  ISTew  Jersey;  and  particularly 
till  they  are  altered  in  such  a  manner  as  hath  nothing  peculiar  to 
the  ministers  of  the  Church  of  England,  nor  oblige  us  to  any 
of  the  forms  and  ceremonies  peculiar  to  that  church."  The 
Presbyteries  of  Newcastle  and  Donegal  were  ordered  con- 
jujictly  to  make  such  regulations  for  their  members  as  was  ht. 
Orr,  of  ISTottingham,  was  soon  tasked  by  his  brethren  for  hav- 
ing married  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Campbell  with  a  license ;  and, 
thirty  years  after,  Hezekiah  James  Balch  was  gravely  ques- 
tioned by  Donegal  Presbytery  concerning  his  having  been 
married  by  an  Episcopal  minister.  He  excused  himself  that, 
Mr.  Bay  not  being  at  home,  he  had  to  submit  to  the  Common 
Prayer-Book  formula  or  go  unwed.  About  that  time,  New- 
castle Presbytery  called  up  Dr.  Robert  Davidson,  then  a 
licentiate,  for  having  joined  himself  in  marriage  to  an  unbap- 
tized  person. 

In  1738,  the  "  marriage  act"  was  so  modified  that  ministers 
had  liberty  to  marry  by  license  in  certain  exempt  cases ;  but 
they  were  enjoined  to  marry  none  clandestinely,  or  ^^'ithout 
consent  of  parents  or  guardians;  and  if  either  of  the  par- 
ties belonged  to  any  congregation  of  ours,  not  to  marry 
unless  they  produced  certificates  from  their  minister  of  there 
being  no  hinderance;  and  if  from  vacant  congregations,  then 
to  bring  like  certificates  from  substantial  persons. 

In  1739,  the  Presbyteriansf  of  Lancaster  county,  with  their 
respective  ministers,  represented  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  Pennsylvania,  that  they  had  been  educated  according  to 
the  doctrine,  worship,  and  government  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land, and  were  excluded  from  all  offices,  and  from  giving  evi- 
dence, by  a  ceremony  (kissing  the  book)  which,  in  their  judg- 


*  Huston  on  the  Land  Titles  of  Pennsylvania. 
f  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia. 
9 


ISO  Webster's  history  of  the 

ment,  is  inconsistent  with  the  word  of  God.  Tliey  prayed 
that  a  law  might  pass  authorizing  them  to  take  the  oath  with- 
out such  form. 

Tlie  intercourse  with  the  Church  of  Scotland  was  limited 
and  uufrequent;  but  two  instances  occur  in  thirty  years  of  an 
interchange  of  letters.  The  first  was  in  1727,  when  the  com- 
mittee to  settle  the  difficulties  in  the  congregation  of  Xew 
York  was  directed  to  write  an  account  of  the  aifair  to  Scot- 
land. The  committee  met  in  November;  and  a  letter  from 
tlie  Commissioners  of  the  Assembly  was  presented,  and  they 
wrote  an  answer.  In  1730,  the  General  Assembly  sent  to 
Dr.  XicoU  a  copy  of  their  act,  securing  the  property  in  Isew 
York  to  the  use  of  a  Presbyterian  church  forever,  and  ordered 
him  to  lay  it  before  the  synod.  He  did  so,  and  the  synod 
found  that  the  terms  of  the  act  had  been  complied  with. 

In  1733,  on  hearing  that  certain  gentlemen  in  A^irginia  had 
behaved  harshl}^  and  injuriously  to  the  Rev.  Hugh  Stevenson, 
while  on  a  mission  to  our  vacancies  in  the  colony,  a  copy 
of  his  representation  was  sent  to  the  Assembly,  and  that 
venerable  body  was  requested  to  use  their  influence  to  pro- 
cure them  three  benefits : — 

1.  Assistance  from  the  societies  for  propagating  Christian 
knowledge,  or  some  other  source,  to  support  itinerant  minis- 
ters in  Virginia. 

2.  The  favourable  notice  of  the  government  to  restrain  and 
discourage  persons  in  that  province  from  hampering,  by  illegal 
prosecutions,  our  itinerant  missionaries. 

3.  Some  assistance  from  his  Majesty  for  our  encouragement, 
by  way  of  regium  donum. 

■  Andrews,  Anderson,  Thomson,  and  Stevenson  wrote  and 
sent  two  copies  of  the  letter,  that  one  might,  if  not  both, 
\  reach  its  destination.     No  answer  was  received. 

In  1730,  the  Commission  of  the  Assembly  wrote  to  the 
synod,  informing  them  of  moneys  left  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Daniel 
"Williams  for  the  propagating  of  the  gospel  in  foreign  parts. 
After  much  discourse,  Andrews,  Anderson,  Thomson,  and  the 
elder  John  Budd,  were  appointed  to  write  a  reply,  and  also 
to  address  the  associated  ministers  of  Boston  on  the  matter. 
In  1731,  answers  were  received  from  Boston,  and  from  Mr. 
"William  Grant,  President  of  the  Scottish  Society  for  propa- 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  131 

gating  Christian  Knowledge.  They  were  read ;  but  no  action 
was  taken  on  them.  This  correspondence  probabl}^  opened 
the  way  for  Dickinson  and  Pemberton  to  propose  to  the 
society  to  undertake  the  support  of  missionaries  to  the  In- 
dians in  iSTew  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania.  The 
result  was,  that  they,  with  others  of  New  York  Presbytery, 
were  appointed  correspondents  of  the  society,  with  power  to 
select  fields,  employ  missionaries,  and  superintend  their  pro- 
ceedings. 


132  Webster's  history  of  the 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  causes  were  at  work  for  a  score  of  years,  out  of  which 
rose  the  "  Great  Revival,"  giving  existence  and  form  to  its 
glorious  and  memorable  mercies,  and  to  its  deplorable  and 
remediless  catastrophe.  There  were  circumstances  —  some 
obvious,  and  more  unsuspected  —  creating  the  necessity  for 
that  amazing  revolution  in  the  hidden  springs  of  our 
church's  life.  Zinzendorf,  Wesley,  and  Whitefield  were  not 
the  authors  of  "the  manner  of  the  time;"  they  were  but  the 
lightning  and  the  thunder,  the  rushing  wind  and  the  rain-tor- 
rents, in  which  the  long-gathering  storm  breaks  forth.  God 
visits  the  waters,  the  parching  pasture,  and  the  withering 
field;  we  gaze  on  the  dividing  of  the  flames  of  fire,  the 
shaking  of  the  wilderness,  and  the  terrific  land-fiood,  as 
though  they  had  no  king  over  them.  In  another  age,  how 
little  could  those  great  evangelists  have  accomplished ! 
"Thou  preparest  them  corn,  when  thou  hast  so  provided 
for  it." 

It  was  a  period  of  migration.  Families  left  their  homes 
for  a  forest.  Untried  paths  and  unthought-of  embarrassments 
wrought  amazing  and  rapid  changes  in  the  energies  and  the 
plans  of  the  new  settlers.  Daring  ventures,  hazard  of  life,  and 
want  of  old, restraints,  good  influences,  and  holy  privileges, 
shaped  the  spirits  of  the  people  after  another  pattern  than  that 
which  was  shown  to  Moses  in  the  mount.  They  sought  ex- 
citement rather  than  instruction,  and  wearied  of  the  cus- 
tomary methods,  so  venerable  in  the  meeting-house  standing 
amid  their  fathers'  sepulchres,  a  substitute  was  sought  for 
the  joy  that  grows  out  of  meditating,  reflecting,  and  praying. 
They  desired  to  enjoy  a  sensible  impression  on  their  hearts;  and 
comfort  to  be  swallowed,  as  an  exhilarating  cordial, — stimulat- 
ing, strengthening,  requiring  no  other  effort  to  understand  or 
appreciate  it  than  was  needed  beside  the  blazing  fire,  to  feel  the 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  133 

geuial  heat  pervading  the  freezing  limbs,  and  driving  the  torpid 
current  through  the  numbed  extremities.  They  who  live  in 
settled  homes  may  wait  for  the  slow  leavening  of  the  dough  and 
the  thorough  baking  of  the  loaf;  but  he  who  came  in  hungry 
and  exhausted,  was  glad  of  a  cake  baked  before  the  glowing 
coals.  The  sudden  summons  to  flee  from  the  savage  made  them 
snatch  up  the  food,  however  uninviting.  There  is  a  oneness 
in  our  bodily  and  our  spiritual  habits :  they  wanted  preaching 
suited  to  warm  and  enliven  them, — undervaluing  the  slow 
enlightening,  the  gradual  process  of  the  leaven  in  the  three 
measures  of  meal. 

A  remarkable  succession  of  diseases,  for  a  period  of  years, 
traversed  the  provinces,  or,  confined  to  a  few  localities,  bore 
off  the  children  and  the  youth ;  yet  those  years  were  not  more 
remarkable  for  unexampled  mortality  than  for  unbridled  merri- 
ment. The  gayety  seemed  unchecked,  though  the  gayest  had 
passed  away;  though  the  flower  and  the  life  of  the  revels  had 
been  mown  down ;  though  the  new  lines  of  graves  in  every 
burial-place  were  like  the  swarths  behind  the  reaper. 

There  was  mourning  for  the  dead  by  many  a  hearth, — 
mourning  admitting  of  no  consolation,  for  they  had  died  with- 
out repenting.  Deep  and  bitter  were  the  concealed  lieart- 
searchings  of  parents;  often  the  light-hearted  wept  upon  their 
pillow. 

A  vast  change  was  visible  in  the  churches  of  New  England : 
the  discipline  was  relaxed,  the  doctrine  was  diluted,  and  the 
preaching  tame  and  spiritless.  A  written  form  of  words  super- 
seded the  notes  which  had  served  for  "a  brief"  in  the  pulpit; 
the  confinement  of  the  eye  and  the  finger  to  the  line,  and  the 
absorption  of  the  minister  in  the  reading  of  the  scroll,  left  the 
young  unawed  and  the  aged  slumbering,  while  the  others 
glided  in  reverie  to  the  farm  or  the  traflic,  the  fireside  or  the 
forest.  The  powerless  Sabbath  was  followed,  as  soon  as  the 
sun  went  down,  by  visiting,  gayety,  and  the  resumption  of 
world,]y  talk,  if  not  of  worldly  work.  Dancing  became  a  re- 
spectable diversion,  and  attained  to  amazing  popularity,  espe- 
cially in  the  new  settlements. 

The  home  of  the  emigrant  furnished  him  with  many  induce- 
ments to  remember  and  refletet.  Disappointment  and  sorrow 
came;  sickness  and  bereavement  drove  him  to  his  Bible;  and 


134  Webster's  history  or  the 

the  family  which  had  not  known  God,  gladly  gathered  round 
the  mercy-seat,  because  their  soul  fainted  in  them. 

There  was  a  widely-diffused  remembrance  of  the  powerful 
preaching  of  other  days,  when  the  terrors  of  the  Lord  darkened 
the  sky  and  deluged  the  earth  with  the  summer  rain,  and  the 
glory  of  Jesus — a  rainbow  like  unto  an  emerald — shone  round 
the  Father's  throne,  and  filled  the  heart  with  peace  in  be- 
lieving. There  was  a  sighing  after  the  consolations  of  the 
gospel, — the  support  of  the  everlasting  arms.  They  asked  for 
bread  which  would  satisfy.  This  remembrance  was  kept  alive 
by  the  occasional  hearing  of  faithful  preaching,  and  the  con- 
stant renewal  of  reports  of  the  success  of  the  gospel  in  the  Old 
World. 

These  reports  awakened  much  curiosity,  and  kindled  iu 
pious  hearts  a  spirit  of  supplication  and  "a  looking-for  of  re- 
demption." 

There  were,  throughout  the  land,  many  able  ministers  of 
the  New  Testament, — workmen  that  needed  not  to  be  ashamed ; 
and  a  large  number  of  mature  or  aged  disciples  who  prospered 
through  the  preaching  of  the  truth.  There  was  also  the  abiding 
presence  of  Christ  in  his  church,  like  the  unnoticed  dew  on 
the  mown  grass.  His  spirit  was  brooding  on  the  face  of  the 
darkened  deep,  and  the  way  of  the  Lord  was  prepared  as  the 
morning. 

The  declining  power  of  godliness  was  a  subject  of  lamenta- 
tion in  1733;  and  the  synod  earnestly  recommended,  as  a 
proper  means  to  revive  it,  that  all  its  members  take  particular 
care  about  ministerial  visiting  of  families,  and  do  press  house- 
hold and  secret  worship  according  to  the  Westminster  Direc- 
tory. Each  presbytery  was  ordered  to  make  inquiry,  at  suitable 
seasons,  of  each  minister,  touching  his  diligence  in  each  par- 
ticular. It  being  found,  the  next  year,  that  the  order  had  not 
been  fully  put  into  execution,  it  was  renewed ;  and  the  brethren 
were  earnestly  obtested,  conscientiously  and  diligently  to  pur- 
sue the  good  designs  thereof.  This  meeting  was  very  large, 
there  being  thirty-two  ministers  present  and  only  seven  absent, 
none  of  the  latter  being  important  persons.  There  were  also 
fifteen  elders.  On  the  20th  of  September,  Gilbert  Tennent 
introduced  an  overture  that  there  be  due  care  in  examining' 
candidates  for  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  for  the  ministry,  on  the 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  135 

evidences  of  God's  grace  in  them,  as  well  as  tlieir  other  neces- 
sary qualifications.  lie  had  then  been  in  the  ministry  about 
seven  years,  and  had  been  solemnly  exercised  during  severe 
sickness  concerning  his  manner  of  dealing  with  souls ;  and  on 
recovering,  had,  upon  examining  "the  states  of  his  people," 
found  that  most  had,  in  his  judgment,  "built  upon  sand." 
The  short  ministry  of  his  brother  John,  his  fiiithfulness  and 
large  success,  had  impressed  him  deeply ;  and  he  was  ready  to 
say,  with  Elijah,  "I  only  am  left,  and  they  seek  my  life;  I  am 
very  jealous  for  the  Lord  of  hosts." 

How  many  of  the  errors  of  his  life  had  never  been  com- 
mitted, could  the  still,  small  voice  have  been  heard  by  him, 
declaring  that  God  had  reserved  seven  thousand  undefiled 
souls  for  himself! 

His  overture  was  intrusted  to  a  special  committee  of  Ander- 
son, Thomson,  Dickinson,  and  Cross.  They  reported,  and  the 
admonition  was  unanimously  approved  by  the  whole  synod : — 

"As  it  has  been  our  principle  and  practice,  and  is  recom- 
mended in  the  Westminster  Directory,  to  be  careful  in  this 
matter,  so  it  awfully  concerns  us  to  be  serious  and  solemn  in 
these  trials.  We  do,  therefore,  in  the  name  and  fear  of  God, 
exhort  and  obtest  our  presbyteries  to  take  special  care  not  to 
admit  into  the  sacred  office  loose,  careless,  and  irreligious 
men ;  but  particularly  to  inquire  into  the  conduct,  conversa- 
tion, and  behaviour  of  such  as  ofter  themselves  to  the  ministry, 
and  that  they  diligently  examine  them  in  their  experience  of  a 
work  of  sanctifying  grace  in  their  hearts,  and  admit  none  to 
the  sacred  trust  that  are  not,  in  the  eye  of  charity,  serious 
Christians. 

""We  do  also  seriously  and  solemnly  admonish  all  our 
ministers  to  make  it  their  awful,  constant,  and  diligent  care  to 
approve  themselves  to  God,  to  their  own  consciences,  and  to 
their  hearers,  as  serious,  faithful  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of 
God,  and  of  holy  and  exemplary  conversations. 

"We  do  also  exhort  them  to  use  due  care  in  examining 
those,' they  admit  to  the  Lord's  Supper." 

Tltey  added,  also,  a  unanimous  recommendation  to  the 
presbyteries  to  take  effectual  care  that  each  of  their  members 
should  be  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  their  awful  trust.  In 
particular,  that  they  frequently  examine  into  the  life  of  each 


136  Webster's  history  of  the 

minister,  his  conversation,  diligence,  and  methods  in  dis- 
cliarging  his  calling;  and  that  at  least  yearly,  they  examine 
into  his  manner  of  preaching,  whether  he  insist  on  the  great 
articles  of  Christianity,  and  recommend  the  crucified  Savionr 
as  the  only  foundation  of  hope;  the  ahsolute  necessity  of  the 
omnipotent  influence  of  the  divine  grace  to  enable  them  to 
accept  of  this  Saviour;  whether  he  do,  in  the  most  solemn  and 
affecting  manner  he  can,  endeavour  to  convince  his  hearers  of 
their  lost  and  miserable  state  while  unconverted,  and  put  them 
upon  the  diligent  use  of  those  means  necessary  to  obtain  the 
sanctifying  influences  of  the  Spirit.  "WTiether  he  do  (and  how) 
discharge  his  duty  to  the  young  people  and  children  in  cate- 
chizing and  familiar  instruction;  and  whether  and  in  what 
manner  he  visits  his  flock  and  instructs  from  house  to 
house.* 

This  recommendation  was  to  be  copied  into  each  presbj'tery- 
book,  and  to  be  read  at  the  opening  of  each  meeting;  the 
•ministers  who  are  found  defective  to  be  censured,  and,  refusing 
to  submit,  to  be  reported  to  the  synod. 

The  records  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery  show  that  the  rule 
was  complied  with  in  regard  to  candidates  for  the  ministry. 
East  Jersey  Presbytery  complained,  the  next  year,  that  they 
are  incapable  to  comply  with  the  excellent  design  of  the  act, 
by  reason  that  several  of  the  members,  and  John  Cross  in  par- 
ticular, neglect  to  attend  their  stated  meetings.  The  synod, 
on  hearing  this,  admonished  Cross.  Gilbert  Tennent  was  not 
present.  The  synod,  esteeming  the  act  to  be  of  the  greatest 
moment  and  importance,  exhorted  the  presbyteries  to  an  exact 
compliance  with  all  parts  of  it;  and  they  also  exhorted  all  to 
take  due  care  that  they  who  receive  baptism,  for  themselves 
or  their  children,  are  of  a  regular  life  and  have  suitable  ac- 
quaintance with  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion ;  that 
■^lat  seal  be  not  set  to  a  blank,  and  that  those  who  are  mani- 
festly unfit  be  not  admitted  to  a  visible  church  relation.     V 

East  Jersey  Presbytery  was  nearly  equally  divided  in  senti- 
ment; and,  at  the  end  of  three  years,  they  were  divided  by 
setting  off' Cross,  Wales,  the  two  brothers  Tennents,  and  Blair, 
into  a  separate  body,  with  the  name  of  New  Brunswick  Presby- 

*  They  also  directed  tliem  "to  be  as  much  in  catechetical  doctrine  as  possible." 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH  IN  AMERICA.  137 

.''       ■ 

tery.     However  kindly  intended,  this  was  the  immediate  and 
main  cause  of  rending  the  church. 

The  meeting  in  1735  was  large ;  the  case  of  Hemphill  having 
drawn  thirty  ministers  and  sixteen  elders.  The  instance  of 
Hemphill,  and  "  some  other  considerations  to  the  like  purpose," 
secured  the  adoption  of  five  new  rules: — 

1.  That  the  moderator  of  each  presbytery  and  two  ministers 
be  a  committee  to  examine  the  credentials  of  every  European 
niiuister  or  probationer,  and  that  he  do  not  preach  in  any 
vacant  congregation  till  he  subscribe  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession, and  satisfy  them  of  his  firm  attachment  to  it. 

2.  That  no  call  be  presented  to  such  person  till  he  has 
preaclied  half  a  year  in  our  bounds. 

3.  That  all  calls  shall  be  moderated  by  a  minister  appointed 

by  the  presbytery  under  whose  care  the  congregation  is.  ^ 

4.  That  no  student  shall  be  taken  on  trials  till  he  give  most 
of  the  members  of  the  presbytery  opportunity,  at  their  houses, 
"to  take  a  view  of  his  parts  and  behaviour." 

5.  That  no  minister  ordained  in  Ireland,  sine  titulo,  shall  be    ^     -■>;»- 
allowed  to  exercise  his  ministry  among  us,  till  he  submit  to  /%      ^^ 
such   trials    as    the    presbytery   in  which    he    resides    may 
appoint. 

As  early  as  1735,  the  synod  blamed  John  Cross  for  re- 
moving, without  the  concurrence  of  his  presbytery,  from  one 
congregation  to  another.  It  is  not  known  whether  any  similar 
case  had  occurred;  but,  in  1737,  fears  were  expressed  that 
irregular  steps  might  be  taken  to  effect  the  transporting  of 
ministers  from  one  presbytery  to  another.  Five  more  rules 
were  therefore  adopted  in  relation  to  candidates  for  settlement : — 
1.  ISTo  probationer  is  to  preach  to  a  vacant  congregation  with- 
out the  consent  of  his  own  presbyter3^  2.  Nor  to  a  vacancy 
in  another  presbytery  without  the  appointment  of  the  presby- 
tery under  whose  care  it  is.  3.  That  no  presbytery  make 
such  appointment  for  him  unless  he  has  credentials  or  recom- 
mendations from  his  own  presbytery.  4.  That  vacancies  en- 
courage none  to  preach  among  them  without  the  concurrence 
of  presbytery.  5.  That  no  minister  invite  probationers  or 
ministers  to  supply  vacancies  without  the  advice  and  concur- 
rence of  his  brethren. 

As  might  have   been   expected,  these  rules  were  broken, 


138  Webster's  history  of  the 

some  ministers  and  probationers  having  gone  out  of  their 
bounds  and  preached,  as  candidates,  without  allowance  asked 
or  given.  Who  these  persons  were  is  unknown.  The  rule 
was  adopted  that  if  a  minister,  leaving  his  own  presbytery  to 
preach  to  a  vacancy,  is  informed,  by  a  minister  of  the  presby- 
tery into  the  bounds  of  which  he  has  come,  that  he  thinks  his 
preaching  will  tend  to  divide  or  disturb  the  congregation,  he 
shall  not  preach  till  the  presl)ytery  or  synod  allow  him.  An 
explanation  was  added,  that,  if  he  has  already  obtained  leave 
of  the  presbytery,  then  he  need  not  regard  the  advice. 

The  same  year,  the  Presbytery  of  Lewes  introduced  an 
overture,  which,  though  most  kindly  meant,  and  in  itself 
most  wise,  became  an  occasion  of  dissension,  wrath,  and 
confusion.  Poverty  preventing  our  students  from  going  to 
Europe  or  New  England  for  a  university  education,  they 
proposed  that  the  synod  should  appoint  a  committee,  before 
which  all  students,  with  or  without  diplomas,  should  appear 
and  be  examined,  and,  if  approved,  receive  a  synodical  testi- 
monial ;  and  that  this,  when  they  oifered  themselves  to  their 
presbytery,  should  be  accepted  as  equal  to  a  degree  in  the 
arts.  ISTothing  but  attendance  was  to  be  required ;  no  fee  or 
gratuity  of  any  kind.  The  synod,  by  a  great  majority, 
adopted  the  plan,  and  for  that  year  appointed  two  committees, 
—  the  one  north  of  Philadelphia,  consisting  of  Andrews, 
Robert  Cross,  G.  Tennent,  Pemberton,  Dickinson,  Cowell, 
and  Pierson ;  the  other,  of  Thomson,  Gillespie,  T.  Evans, 
Hook,  Anderson,  Martin,  and  Alison.  There  were  twenty- 
eight  ministers  present  and  sixteen  elders.  It  is  to  be  ob- 
served that,  in  the  committees,  the  three  Presbyteries  of  ISTew- 
castle,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia  were  represented  by  three 
members,  Lewes  and  Donegal  by  two,  and  New  Brunswick 
by  one.  Wliy  some  other  member  of  the  last  body  was  not 
substituted  for  Cowell,  one  of  the  youngest  members  of  Phila- 
delphia Presbytery,  is  only  to  be  guessed.  Probably  the 
majority  chose  to  testify  their  regard  for  him,  seeing  he  had 
been  so  rudely  assailed  and  so  bitterly  inveighed  against  by 
Gilbert  Tennent,  by  letter  and  before  synod. 

The  proposal,  to  require  candidates  to  exhibit  a  diploma 
before  they  were  taken  on  trial,  was  simply  conforming  to 
the  "Westminster  Directory.     It  was  the  uniform  practice  of 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA. 

the  Synod  of  Ulster  and  the  Scottish  Kirk.  "  The  synod* 
came  to  a  public  agreement  to  take  all  private  schools,  in 
which  young  men  are  educated  for  the  ministry,  so  far  under 
their  care,  as  to  appoint  a  committee  to  examine  all  such  as 
had  not  obtained  degrees  in  the  European  or  ISTew  England 
colleges,  and  to  give  them  a  certificate  which  was  to  serve  our 
presbyteries  instead  of  a  diploma."  No  objection  appears  to 
have  been  made  at  the  time  to  this  method ;  no  dissent  was 
entered ;  but,  in  1739,  the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  having 
disregarded  it,  brought  in  their  apology  for  dissenting  from  two 
acts  or  new  religious  laws  passed  at  the  last  session  of  synod. 
The  whole  ground  is  gone  over  of  the  wrongfulness  of  the 
acts,  in  precisely  the  mode,  and  nearly  the  language,  of  the 
New-Light  Brethren  of  Antrim ;  and  might  have  been  adopted 
for  a  manifesto  by  the  Friendly  Society  of  Belfast.  It  ex- 
pressl}^  declares  that  it  is  a  false  hypothesis  that  the  majority 
of  any  church  judicatory  has  a  power  committed  to  them  by 
Christ  to  make  new  rules  abou.t  religious  matters,  which  shall 
be  binding  on  those  who  conscientiously  dissent  from  them ; 
even  though  the  majority  judge  the  rules  to  be  not  against 
but  agreeable  to  the  word  and  serviceable  to  religion.  This 
would  include  every  law  made  by  session,  presbytery,  or 
synod.  It  militated  as  strongly  against  the  requirement  of 
subscription  to  the  Westminster  Confession,  or  of  classical 
learning  in  candidates,  as  against  the  two  acts  it  aimed  at. 
"  It  isf  heterodox  and  anarchical,  and  plainly  contradicts  the 
thirty-first  article,  third  section,  of  the  Confession  of  Faith." 
It  denied  that  any  church  court  has  power  to  make  rules 
about  expedients  and  prudentials.  The  Irish  Synod  declared, 
in  1725,  that  those  who  made  this  denial  were  deserving  of 
exclusion  from  the  privileges  of  membership  in  their  body. 

A  day  was  spent  in  debate  on  the  objections ;  the  act  was 
reaffirmed,  except  that  the  examination  was  to  be  before 
the  whole  synod  or  its  commission.  There  were  thirty-two 
ministers  in  attendance  and  eighteen  elders,  —  all  men  of 
weight,  age,  and  experience.  On  the  decision  of  the  matter, 
Gilbert  Tennent  cried  out  that  it  was  to  prevent  his  father's 


*  Synod  of  Philadelphia  to  the  Rector  of  Yale,  1746. 
f  Protestation  of  1741. 


140  Webster's  history  of  the 

scliool  from  traiiiiug  gracious  men  for  the  miniBtry.  JTe  pro- 
tested; his  father,  liis  two  brotliers,  his  two  co-presbyters,  his 
elder,  David  Chambers,  his  brother  Charles's  elder,  William 
McCrea,  Thomas "Worthiugton,*  and  John  Weir,  elders,  joined 
in  the  protest. 

It  is  curious  to  notice  that  the  synod's  act,  as  remodelled,  is 
identical  with  the  course  pursued  by  the  Synod  of  Ulster  for 
tlie  last  thirty  years,  as  a  preventive  to  the  entrance  of  Arian 
or  unlearned  preachers  into  her  communion.  The  opposition 
to  the  act  in  its  new  form  was  as  fiery  as  at  first.  The  protest 
was  the  third  which  had  been  presented  since  the  formation 
of  Philadelphia  Presbytery. 

Personal  rancour  appears  to  have  operated  strongly  on  the 
minority.  They  regarded  the  act  as  bearing  solely  on  the 
Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  depriving  them  of  the  power 
of  taking  up  whatever  candidates  they  jjleased,  and,  in  effect, 
closing  every  door  of  entrance  against  all  whom  the  majority 
of  synod  did  not  approve.  The  protesters  demanded  the  power 
of  imposing  on  the  synod  whatever  persons  they  pleased. 

The  act  about  vacancies  was  remodelled,  no  one  objecting. 
"When  the  preaching  of  a  minister  from  another  presb}i:ery 
seemed  to  cause  divisions  or  hinder  the  settlement  of  a  minis- 
try, complaint  was  to  be  made  to  the  presbytery,  and  the 
minister  was  to  appear  and  abide  by  their  decision. 

The  Presbytery  of  I^ew  Brunswick  had  not  only  objected 
to  the  synod's  acts,  but  had  taken  Rowland  On  trials,  and 
licensed  him  and  sent  him  to  preach  to  a  vacancy  in  Philadel- 
phia Presbytery.  The  synod  did  not  command  them  to 
revoke  his  license,  but  simply  censured  their  action,  and  deter- 
mined not  to  admit  Rowland  as  a  preacher  in  their  bounds 
until  he  should  submit  to  the  requirements  of  the  act.  [In  a 
similar  spirit,  and  for  the  preservation  of  order  and  discipline, 
the]  Synod  of  Ulster  [had]  directed  that  if  any  judicatory 
reversed  or  disregarded  the  acts  of  the  court  above,  the  mode- 
rator and  clerk  in  oflice  at  the  time  of  the  offence  should  be 
suspended  from  their  ministerial  functions  during  the  pleasure 
of  the  next  higher  authority. 


*  Probably  from  Upper  Marlborough,  who  died  March,  1753,  aged  63, — five  miles 
from  Annapolis. 


PrxESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN    AMERICA.  141 

The  synod  then  decided  the  difficulty  between  Tennent  and 
Cowell,  apparently  to  the  mutual  satisfaction  of  the  parties. 

The  project  of  a  school  or  seminary  was  approved,  and  it 
was  resolved  to  send  home  to  Great  Britain,  to  prosecute  the 
affair,  either  Pemberton  and  Dickinson,  or  Anderson  and 
Robert  Cross.  The  commission  met  in  August  to  deliberate 
and  proceed,  but,  discouraged  by  the  small  attendance,  did 
nothing.  Colman  sent  them  the  promise  of  aid  from  Boston  ; 
but  the  breaking  out  of  the  Spanish  war  closed  up  all  hope  of 
aid  from  Europe.  No  answer  appears  to  have  been  sent  from 
the  Church  of  Scotland. 

There  was  an  overture  presented  from  Thomas  Evans ;  but 
the  contents  are  not  known,  nor  whether  it  bore  on  the  points 
in  dispute. 

This  was  an  eventful  juncture.  The  revival  was  in  pro- 
gress ;  Freehold,  Hopewell,  New  Brunswick,  Baskingridge, 
and  Newark  had  received  the  heavenly  gift,  and  from  the 
east  end  of  Long  Island  came  tidings  of  "  gracious  communi- 
cations from  God." 

The  arrival  of  Whitefield  was  looked  for.  His  way  had  been 
prepared  by  the  publication  of  his  journals  and  his  sermons, 
and  by  highly-coloured  and  flattering  newspaper  notices.  He 
reached  Philadelphia  in  November,  1739,  with  Seward,  his 
affluent  and  munificent  friend,  and  a  company  of  persons  for 
ffie~TTrphan-house.  He  brought  a  cargo  of  goods  to  be  sold 
for  the  benefit  of  the  institution,  and  hired  a  house,  exposed 
them  for  sale,  and  advertised  them  in  the  city  prints.  He 
came  as  a  gentleman,  and  lived  as  one  who  was  the  associate 
of  the  gentry  and  had  friends  among  the  nobility.  Franklin  \ 
notes  how  much  the  people  in  his  day  looked  up  to  an  "  Old  \ 
England  man."  The  distinction  of  ranks  was  kept  up  in  the 
colonies  with  the  precision  and  etiquette  of  a  German  prin- 
cipality of  four  miles  square.  The  sermons  on  Regeneration 
and  the  Almost  Christian  gained  many  hearts  for  him,  and 
his  captivating  eloquence  won  many  more.  He  was  then*  of 
middle  stature,  slender  body,  fair  complexion,  comely  appear- 
ance, and  extremely  bashful  and  modest. 

Much  had  been  published  against  him  in  England,  and  had 


*  Newspaper  account. 


142  Webster's  history  of  the 

found  its  way  liither.  "  The  Trial  of  Mr.  Whitefiekl's  Spirit" 
is  an  ingeiiions  and  able  twisting  of  all  liis  unwise  expressions 
to  his  disadvantage.  The  Bishop  of  London's  pastoral  letter 
met  the  approbation  of  Dr.  "V\^atts,  who  could  not  help  saying, 
"I  wish*  Mr.  Whiteticld  had  not  risen  above  any  pretence 
to  the  ordinary  influence  of  the  Spirit,  unless  he  could  have 
given  better  evidences  of  it.  He  has  acknowledged  to  me 
that  it  was  such  an  impression  on  his  mind  that  he  knows  it 
to  be  divine,  though  he  cannot  give  me  any  convincing  proof 
of  it."  The  bishop  replied,  very  justly,  "From  the  time  that 
men  imagine  themselves  singled  out  by  God  for  extraordinary 
purposes,  and,  in  consequence  of  that,  to  be  guided  by  extra- 
ordinary impulses  and  operations,  all  human  advice  is  lost 
upon  them."  The  Dissenters  in  England  were  not  cordial  to 
him,  having  been  denounced  by  him  as  banded  formalists^ 
C  On  the  other  hand,  the  Erskines  admired  him  and  loved  him, 
i    and  wrote  to  him  to  come  to  them  in  Scotland. 

In  Philadelphia,  all  the  cburches  were  thrown  open  to  him, 

and  in  the  evenings  he  preached  from  the  balcony  of  the 

court-house.      Gilbert  Tennent  came  to  him ;    his  preaching 

\   powerfully  influenced  Whitefield,  so    that    he    came    under 

Tennent's  control,  drank  of  his  spirit,  and  spoke  his  words. 

He  proceeded  in  company  with  him  to  New  York,  having 

been  invited  thither  by  Thomas  Noble,  a  wealthy  merchant, 

whose  acquaintance  he  had  made  in  England.  The  commissary 

refused  him  the  church, — the  court-house  was   shut  against 

him ;   he  preached  in  the  fields  on  Sabbath  afternoon  and  in 

f       the   Presbyterian   meeting-house   in  the  evening.      Through 

I        the  week  he  preached  twice  or  thrice  daily  in  the  city.     He 

1        treated   Pemberton    as   a  novice,  a   dauber,  having   readily 

taken  Tennent's  suspicion   for  the  trutlir     This   conduct  he 

soon  deeply  regretted,  and  wrote  to  Pemberton,t  expressing 

his  contrition.     New  York  was  under  a  universal  concern  ; 

80  was  Philadelphia. 

Returning,  he  preached  for  Dickinson,  at  Elizabethtown ; 
for  Tennent,  at  New  Brunswick,  and  at  Maidenhead,  Burling- 
ton, and  Abington.      Treat,  of  Abington,  and  Campbell,  of  I 
Tehicken,  gave  up  their  hope  in  Christ,  and  mourned  as  self-  i 

*  Philips's  Life  of  Whitefield.  f  Whitefield's  Letters 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  143 

deceivers  and  soul-murderers.  "God  blessed  the  word  won- 
derfully at  Philadelphia.  I  have  great  reason  to  think  many 
are  brought  home  to  God." 

"It  is  not  to  be  expressed  with  what  great  crowds  he  was 
followed."  The  writer  liked  not  his  doctrine,  "yet  could  not 
but  admire  to  see  what  a  command  he  had  of  the  attention 
and  the  affections  of  the  audience.  His  delivery  was  warm 
and  affectionate,  and  his  gestures  natural  and  the  most  beau- 
tiful imaginable."* 

Franklin  attended  his  sermons,  with  an  enormous  multi- 
tude of  all  sects.  "  It  wasf  matter  of  speculation  to  me  to 
observe  the  extraordinary  influence  of  his  oratory  on  his 
hearers,  and  how  much  they  admired  and  respected  him, 
notwithstanding  his  common  abuse  of  them,  by  asserting 
that  naturally  they  were  half  beast  and  half  devil.  From 
being  thoughtless  or  indifferent  about  religion,  it  seemed  as 
if  all  the  world  were  growing  religious,  so  that  one  could 
not  walk  through  the  town  of  an  evening  without  hearing 
psalms  sung  in  different  families  in  every  street.  He  had 
a  loud  and  clear  voice,  and  articulated  his  words  so  per- 
fectly that  he  might  be  heard  and  understood  at  a  great 
distance,  especially  as  his  auditories  observed  the  most  per- 
fect silence.  I  computed  that  he  might  well  be  heard  by 
thirty  thousand." 

What  were  the  sources  of  "Whitefield's  power?  "Xeither| 
energy,  nor  eloquence,  nor  histrionic  talents,  nor  any  artifices 
of  stj-le,  nor  the  most  genuine  sincerity  and  self-devoted- 
ness,  nor  all  these  united,  could  have  enabled  him  to  mould 
the  religious  character  of  millions  of  his  own  and  future 
generations.  The  secret  lies  deeper,  though  not  veiy  deep. 
It  consisted  in  the  nature  of  the  theology  he  taught, — its  per- 
fect simplicity  and  universal  application.  Man  is  guilty,  and 
may  obtain  forgiveness ;  man  is  immortal,  and  must  ripen 
here  for  endless  weal  or  wo  hereafter.  Expanded  into  innu- 
merable forms,  and  diversified  by  infinite  varieties  of  appli- 
cation, these  two  cardinal  principles  were  ever  in  his  heart  and 
on  his  tongue.     Let  who  would  invoke  poetry  to  embellish 


*  New  York  newspapers  of  that  date.  f  Franklin's  Autobiography, 

X  Edinburgh  Review ;  article,  "  Philip js  Whitefield." 


"f- 


144  Webster's  history  of  the 

the  Christian  system,  or  philosophy  to  explore  its  esoteric 
depths;  from  his  lips  it  was  delivered  as  an  awful,  ur<i;ent 
summons  to  repent,  believe,  and  obey.  In  fine,  he  was 
thoroughly  and  continually  in  earnest,  and,  therefore,  pos- 
sessed that  tension  of  soul  whicli  admitted  neither  of  lassi- 
tude or  relaxation,  few  and  familiar  as  were  the  topics  to 
which  he  was  confined.  His  was,  therefore,  precisely  the 
state  of  mind  in  which  alone  eloquence,  properly  so  called, 
can  be  engendered,  and  a  moral  and  intellectual  sovereignty 
won." 

What  Whitefield  saw  in  Philadelphia  satisfied  him  of  the 
degeneracy  of  the  ministry  and  the  lack  of  piety  in  the 
churches.  On  slight  evidence,  he  was  convinced  of  the  want 
of  spirituality  in  preachers  and  hearers.  Tennent's  testimony 
was  doubtless  the  foundation,  or  at  least  the  strongly-predis- 
posing inducement,  to  take  up  at  once  so  harsh  and  unwar- 
rantable a  judgment.  He  fancied  that  "he  saw  not  as  man 
seeth :"  faith  in  his  own  insight  into  secrets  of  the  heart  was 
his  besetting  sin. 

The  cargo  being  sold,  he  purchased  a  vessel,  and  sent  his 
people  by  sea  to  Georgia,  while  he  and  Seward  journeyed  by 
land.  His  stay  in  Philadelphia  was  of  less  than  a  month's 
continuance;  yet  the  change  was  so  great  that  there  was  reli-  , 
gious  service  every  day  for  a  year  after,  and  three  times  oil  j 
the  Sabbath.  No  less  than  twenty-six  associations  for  prayer 
were  formed.  Ten  thousand  assembled  on  Society  Hill*  to 
hear  his  last  sermon.  A  thousand  persons  accompanied  him 
out  of  Philadelphia.  The  judges  at  Chester  sent  him  word 
they  would  defer  the  court  till  after  the  sermon.  The 
church  being  too  small,  the  church  minister  erected  a  plat- 
form, and  he  preached  to  seven  thousand.  At  "Wilmington 
he  preached  twice  to  five  thousand ;  at  Newcastle  to  two 
thousand  five  hundred ;  at  Christiana  Bridge  to  three  thou- 
sand; and  on  Sabbath,  at  White  Clay,  to  eight  thousand.  On 
Monday  he  preached  at  North  East. 

At  Annapolis  the  governor  treated   him  courteously,  and 


*  Where  the  Third  Church  now  stands,  in  Pine  Street ;   so  called  from  the  land 
having  been  owned  by  the  "  Society  of  Free  Traders." — Watson's  Annals. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN  AMERICA.  145 

attended :  the  church  minister*  was  under  convictions,  wept 
twice,  and  begged  his  prayers.  "Meeting  with  no  opposition, 
he  was  ready  to  cry  out,  Satan,  why  sleepest  thou?" 

He  reached  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  December  15 ;  not 
having  met  with  an  almost  Christian  since  leaving  Delaware, 
till,  at  Captain  Whiting's,  he  saw  a  planter  striving  to  know 
the  way  of  God  more  perfectly.  The  governor,  and  Mr.  Blair, 
the  commissary,  were  attentive  and  polite,  and  were  among 
his  hearers.  At  New  Bern,  North  Carolina,  there  was  "  an 
uncommon  influence"  accompanying  the  word;  at  Newton,  \ 
on  Cape  Fear,  lately  settled  from  Scotland,  his  labours  were 
not  without  eflect. 

He  published  a  journal  of  what  God  had  done  in  Maryland 
and  Virginia.  From  Georgia  he  wrote"^and  Franklin  pub- 
lished two  letters  on  Archbishop  Tillotson's  Right  to  be  called 
a  Christian,  and  asserting  that  Mohammed  has  a  better  title  to 
the  name.  Soon  followed  his  letter  to  the  planters  on  the 
subject  of  their  slaves,  and  expressing  his  belief  that  God  had 
a  quarrel  with  them  for  their  unworthy  usage  of  them. 

In  the  middle  of  April  he  arrived  at  Newcastle ;  and,  it 
being  the  Lord's  day,  he  preached  twice,  and  on  Monday,  at 
Wilmington,  to  three  thousand,  and  went  to  Philadelphia. 
The  bishop's  commissary,  following  the  example  of  Dr.  Gar- 
den at  Charleston,  closed  the  churches  against  him.  He 
preached  in  the  open  air  and  in  the  meeting-houses  of  the 
Baptists  and  the  Presbyterians.  On  Tuesday  eight  thousand 
were  present  on  Society  Hill ;  Wednesday  he  preached  twice 
in  the  city ;  Thursday  at  Abingdon  and  Society  Hill ;  Friday 
at  White  Marsh  and  Germantown ;  on  Saturday  and  Sabbath 
at  Philadelphia;  on  Monday  at  Greenwich  and  Gloucester; 
on  Tuesday  in  the  city ;  Wednesday  at  Neshaminy ;  and  on 
Thursday  at  Skippack,  where  the  famous  Mr.  Spalemburg 
(Spangenburg?)  had  resided.  Peter  Boehler  followed  the  ser- 
mon with  an  exhortation  in  German. 

The  next  day — rising  at  three,  and  riding  fifty  miles — he 
preached  at  Amwell  to  five  thousand,  "  with  the  same  power 
as  usual."  Gilbert  Tennent,  Wales,  Rowland,  and  Campbell, 
"  four  godly  ministers,  met  us  here."     Saturday  and  Sabbath 

*  Whitefield's  Letters. 
10 


^ 


146  Webster's  history  of  the 

he  preached  at  New  Brunswick,  seven  thousand  being  pre- 
sent. On  Monday  he  preached  at  Woodbridge  and  Elizabeth- 
town,  and  remained  in  New  York  from  Tuesday  till  the  Salj- 
bath.  Since  his  former  visit  the  society  had  increased  from 
seventy  to  one  hundred  and  seventy.     "  The  word  ran." 

On  Monday  he  preached  on  Staten  Island.  Going  to  New 
York,  he  had  the  company  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Arnold,  a 
graduate  of  Yale,  who  had  conformed,  and  was  then  the 
society's  itinerant  missionary.  They  discoursed  on  regenera- 
tion; and  Arnold*  hearing  afterwards  that  "VVhitefield  had 
represented  him  as  knowing  nothing  of  religion,  he  wrote  to 
Whitefield's  diocesan,  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester.  His  lord- 
shipt  replied,  that  he  had  for  some  time  refused  to  see 
Whitefield,  or  "  answer  his  letters,  though  he  was  very 
obliging." 

Tuesday  he  preached  at  !^reehold  and  Allentown ;  "Wednes- 
day at  Bristol ;  Thursday  in'Philadelphia, — "  things  go  on 
better  and  better,  only  Satan  begins  to  cast  some  into  fits;" 
Friday  at  the  ancient  Baptist  church  in  Pennepek  ;  Saturday 
and  Sabbath  at  Philadelphia ;  Monday  at  Darby  and  Chester, 
— the  people  having  been  crossing  the  ferry  as  fast  as  two 
boats  could  carry  them  since  three  in  the  morning ;  Tuesday, 
Wilmington  and  White  Clay ;  Wednesday  at  Nottingham. 

Gilbert  Tennent  had  preached  there,  on  the  8th  of  March, 
his  sermon  on  "An  Unconverted  Ministry."  Cross,  being 
denied  the  use  of  the  meeting-house,  had  preached  in  the 
woods,  amid  amazing  manifestations  of  distress.  Whitefield 
had  not  spoken  long  when  he  perceived  numbers  melting. 
"As  I  proceeded,  the  influence  increased,  till  at  last,  both  in 
the  morning  and  the  afternoon,  thousands  cried  out  so  as 
almost  to  drown  my  voice.  Oh,  what  strong  cryings  and 
tears  were  poured  forth  after  the  dear  Lord  Jesus  !  Some 
fainted  ;  and,  when  they  got  a  little  strength,  would  hear  and 
faint  again.     Others  cried  out  almost  as  if  they  were  in  the 


*  He  insisted — at  the  house  of  Mr.  Smith,  in  New  York,  "  after  a  plentiful  sup- 
per of  wild  fowl" — on  examining  Whitefield  on  his  experience.  This  involved  him 
in  a  newspaper  controversy  with  Mr  Smith,  which  was  reprinted  in  the  Philadel- 
phia papers. 

f  New  York  Gazette. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  147 

sharpest  agonies  of  death.  After  I  had  finished  my  last  dis- 
course, I  was  so  overpowered  with  a  sense  of  God's  love  that 
it  almost  took  away  my  life." 

The  next  day  he  preached  at  Fagg's  Manor.  The  revival 
had  recently  begun  under  Blair.  "Look  where  I  would, 
most  were  drowned  in  tears.  The  'word  was  sharper  than 
a  two-edged  sword.'  Their  bitter  cries  and  tears  were 
enough  to  pierce  the  hardest  heart.  Oh,  what  different 
visages  were  then  to  be  seen !  Some  were  struck  as  pale  as 
death, — others  lying  on  the  ground, — others  wringing  their 
hands, — others  sinking  into  the  arms  of  their  friends, — and 
most  lifting  up  their  eyes  to  heaven  and  crying  out  to  God 
for  mercy.  I  could  think  of  nothing  when  I  looked  at  them 
so  much  as  the  great  day.  They  seemed  like  persons  awak- 
ened by  the  last  trump  and  coming  out  of  their  graves  to 
judgment."  Twelve  thousand  were  present.  The  Rev. 
James  Anderson,  of  Donegal,  was  present,  and  as  soon  as 
the  service  ended,  "furiously  pressed,"  says  Blair,  in  his  Reply 
to  The  Querists,  "to  the  stand,  to  reason  with  "VYhitefield  con- 
cerning his  mode  of  procedure.     His  request  was  denied." 

"Whitefield  then  proceeded  to  Reedy  Island,  in  Delaware,  and 
sailed  for  Charleston  before  the  meeting  of  synod.  He  said, 
"  The  war  between  Michael  and  the  dragon  has  much  increased. 
Blessed  be  God,  the  devil's  children  begin  to  throw  off  the 
mask !     I  want  to  draw  the  lingering  battle  on." 

"  1  could  not  help  recommending  these  men*  in  the  strong- 
est manner  wherever  I  went,  because  I  saw  they  gloried  in  the 
cross  of  Christ." 

The  synod  met  May  28.  The  attendance  of  ministers  and 
elders  was  very  large.  It  was  a  critical  time ;  New  Bruns- 
wick Presbytery  having  assumed  ground  wholly  untenable  on 
any  scriptural  principle  and  subversive  of  all  Presbyterian 
government, — and,  indeed,  of  all  ecclesiastical  and  civil  sub- 
ordination,— and  having,  in  defiance,  taken  Finley  on  trial, 
licensed  Robinson  and  McCrea,  and  ordained  Rowland.  The 
strangest  excesses .  in  outcries  in  worship, — the  most  violent 
denunciations  of  all  who  "  followed  not  M5," — the  most  fla- 
grant errors  concerning  the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  imparting 

*  Tennent,  Cross,  Blair,  and  Rowland. 


148  Webster's  history  of  the 

immediate  knowledge  of  our  acceptance  with  God,  and  of  the 
hearts  of  others,  and  of  our  duty  in  every  conceivable  in- 
stance,— startled  and  shocked  all  who  were  not  wholly  carried 
away  with  them.  All  the  intervals  of  synod  were  spent  by 
the  "New  Side"  in  preaching:  there  were  fourteen  sermons 
during  the  week  on  Society  Ilill,  besides  several  in  the  Bap- 
tist church.  Davenport  and  Rowland  were  there.  None 
were  suffered  to  preach  on  the  stand  who  were  not  of  "White- 
field's  principles.  Dickinson  was  excluded  on  this  ground, 
he  having  attacked  from  the  pulpit  at  Newark  the  delusion 
concerning  the  witness  of  the  Spirit.  Yet  Dickinson  said, 
*'  The  alteration*  in  the  face  of  things  is  altogether  amazing. 
Never  did  the  people  show  so  great  a  willingness  to  attend 
sermons,  nor  the  preachers  greater  zeal  and  diligence.  Re- 
ligion became  the  subject  of  most  conversation :  books  of 
devotion  were  chiefly  in  demand :  psalms  and  prayers  were 
the  entertainment  which  almost  superseded  all  others." 

*  Letter  to  Foxcroft,  in  Christian  History. 


PRESBYTEBIAN   CHUKCH   IN   AMERICA.  149 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PiERSON  was  chosen  moderator,  and  Treat,  who  had  recently 
resumed  his  ministry,  clerk. 

At  the  first  morning  session,*  upon  reading  the  last  year's 
minutes,  a  paper  was  brought  in  and  read,  of  proposals  to 
accommodate  the  difference  about  the  trials  of  candidates.  A 
copy  of  it  was  given  to  each  party.  On  proceeding  to  consider 
it  on  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day,  the  protesting  brethren 
declared  their  dissatisfaction  with  the  plan.  This  was  pro- 
bably the  plan  of  Dickinson,  and  it  was  in  the  largest  sense 
courteous  and  conciliating.  The  majority,  though  denounced 
as  enemies  of  the  revival,  being  of  a  far  different  temper, 
sought  to  heal  the  church's  wounds,  and  agreed  to  submit  a 
statement  of  the  matter,  drawn  by  mutual  consent,  either  to 
the  highest  church  courts  in  Scotland  or  Ireland,  or  to  the 
associated  divines  of  London  or  Boston,  and  obtain  their 
judgment  or  advice.  The  protesters  refused  to  concur,  be- 
cause it  would  be  difiicult  to  frame  a  representation  which 
both  parties  could  adopt ;  because  they  did  not  need  the  ad- 
vice of  any  body  of  men,  seeing  the  Lord  smiled  on  their 
course ;  and  because  most  of  those  whose  judgment  was  de- 
sired were  incompetent,  as  they  averred,  to  give  advice  of  any 
value ;  being  dead  formalists,  with  religion  decaying  under 
their  ministrations. 

The  synod,  still  desiring  that  this  unhappy  difference  might 
be  accommodated,  recommend  that  each  brother  consider 
some  further  expedient,  and,  if  possible,  bring  it  in  at  the 
next  sederunt.     An  overture  with  this  intent  was  offered  next 

*  Preface  and  Appendix  to  Protestation. 

Gilbert  Tennent's  Remarks  on  the  Protestation. 

Examination  and  Refutation  of  Mr.  6.  Tennent's  Remarks  on  the  Protestation, 
and  on  it's  preface  and  appendix.  By  some  members  of  the  synod,  per  order. 
Quoted  largely  by  Dr.  Hodge. 


i^  Webster's  history  of  the 

morning,  but  was  rejected  by  tbe  minority,  the  stumbling 
block  being,  whether  the  synod  is  the  proper  judge  of  the 
quahfications  of  its  members,  or  whether  each  presbytery 
may  force  upon  it  whom  they  please. 

The  uncomfortable  debate  was  resumed,  and  was  ended  by 
a  vote  to  continue  the  rule  for  the  present.  The  protest 
was  renewed,  John  Cross  and  Alexander  Creaghead  joining 
in  it,  and  the  follo\ving  elders : — Robert  Gumming,  of  Free- 
hold, James  Cochran,  of  Fagg's  Manor,  Richard  Walker,  of 
!N^eshaminy,  Daniel  Henderson,  of  Forks  of  Brandywine,  John_ 
]Se.ury,  of  Lamington,  "William  Emmitt,  of  White  Clay,  James 
Miller,  James  McCoy,  Robert  Matthews,  Joseph  Steel,  and 
Hugh  Lyon  or  Lynn.  Gillespie  and  Hutcheson  desired  their 
dissent  to  be  entered. 

The  next  morning,  an  overture  explanatory  of  the  acts  con- 
cerning intrusions  and  candidates  was  offered.  It  contem- 
plated a  declaration  that  the  synod  do  heartily  rejoice  in  the 
labours  of  the  ministry  in  other  places  besides  their  own  par- 
ticular charge,  and,  as  a  proof  of  this,  repeal  the  act  on  intru-. 
sions.  It  went  so  far  as  to  propose  that  those  who  are  licensed 
and  ordained  in  violation  of  the  act  shall  be  regarded  as 
gospel  ministers,  although  we  cannot  admit  them  to  be  mem- 
bers of  synod  until  they  submit  to  our  rule ;  because  we  think 
that  rule  needful  to  be  insisted  on,  for  the  well-being  of  this 
part  of  Christ's  church.  This  act  was  not  adopted,  although 
Dr.  Hodge  says,  (vol.  i.  253,)  "  they  passed  the  explanatory  de- 
claration," and,  (p.  248)  "because  the  act  was  misinterpreted, 
they  agreed  to  repeal  it,"  and  (vol.  ii.  142)  a  general  anxiety 
was  felt  to  have  the  difficulty  arranged,  and  the  act  was  re- 
pealed. This  mistake  grew  out  of  the  insertion  of  the  paper 
on  the  records,  it  being  a  thing  rarely  done  in  the  case  of  a 
rejected  minute.  Mr.  Tracy*  adds,  "A  minute  was  adopted 
acknowledging  a  work  of  grace  in  the  land,  and  giving  thanks 
for  it."  An  inspection  of  the  printed  record  shows  this  to  be 
an  error. 

On  the  introduction  of  this  explanatory  overture,  two  expe- 
dients for  peace  were  offered,  and,  after  some  consideration, 
they  were  deferred  till  the  afternoon.     One  of  them  was  from 

*  Great  Awakening. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMEHlCA.  151 

a  member  of  ITew  Brunswick  Presbyter)^,  snggestmg,  that 
synodical  committees  of  two  ministers  attend  each  presbytery 
when  engaged  in  examining  candidates,  and  should  accuse  the 
presbytery  to  the  synod  if  they  saw  cause.  But,  when  asked 
if  they  would  defer  the  trials  on  the  committee's  objecting 
and  refer  the  matter  to  the  synod,  the  protesters  frankly 
replied  they  would  not. 

Gillespie  prepared  the  other.  A  fair  copy  of  the  trials  of 
each  candidate  should  be  produced  by  the  presbytery  when 
they  were  to  be  admitted  to  membership  in  the  synod.  Dick- 
inson asked,  Would  the  protesters,  if  the  synod  saw  or  thought 
they  saw  insufficiency  in  the  reported  trials,  submit  the  candi- 
date to  the  S3mod  for  examination  or  censure  ?  Gilbert  Ten- 
nent  said  they  might  censure  the  presbytery,  but  that  the  can- 
didates should  not  be  produced  to  the  synod,  however  de- 
fective they  might  judge  the  trials  to  be. 

It  being  evident  that  nothing  but  submission  to  their  will 
would  satisfy  him  and  his  adherents,  the  synod  passed  to 
other  business,  no  vote  being  asked  for  on  these  well-meant 
expedients.  The  majority  made  great  concessions,  yet  were 
stigmatized  as  stiff,  pert,  and  arrogant,  because  they  did  not 
sacrifice  their  own  convictions,  and  abandon  what  they  con- 
ceived to  be  necessary  defences.  Tennent  insisted  that  each 
presbytery  should  be  a  sovereignty,  with  a  private  mint  to 
put  the  guinea-stamp  on  pieces  of  such  weight  and  such 
alloy  as  it  chose,  and  to  circulate  them  through  the  domi- 
nions of  the  synod  currently,  and  as  of  equal  value  with  the 
standard  coin.  The  synod  was  disrobed'  of  all  its  dignity, 
and  each  presbytery  was  at  liberty  to  disregard  and  annul  its 
decrees. 

The  further  consideration  of  the  explanatory  overture  was 
deferred.  What  action  might  have  been  taken  on  it,  or 
what  good  might  have  resulted  from  its  adoption,  was  lost 
sight  of  in  the  amazement,  sorrow,  and  indignation  caused 
by  an  unprecedented  measure  of  Gilbert  Tennent  and 
Samuel  Blair. 

Tennent  asked  for  an  interloquitur, — a  secret  session,  in- 
formal, and  from  which  it  is  believed  even  the  elders  were 
excluded.  The  design  of  it  was  to  prepare  business  and  to 
understand  each  other's  views,  before  introducing  afiairs  of 


-<. 


152  Webster's  history  of  the 

moment  on  the  floor  of  synod.  It  being  the  closing  after- 
noon session,  the  synod  declined  to  go  into  an  interloquitnr, 
and  directed  Tennent  to  proceed  with  whatever  he  had  to 
offer.  The  house  was  full.  The  great  multitude  which  had 
been  attending  on  the  preaching  of  Tennent,  Blair,  Rowland, 
Cross,  Creaghead,  and  Davenport  twice  a  day  for  a  w^eek, 
came  up  with  highly-excited  feelings.  They  were  fully  pre- 
pared to  sanction  Tennent's  course,  and  to  go  far  beyond. 

Tennent  then  read  a  paper,  and  Samuel  Blair  followed  with 
a  like  representation  of  their  view  of  the  state  of  the  ministry. 
There  was  no  concert  between  them.  Each,  unknown  to  the 
other,  had  drawn  a  most  appalling  picture  ;*  and  we  wonder 
why  they  did  not  conclude  by  declaring  that  they  could  not 
sit  in  synodical  union  with  men  whom  they  believed,  and  told 
to  their  faces,  even  weeping,  that  they  were  enemies  of  the 
cross  of  Christ.  Ko  attempt  was  made  to  interrupt  them  ; 
but,  when  the  reading  was  finished,  they  were  earnestly 
entreated  to  spare  no  man  in  the  synod  whom  they  could 
prove  unsound  in  doctrine  or  immoral  in  practice ;  to  take 
Christ's  method,  and  not  condemn  the  innocent  with  the 
guilty.  They  then  offered  to  prove  the  matters  of  charge 
against  particular  members,  if  the  synod  required  it.  The 
majority  declined  to  institute  process  on  Tennent's  and  Blair's 
statements,  and  urged  that  they  should  proceed  in  a  regular 
way  by  tabling  charges  against  particular  persons.  Both 
Blair  and  Tennent  admitted  they  had  never  spoken  with  the 
persons  they  aimed  at,  or  made  any  regular  inquiry  into  the 
truth  of  the  reports  they  had  credited. 

With  amazing  moderation,  the  following  minute  was 
adopted : — 

"Mr.  Blair  and  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent  representing  many 
defects  in  our  ministry  that  are  matters  of  greatest  lamenta- 
tion if  chargeable  on  our  members:  the  synod  do,  therefore, 
solemnly  admonish  all  the  ministers  in  our  bounds  seriously 
to  consider  the  weight  of  their  charge,  and,  as  they  will  answer 
it  at  the  great  day  of  Christ,  to  take  care  to  approve  them- 
selves to  God  in  the  instances  complained  of.     And  the  pres- 


*  Neither  of  these  papers  have  I  seen.     They  are  quoted  by  Dr.  Hodge  at  much 
length. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  153 

byteries  are  recommended  to  take  care  of  their  members  in 
these  particulars." 

Having  readily  granted  the  request  of  Newtown  and  Tini- 
cum  to  be  placed  under  the  care  of  New  Brunswick  Presby- 
tery, they  adjourned  till  the  next  year. 

The  minute  is  scarcely  such  as  would  have  been  expected 
from  a  body  in  which  the  immense  majority  was  stigmatized 
as  bitter  enemies  to  heart-religion.  Yet  there  were  no  less 
than  seventeen  ministers  who  were  so  styled,  six  who 
scarcely  escaped  the  like  reproach,  and,  at  the  most,  eight 
ministers  only  who  could  listen  with  patience  to  the  unwar- 
rantable language  of  Tennent  and  Blair. 

The  elders  were  more  equally  divided ;  thirteen  being  with 
the  majority  and  eleven  with  the  protesters. 

Why  they  were  not  rebuked  or  suspended  for  their  repre- 
sentations, is  difficult  to  conceive.  The  New  Haven  Association 
deposed  the  Rev.  Timothy  Allen,  for  saying,  that  the  reading 
of  the  Scriptures  could  no  more  convert  a  sinner  than  the  read- 
ing of  an  old  almanac.  Yale  College  denied  Brainerd  his 
degree,  for  having  asserted,  that  the  chair  on  which  he  leaned 
w^as  as  pious  as  his  tutor ;  and  expelled  the  Rev.  John  Cleve- 
land, of  Chebacco,  and  his  brother,  because  they  had  wor- 
shipped with  the  Separate  Church,  of  which  their  parents 
were  members.  The  rector  justified  this  last  measure  in  the 
newspapers.  They  were  expelled  for  being  followers  of  the 
Paines, — two  lay  exhorters,  whose  corrupt  principles  and  per- 
nicious practices  are  set  forth  in  the  declaration  of  the  minis- 
ters of  Windham  county.  The  moderation  in  the  case  only 
secured  for  the  majority  the  unenviable  reputation  of  being 
"close  hypocrites,  dumb  dogs,"  who  would  not  bark  when 
beaten.  It  is  only  to  be  accounted  for  on  the  supposition  of 
wisdom,  piety,  meekness,  and  forbearance  on  their  part,  to- 
gether with  great  tenderness  toward  honoured  but  misguided 
brethren,  and  an  unwillingness  even  to  seem  to  oppose  good 
men,  zealously  labouring  and  with  remarkable  success.  They 
submitted  to  the  rebuke  of  the  righteous,  as  though  it  were 
a  refreshing  anointing  rather  than  a  deadly  blow.  It  is  a 
spectacle  worthy  to  be  contemplated.  The  members  against 
whom  Tennent  and  Blair  testified  were  respectable  for  their 
number,  age,  long-tried  fidelity,  and  admitted  ability.      It  is 


154  Webster's  history  op  *rtfif 

r  common  to  suppose  that  Dickinson  and  his  co-presbyters  en- 
joyed the  high  esteem  of  Tennent  at  the  time:  yet  he  would 
not  suffer  him  to  preach  on  Society  Hill,  because  he  was  not 
j  iof  Whitefield's  principles.  One  of  the  oldest  and  most  distant 
members,  Hugh  Conn,  was  present,  after  an  absence  of 
eight  years.  Anderson  and  Houston  were  there  for  the  last 
time,  their  earthly  career  being  finished  before  the  next  synod. 
Who  of  the  majority  merited  these  castigations  ?  It  is  true 
we  have  the  testimony  of  the  friends  of  the  revival  against 
them ;  but  we  have  other  testimony  in  their  favour  and  quite 
as  unexceptionable.  Robert  Cross  is  charged  wdth  having 
preached  little  of  an  experimental  or  awakening  character  in 
Philadelphia ;  yet  he  left  behind  him  at  Jamaica*  a  precious 
memory  of  his  faithfulness. 

Happily,  Tennent  lived  long  enough  to  lament  the  breach 
of  that  day,  and  to  testify  in  favour  of  the  men  whom  he  had 
trodden  down  as  mire  in  the  streets.  Tradition  has  sadly 
confused  matters,  and  given  all  the  credit  for  zeal  and  warm 
piety  to  the  New  Englanders  and  South  Britons ;  but  in  the 
pamphlets  of  that  day  not  a  syllable  to  that  effect  is  breathed. 
f  Neither  the  New  England  divines  of  that  generation  nor  their 
people  experienced  such  lenity  or  favour  from  Whitefield  or 
his  votaries. 

The  synod  adjourned  without  a  rupture  ;  but  in  what  sense 
were  the  two  parties  united  in  one  body  ?  The  protesters  had 
no  faith  in  the  piety  of  the  opposite  side,  and  no  respect  for 
their  judgment.  The  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  renounced 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  synod,  when  it  was  not  satisfied  with  its 
decisions.  The  old  side  must  have  gone  to  shameful  lengths 
in  recrimination,  if  they  returned  the  tithe,  in  kind,  of  the 
reproachful,  unchristian  attacks  of  the  Nottingham  sermon. 

They  parted,  but  not  to  lay  down  their  weapons.  The 
Nottingham  sermon  issued  from  the  press  at  Boston  and  Phila- 
delphia, and  the  representations  of  Blair  and  Tennent  were 
both  published.  Tennent  also  proceeded  to  evangelize  in 
West  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland. 

The  commission  met  on  the  adjournment  of  the  synod,  and 
referred  to  the  next  synod  the  application   of  "  a  party  in 

*  Macdonald's  History  of  Jamaica. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  155 

IsTottingham"  to  be  dismissed  from  Donegal  Presbytery.  New 
Brunswick  Presbytery  soon  after  licensed  Samuel  Finley ;  and 
he  went  to  supply  "the  party"  who  set  forward  the  building 
of  a  meeting-house  at  the  Rising  Sun,  separated  from  the  Old 
Church  only  by  the  highway. 

While  at  Charleston,  Whitefield  was  written  to  by  Dr. 
Colman  and  Mr.  Cooper,  in  the  name  of  the  associated  minis- 
ters, to  come  to  Boston.  The  letters  of  the  Rev.  Josiah  Smith 
to  Colman,  in  favour  of  "Whitefield,  had  been  fully  confirmed 
by  Pemberton,  of  New  York.  There  was  a  general  anxiety 
through  New  England  to  hear  him,  and  the  Boston  ministers 
took  the  lead  in  pressing  him  to  come.  He  sailed  for  Rhode 
Island ;  and  while  there  he  received  a  letter  from  Jonathan 
Barber,*  one  of  the  "young  ministers  on  Long  Island,  who 
had  great  communications  from  God."  In  it,  he  used  to 
Whitefield,  the  language  of  the  centurion  to  the  Saviour : — 
"  I  thought  myself  not  worthy  to  come  unto  thee." 

This  pleased  Whitefield;  and  he  published  it,  with  the 
fact  that  Barber  had  waited  a  fortnight  for  him  under  an 
assurance  of  seeing  him,  from  having  these  words  impressed 
upon  him: — "Is  not  Aaron  thy  brother?  I  know  that  he 
can  speak  well.  Behold,  he  cometh  forth  to  meet  thee ;  and 
when  he  seeth  thee,  he  will  be  glad  in  his  heart."  Like  the 
eagle,  he  furnished  many  a  feather  besides  this,  to  wing  arrows 
against  himself  and  against  the  cause  of  Christ.  This  interview 
decided  him  to  place  Barber  at  the  head  of  the  Orphan-house 
in  Georgia, — a  step  which  prejudiced  many  against  him ;  for 
Barber  was  generally  considered  a  kind  of  Quaker,  guided  by 
his  own  whimseys  and  impressions  as  implicitly  as  if  they 
were  the  word  of  God.  Yet  he  was  doubtless  a  worthy,  good 
man,  of  great  excellence  and  piety,  being  beloved  and  ho- 
noured by  Buel  and  the  best  men  of  his  time.  The  exagge- 
rations of  Chauncy  and  like  spirits  are  too  commonly  relied 
on,  to  the  great  injury  of  a  devoted  servant  of  Jesus.  The 
chaff  has  been  carefully  garnered  by  the  accusers  of  the  breth- 
ren, and  no  record  has  been  made  below  the  skies,  of  the 
hundredfold  of  good  seed,  brought  forth  by  the  word  in  his 
heart,  and  long  ago  stored  away  by  the  Lord  of  the  harvest. 

*  Whitefield's  Journals. 


156  WEBSTER'S    HISTORY   OF   THE 

Colman  wrote  down  his  first  impressions  of  Whitefield. 
Happily,  the  notes  remain.  The  opinion  of  such  a  man  is 
truly  valuable.  "  His  holy  fervour  of  devotion  in  prayer  and 
of  address  to  the  souls  of  his  hearers  in  preaching  was  such 
as  we  had  never  before  seen  or  heard.  My  esteem  for  him 
was  sincere  and  great." 

Governor  Belcher  showed  him  every  honour,  and  besought 
him,  with  tears,  not  to  spare  ministers  or  magistrates,  but  to 
rebuke   openly  their  degeneracy.      The  language  of  such  ^| 
man  must  have  inflated  any  minister  of  twenty-seven  yearsX 
of  age  to  an  amazing  degree.     "Whitefield's  previous  conduct 
aftbrded  melancholy  proof  that  he  needed  a  wise  reprover. 
Edwards,  at  Northampton,  ventured,  as  Watts  had  done  at  | 
the  outset,  on  this  necessary  but  unwelcome  duty. 

He  cautioned  him  against  pronouncing  persons  to  be  un- 
converted, and  against  giving  way  to  every  motion  of  his  soul 
as  if  of  divine  origin.     The  impression  left  on  Edwards  was 
that  Whitefield  was  not  altogether  pleased  with  the  counsel;  | 
but  he  seems  to  have  adopted  it. 

At  Boston,  the  Bishop  of  London's  commissary  and  his 
clergy  were  civil,  when  he  called.  One  of  them  began  with 
him  for  calling  "that  Tennent"  and  his  brethren  faithful 
ministers  of  Christ.  They  questioned  the  validity  of  Presby- 
terian ordination,  and  quoted  Whitefield's  words  against  him- 
self, and  said  that  when  Wesley  was  there,  he  was  strenuous 
for  the  church  and  against  all  other  forms  of  government. 
The  discussion  ran  on,  showing  that  they  had  no  favour  for 
the  doctrines  he  preached.  He  left  them  without  asking  for 
their  pulpits. 

The  meeting-houses  were  open  to  him  all  along  the  road  he 
travelled.  At  New  Haven,  he  preached  before  the  governor 
and  the  legislature,  and  in  the  college.  At  table,  he  expressed 
himself  so  as  to  leave  an  impression  on  Mr.  Clap,  the  Rector 
of  Yale,  that  he  had  concerted  with  Edwards  to  bring  gra- 
cious youth  from  Great  Britain,  to  be  ordained  by  New 
Brunswick  Presb}i;ery,  and  to  supersede  the  unconverted 
parish  ministers  of  New  England, — an  impression,  however, 
unfounded,  and  fitted  to  rally  and  marshal  a  legion  against 
the  supposed  projectors. 

Unusual  success  attended  his  preaching  at  Milford,  Strat- 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  157 

ford,  Fairfield,  Norwalk,  and  Stamford ;  and,  at  the  last  place, 
lie  was  visited  by  several  ministers  under  deep  concern.  He 
preached  at  Rye,  Bemg  kindly  entertained  by  the  Episcopal 
minister,  and  at  Kingsbridge,  and,  on  the  30th  of  October, 
reached  New  York. 

Davenport  was  there.  He  had  lately,  in  two  months,  seen 
twenty  instances  of  conversion  among  his  people.  Barber 
was  there,  and  his  marriage  was  accomplished  by  Pemberton, 
and  followed  by  Whitefield  with  a  prayer. 

Whitefield  preached,  and  Pemberton  never  before  had  seen 
the  word  fall  with  such  power.  At  night  there  was  a  great  dis- 
play of  divine  power.  He  spoke  with  authority ;  some  fainted, 
"others  favouring,"  shrinking,  crying,  weeping,  on  all  sides. 
He  preached  three  days.  He  was  shown  two  volumes  of  ser- 
mons, bearing  his  name,  and  lately  published  in  London :  he 
had  never  before  seen  one  of  them.  On  seeing  the  production 
called  "The  Querists,"  he  remarked,  "I  have  long  expected 
close  opposition:  I  believe  it  will  increase  daily." 

The  title  of  this  pamphlet  explains  its  origin: — "The  Que- 
rists ;  or,  an  Extract  of  sundry  passages  taken  out  of  Mr.  White- 
field's   Sermons,  Journals,  and  Letters,  together  with   some 
scruples  proposed  in  proper  queries  raised  on  each  remark ;  pre- 
sented to  Newcastle  Presbytery  at  White  Clay  Creek,  September 
9,  1740,  by  sundry  members  of  the  Presbyterian  persuasion." 
"  The  presbytery,  having  maturely  considered  them,  resolved 
that,  Mr.  Whitefield  being  expected  soon  to  come  again  into 
these  parts,  and  as  he  best  understands  his  own  intentions  in 
these  expressions,  we  leave  it  to  the  people  to  print  and  him  to 
answer  them."     From  this  decision  Samuel  Blair  and  Charles 
Tennent,  with  his  elder,  William  McCrea,  and  Hutcheson'a 
elder,  John  Bravade,  (or  Brevard,)  dissented. 
r       Newcastle  Presbytery  was  small,  and  nearly  equally  divided 
j    into  three  parts :  Thomas  Evans,  Alison,  and  Cathcart  being 
!    on  the  old  side,  Blair  and  Charles  Tennent  on  the  new;  Gil- 
lespie and  Hutcheson,  the  senior  members,  being  dissatisfied 
!    with  both.     Conn  and  Orme  were  so  far  oft'  that  they  rarely 
i    attended  presbytery,  and  of  course  were  not  of  any  weight  iu 
this  eventful  time. 

At  this  meeting  Gilbert  Tennent  was  present,  being  on  a 
preaching  tour.     His  representation  and  Blair's  were   called 


158  WEBSTER'S    HISTORY   OF   THE 

up,  as  the  gj'iiod  ordered.  They,  and  Charles  Tennent  also, 
were  most  earnestly  pressed  by  the  presbytery  to  spare  none 
of  them,  but  to  table  charges  if  they  could  lay  to  their  charge 
any  thing  unbecoming  their  office  as  Christ's  ambassadors. 
Gillespie  openly  entreated  them  for  God's  sake  to  do  so.  Gil- 
bert Tennent  replied  that  the  proposal  was  matter  of  surprise 
to  him ;  that  he  had  no  thought  of  such  a  thing  till  it  waa 
mentioned  in  the  face  of  the  judicatory ;  that  his  meeting  with 
them  was  wholly  accidental ;  and  that  for  him  to  enter  on  a 
judicial  process  was  inconsistent  with  his  design  of  itinerant 
preaching  and  the  appointments  abeady  made.  They  then 
asked  him  to  leave  the  matter  with  them  in  writing,  and  that 
they  would  take  it  in  any  way. 

How  Blair  answered  is  not  mentioned.  Charles  Tennent* 
was  subsequently  called  to  answer  for  defending  some  of 
Whitefield's  expressions,  Whitefield  having  himself  retracted 
them. 

"  The  Querists"  was  soon  published.  Its  bitterness  was  much 
complained  of;  but  its  bitterness  consisted  in  doing  what  Ers- 
kine  had  done  in  private  letters  to  Whitefield,  and  what  Watts 
and  Edwards  had  done  in  conference ;  pointing  out  his  eiTors 
and  his  inconsistencies  with  himself  no  less  than  with  the 
Scriptures.  The  style  is  courteous,  and  the  pamphlet  is  calm, 
judicious,  searching,  and  fair.  Whitefield  wrote  a  reply  ou 
reading  it ;  he  thanked  them  for  the  opportunity  of  confessing 
his  faults,  acknowledged  all  they  had  said,  and  pointed  out 
what  they  had  overlooked.  He  had  made  the  like  acknow- 
ledgment to  Erskine.  His  friends  said,  "  The  excellent  meek- 
ness of  his  answer  to  The  Querists  will  honour  him  much." 
Whitefield  suspected  it  was  the  work  of  a  minister,  and  many 
attributed  it  to  Thomas  Evans,  of  Pencader.  He  said,  "  If  this 
be  the  work  of  the  ministers  put  forth  in  the  name  of  the 
peof)le,  they  have  not  acted  simply  with  me."  He  absolutely 
denied  the  doctrine  of  Universal  Kedemption,  which  they  sup- 
posed him  to  hold. 

He  persuaded  Gilbert  Tennent  to  go  to  Boston,  to  water 
what  he  had  sown ;  and,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  neighbour- 
ing ministers,  he  consented  to  go  and  "blow  up  the  divine 

*  Philadelphia  papers  of  that  date  contain  his  explanation  of  his  conduct. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  159 

fire  lately  kindled  there,  although  his  cold  constitutioa  of 
body  poorly  fitted  him  to  endure  the  northern  gusts." 

Whitefield  was  accompanied  to  Philadelphia  by  Davenport, 
and  spent  a  week  there  preaching  in  the  Great  Mouse,  which 
he  opened,  though  the  roof  was  not  on ;  and  he  preached  in  it 
every  day.  "  God  has  revived  his  own  work  in  Philadelphia. 
His  glory  filled  the  Great  House."  Being  excluded  from  the 
Episcopal  pulpits,  and  enormous  multitudes*  flocking  to  hear 
him,  it  was  proposed  to  build  a  house.  Sufficient  money  was 
at  once  procured  to  buy  ground  and  build  a  house  one  hun- 
dred feet  long  by  seventy  broad.  It  was  carried  up  with  spirit, 
•and  was  soon  ready  for  use.  "  The  affairs  belonging  thereto 
j  are,  I  believe,  well  settled."  The  trustees  were  to  be  taken  in 
I  equal  numbers  from  each  denomination,  and  the  house  to  be 
'  open  for  any  preacher  of  any  religious  persuasion,  even  a  mis- 
sionary to  propagate  Mohammedanism. 

On  the  15th  of  November,  he  preached  in  Cross's  meeting- 
house, because  of  the  snow.  "  The  word  was  attended  with  a 
sweet  and  wonderful  power."  Now  he  began  to  realize  the 
truth  of  Edwards's  remarks;  and  he  declared  that  the  openly 
exposing  of  our  opinion  of  ministers  as  unconverted,  was  a 
lording  over  the  brethren,  and  not  to  be  tolerated.  "  Oh,  pray 
for  me,"  he  wrote  to  Gilbert  Tennent,  "that  I  may  not  by  any 
means  grieve  the  children  of  God." 

On  the  17th  he  preached  at  Gloucester, — "  an  affecting  melt- 
ing,"— and  at  Greenwich  "to  a  few  without  power;"  on  the 
18th,  at  Pilesgrove,  to  two  thousand.  None  were  affected.  On 
the  19th  he  preached  twice  at  Cohanzyj  (Fairfield,)  to  some 
thousands.  Gilbert  Tennent  had  been  there  not  long  before. 
The  whole  congregation  was  moved,  and  two  cried  out.  "  The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  moved  over  the  whole  face  of  the  congre- 
gation." On  the  20th  he  preached  at  Salem,  to  two  thousand 
— a  precious  time.  He  crossed  the  bay  and  preached  at  New- 
castle :  few  were  aflfected,  and  some  scoffed.  Here  Anderson 
desired  a  conference  with  him ;  but  Whitefield,  who  had  turned 
from  him  at  Fagg's  Manor,  declined,  and,  identifying  him  with 
"The  Querists,"  said,  "You  have  made  your  remarks  on  me 
public  :  I  can  have  no  private  discourse  on  the  matter."     The 

*  Franklin's  Memoirs. 


I 


160  Webster's  history  of  the 

next  day,  at  Wliite  Clay  Creek,  he  found  thousands  waiting  to 
hear  the  word.  Several  of  Anderson's  associates  were  present. 
The  people  were  greatly  moved ;  some  cried  out.  On  Saturday, 
the  22d,  he  preached  at  Fagg's  Manor,  to  many  thousands; 
there  was  a  wonderful  powerful  moving  of  hearts,  hut  not  so 
great  as  at  his  first  visit. 

lie  spent  the  Sahbath  at  Nottingham.  There  was  a  groat 
concourse,  and  the  blessing  descended  like  the  dew.  The  next 
day,  November  24,  at  Bohemia,  Maryland,  Hutcheson's  charge, 
he  preached  to  thousands,  and  had  not  seen  "a  more  solid 
melting  since  his  arrival." 

■      He  then  went  to  Reedy  Island  to  embark,  and,  the  sloop^ 

'being  detained  by  contrary  winds   for  a  week,  he  preached  | 

frequently.     The  captains'  and  crews  of  the  wind-bound  vessels  I 

attended ;  crowds  came  from  the  country,  and  some  from  Phila-  / 

'  delphia,  and  there  was  a  general  and  deep  concern. 

He  sailed  for  Charleston  the  seventy-fifth  day  after  he  landed' 
at  Rhode  Island,  having  preached  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
times,  exhorted  frequently  in  private,  collected,  in  money, 
goods,  and  provisions,  .£700  for  the  Orphan-house,  never  hav- 
ing journeyed  with  so  little  fatigue  or  seen  such  a  continuance 
of  the  divine  presence  with  those  to  whom  he  preached. 

Donegal  Presbytery  was  the  field  of  the  sorest  conflict.  Other 
presbyteries  were  on  the  circumference  of  the  tornado,  but  it 
lay  in  the  centre,  and  was  devastated  by  its  piaddest  whirlings 
and  its  mightiest  uprootings.  The  senior  ministers  were 
Thomson,  of  Chestnut  Level,  Boyd,  of  Octorara,  and  Bertram, 
of  Derry;  next  in  age  was  Alexander  Creaghead,  of  Middle 
Octorara,  a  standard-bearer  in  the  warfare;  and  with  him  was 
associated  in  opposition  to  the  rest  of  the  body  David  Alex- 
.  ander,  of  Pequea.  They  two  declined  attendance  on  the  stated 
meetings,  because  candidates  were  licensed  and  ordained  after 
superficial  examination,  and  while  giving  no  evidence  of  not 
being  enemies  to  heart-religion.  The  five  to  whom  they 
openly  objected  were  Black,  of  Brandywine  Manor,  Elder,  of 
Paxton,  Zanchy,  of  Hanover,  Samuel  Thomson,  of  Penusboro', 
and  Cavin,  of  Conococheaguc.  They  two  countenanced  the 
itinerations  of  Fiuley  and  the  separation  at  Nottingham,  and 
were  themselves  complained  of  for  seeking  to  promote  divi- 
sions :  Creaghead  at  New  London  and  Alexander  at  Brandy- 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN  AMERICA.  161 

wine  Manor.  Thomson  complained  of  Blair  for  intruding  into 
liis  charge  at  Chestnut  Level,  to  foment  alienation  of  feeling. 
Besides,  Creaghead  was  charged  with  making  adherence  to 
the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  a  term  of  admission  to 
church  privileges ;  while  the  sin  of  drunkenness  lay  at  Alex- 
ander's door. 

The  presbytery*  came  to  Middle  Octorara  to  take  up  the 
complaints  against  the  minister;  they  found  him  in  the  pulpit 
preaching  against  "blind  leaders  of  the  blind."  On  conclud- 
ing, he  invited  the  large  congregation  to  meet  at  the  tent  and 
hear  his  defence.  The  presbytery  being  about  to  proceed  to 
business,  the  people  rose  in  a  tumult,  railing  on  them;  and 
they  adjourned  to  another  place.  Creaghead's  defence  was 
read  from  the  tent  by  Alexander  and  Finley,  and  the  next  day, 
the  presbytery  were  forced  to  hear  it  read  from  the  pulpit. 
For  this  contumacy,  he  having  renounced  their  authority  in  the 
first  instance,  he  was  suspended. 

The  press  was  used  by  both  parties.  The  Querists  replied  to 
"Whitefield,  showing  how  many  things  still  needed  explanation 
in  his  language  and  conduct.  To  this  Samuel  Blair  replied 
with  unsparing  and  inexcusable  severity,  imputing  the  most 
unworthy  motives  to  the  ministers,  whom  he  regarded  as  its 
authors  and  patrons.  "It  is  no  sin  to  exclaim  against  dry, 
sapless,  unconverted  ministers,  for  such  surely  are  the  bane  of 
the  church."  "That  is,"  said  The  Querists,  "it  is  no  sin  to 
defame  a  man  after  you  have  given  him  a  bad  name."  "The 
Querists  No.  IIL"  was  composed  of  notes  on  Tennent's  ISTot- 
tingham  Sermon.  In  January,  1741,  Finley  preached  a  sermon 
on  Matthew  xii.  27,  28 : — "  If  I  by  Beelzebub  cast  out  devils,  by 
whom  then  do  your  sons  cast  them  out?"  It  was  published 
with  the  title,  Christ  Reigning  and  Satan  Raging, — severe,; 
bitter,  unjust,  and  mischievous.  He  also  printed  a  Letter  to  a 
Friend,  in  which  he  speaks  of  "the  set  of  priests;"  "pride  and 
interest  have  hindered  the  general  of  ecclesiastics  from  embrac- 
ing Christ."  "  Christ  kept  aloof  and  damned  them  for  their 
rotten  performances,  fastings,  prayers,  and  alms."  "Oh,  the 
babbling  ignorant  priests  that  would  seem  such  friends  to  holi- 
ness!"    "Are  not  these  the  devil's  advocates?   whose  spirit 


*  MS.  Records  of  Donegal  Preebytery ;  cited  by  Dr.  Hodge. 
11 


162  Webster's  history  of  the 

came  from  them?"  "Diabolical  reason  era,  be  they  ministers 
or  people.  0  ministers  of  Satan,  enemies  of  all  righteousness 
who  like  Elymas ."*  These  specimens  mournfully  illus- 
trate the  state  of  things  at  that  day,  and  explain  the  necessity 
for  hesitating  before  we  cast  out,  as  vile,  every  man  who  joined 
in  the  outcry  against  Finley  and  the  older  ones  from  whom  he 
learned  such  language. 

He  used  the  same  unmeasured  and  inexcusable  invective  in 
his  answer  to  Thomson's  able,  scriptural,  dignified  sermon  on 
Conviction  and  Assurance,  "The  Clear  Light  put  out  in  Ob- 
scure Darkness,"  is  the  title  of  this  performance;  and  Thom- 
son's doctrine  is  condemned  as  Moravian,  Muggletonian,  and 
detestable. 

Tennent  made  his  tour  through  New  England  in  the  severe 
winter  of  1741,  Long  Island  Sound  being  frozen  over;  and, 
while  Whitetield  had  been  scrupulously  exact,  neat,  and  hand- 
some in  his  apparel,  Tennent  laid  aside  powder,  discarded 
wigs,  and  wore  a  large  greatcoat  girt  with  a  leathern  girdle, 
as  if  the  new  era  in  religion  was  to  date  from  the  new  style  in 
clothes.  He  appears  to  have  avoided  denunciation  and  extra- 
vagance, and  to  have  preached  with  great  clearness,  solemnity, 
and  power,  the  glorious  distinguishing  doctrines  of  the  gospel. 
He  was  received  with  great  respect  and  cordial  welcome,  and 
was  signally  honoured  of  God  in  winning  souls.f 

In  May,  1741,  Donegal  Presbytery  met  at  Pequea  to  hear 
the  complaints  against  Alexander;  he  took  the  pulpit  and  pre- 
vented the  moderator  from  preaching.  They  cleared  him  of 
the  charge  of  drunkenness ;  but  his  excess  in  drink  at  a  funeral, 
his  reproaches  of  his  presbytery,  and  his  refusal  to  submit  to 
the  constituted  authorities  of  the  church,  could  not  be  over- 
looked.    He  was  disowned  till  he  manifested  repentance. 

At  the   same   time,  "the  dreadful  scandals"  of  Cross,  of 

*  Library  of  Harvard  University.  "  Mr.  Whitefield  is  very  sure  of  God's  eternal 
love,  and  is  not  afraid  ho  shall  ever  be  ashamed  of  his  hope.  .  .  .  Now,  I  would  be 
glad  to  learn  of  these  diabolical  reasoners,  (the  Querists,)  be  they  ministers  or 
people,  if  it  be  the  devil's  custom  to  set  the  world  in  an  uproar  about  their  souls  ?" 

j-  A  letter  from  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  published  in  the  Pennsylvania 
Gazette,  says,  "That  heavenly  man  preached  six  sermons  there,  and  spoke  as 
I  never  heard  man  speak  before.  While  dwelling  on  the  grace  of  Christ  towards 
the  guilty,  there  were  such  outcries  and  weepings  you  could  scarcely  distinguish 
one  sound  from  another." 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  163 

Baskingriclge,  came  to  light,  and  his  absence  from  the  meeting 
of  ISTew  Brunswick  Presbytery  delayed  his  trial  and  condem- 
nation till  after  the  synod. 

Divisions  had  already  begun.  "William  Tennent,*  of  Nesha-  \\ 
miny,  had  renounced  the  authority  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery 
since  the  fall  of  1739.  "New  erections"  of  separate  congrega- 
tions were  nearly  completed  at  Nottingham  and  Hopewell. 
To  the  Great  House  in  Philadelphia,  a  large  body  had  with- 
drawn from  the  Old  Meeting-house,  and  all  of  these  erections 
were  supplied  by  the  New-Side  ministers  and  licentiates. 

The  synod  met  on  the  27th  of  May,  1741 ;  the  Old  Side  were 
exasperated  by  the  misrepresentations  and  insults  of  the  Pro- 
testers, and  by  their  unwearied  and  successful  schemes  m 
alienating  their  people  from  them,  and  trembled  with  a  godly 
jealousy  lest  the  principles  of  the  New  Brunswick  men  (being 
like  those  of  the  Irish  non-subscribers  in  the  matter  of  church 
government)  should  bring  in  here,  as  there,  contempt  of  the 
doctrines  of  grace  and  denial  of  the  Supreme  Deity  of  the 
Son  of  God.  The  New  Side  came  flushed  with  success ;  the 
shout  of  a  king  was  in  their  camp ;  they  had  the  favour  of  the 
people,  as  the  men  whom  God  had  owned,  and  they  had  the 
favour  of  God,  making  them  mighty  to  pull  down  the  strong- 
holds of  Satan. 

They  did  not  meet  as  brethren.  Each  was  strongly  prepos- 
sessed against  the  other,  and  the  actions  of  each  served  to  irri- 
tate and  embitter  the  feelings  already  excited  and  wounded. 
They  were  blinded  to  each  other's  excellencies,  and  amazingly 
acute  in  discerning  the  dimensions  of  the  mote  in  their  bro- 
ther's eye.  The  strange  incongruity  was  seen,  of  the  smallest 
and  the  youngest  presbytery  refusing  to  be  bound  by  any  law  of 
the  synod  which  displeased  them;  and  having  three  licentiates 
and  one  minister  on  their  list,  whom  the  synod  could  not  accept 
without  laying  aside  its  authority,  and  sinking  itself  into  a  mere 
consultative  body  whose  decisions  were  binding  on  none.  The 
claim  made  by  the  non-subscribers  in  the  Ulster  Synod  twenty 
years  before,  was  renewed  by  the  Protesters  under  a  still  more 
offensive  form;  for  they  admitted  the  synod's  power  to  make 
rules,  and  the  excellency  of  the  rules,  when  the  synod  was  com- 

*  MS.  Records  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery. 


164  Webster's  history  of  the 

posed  of  godly  men;  and  denied  its  power  and  the  binding 
force  of  its  enactments,  only,  when  the  church  was  crushed  by 
a  majority  of  blind  guides,  letter-learned  Pharisees,  and  dead 
men.  In  effect,  they  asserteTlT^  If  we  were  the  majority,  it 
would  be  binding  on  you  to  obey  the  rules;  but,  seeing  you 
sightless  and  Christless  ones  are  in  the  majority,  the  rules  are 
null,  and,  like  yourselves,  fit  only  to  be  despised." 

Ko  human  skill  could  throw  a  bridge  across  the  frightful 
gulf  yawning  between  them,  that  they  might  meet  half-way 
or  stand  on  debatable  ground.  There  can  be  no  union  where, 
in  the  eyes  of  a  handful,  the  majority  of  their  brethren  are  as 
grasshoppers. 

"What,  then,  was  the  great  point  of  difference  ?  On  neither 
side  was  there  ignorance  or  hatred  of  the  doctrines  of  grace, 
or  the  habit,  or  the  wish,  of  sinking  them  unobserved  into  in- 
significance. Nor  was  there  disbelief  or  dislike  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Regeneration,  or  its  author,  necessity,  or  nature ;  nor 
yet  as  to  the  evidences  of  it,  but  only  as  to  the  convictions 
preceding  the  change  from  death  to  life,  and  the  immediate 
inward  witness  of  the  saving  change;  and  even  the  difference 
on  these  points,  when  divested  of  exaggerations  and  cleared  of 
confusion  of  terms,  was  so  small  as  to  be  indiscernible.  There 
was  no  difference  as  to  the  mode  of  church  government,  or 
subscription  to  the  \ye8tminster  standards,  or  the  necessity  of 
a  learned  ministry,  much  less  of  the  higher  necessity  of  piety 
in  ministers  and  people.  Nor  yet  as  to  the  outcries,  faintings, 
laughter,  and  other  unusual  accompaniments :  both  abhorred 
the  thought  that  they  were  marks  of  saving  operations  of  the 
Spirit ;  the  one  derided  them  as  degrading  public  worship  and 
substituting  bodily  exercise  for  reverent  hearing  of  the  truth; 
the  others  contended  that  they  were  not  necessarily  contempt- 
ible or  abominable  as  the  effects  of  terror,  or  overwrought 
sensibility,  or  Satanic  agency. 

In  New  England,  the  case  was  widely  different.  There  Ar- 
minianism  was  secretly  working  and  widely  diffused.  Its 
effect  was  seen  in  the  lethargic  preaching,  and  the  dead  formal- 
ism, strangely  joined  with  bitter  denunciation,  and  tireless 
manoeuvres  to  put  down  every  one  who  acknowledged  another 
king  besides  Caesar.  In  Connecticut,  the  legislative  power  was 
invoked,  and  the  law  giving  liberty  to  sober  dissenters  from  the 


PRESBYTEKIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  165 

standing  order  to  form  themselves  into  congregations,  was 
repealed.  A  minister  of  the  colony,  preaching  in  a  parish  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  pastor,  though  it  were  in  a  Baptist 
meeting-house  by  the  request  of  the  Baptist  preacher  and  his 
people,  was  deprived  of  his  salarj^  for  a  year.  Ministers  not 
of  the  colony,  committing  the  like  offence,  were  to  be  taken 
up  as  vagrants  and  carried  from  constable  to  constable,  till  they 
touched  the  soil  of  the  nearest  province.  In  the  Bay,  as  well 
as  in  Connecticut,  the  associations  issued  warnings,  testimonies, 
and  declarations  against  the  promoters  of  the  Revival,  and  laid 
hold  on  every  available  opportunity  to  unsettle  them  from 
their  pastoral  charges,  or  to  hedge  up  their  admission  to  settle- 
ment in  any  vacancy.  But  the  Old  Side  had  no  willing  legis- 
lature to  frame  laws  for  their  advantage;  they  issued  no  testi- 
mony against  Whitefield  or  any  man ;  no  pious  man  was  un- 
settled for  his  adherence  to  the  Protesters ;  no  hinderance  was 
offered  to  congregations  asking  a  change  of  jurisdiction.  The 
measure  of  courtesy  towards  the  Protesters,  and  especially  the 
excellent  meekness  of  their  submission  to  the  high-handed 
assaults  on  their  personal  and  ministerial  character  by  Blair 
and  Tennent,  greatly  honours  them. 

There  were  present  twenty-six  ministers  and  eighteen 
elders.  Andrews  was  chosen  moderator,  and  Boyd  clerk. 
The  whole  of  New  York  Presbytery  were  absent,  probably  by 
design,  being  apprized  that  a  crisis  was  at  hand,  and  being 
unable  to  act  with  either  side,  or  compose  the  difference  be- 
tween them. 

There  had  been,  doubtless,  much  concert  on  the  part  of  the 
majority.  They  had  fully  mustered  their  forces.  The  right  of 
some  to  sit  as  members  in  synod  was  the  first  branch  of  busi- 
ness; and  Creagheadj  having  declined  the  jurisdiction  of  his 
presbytery  and  having  been  suspended,  his  case  was  taken  up. 
He  presented  a  paper,  which  was  read ;  and  the  next  day  was 
consumed  in  considering  a  paper  of  charges  made  by  his 
people  against  John  Thomson,  and  a  second  paper  offered 
by  Creaghead.  The  charges  were  handed  to  Thomson  to 
peruse,  and  his  presbytery  was  ordered  to  judge  in  that  affaii 
speedily. 

The  afternoon  of  Friday,  the  29th,  and  the  morning  of  Sa 
turday,  were  devoted  to  hearing  the  answer  of  Donegal  Presby 


166  Webster's  history  of  the 

•tery  to  Creaghead's  paper,  and  to  discoursing  on  it.  They 
adjourned  at  noon,  till  three  on  Monday. 

The  Sabbath  was  a  busy  day.  Gilbert  Tenneut  preached 
five  times,  beginning  at  six  in  the  morning,  and  baptized 
eight  adults. 

On  Monday,  June  1,  after  the  reading  of  the  minutes,  the 
following  protestation  was  brought  in  by  Robert  Cross,  and 
read: — 

Eeverend  Fathers  and  Brethren: — 

We,  the  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  members  of  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia,  being  wounded  and  grieved  at  our  very 
hearts,  at  the  dreadful  divisions,  distractions,  and  convulsions 
which  all  of  a  sudden  have  seized  this  infant  church  to  such  a 
degree,  that  unless  He,  who  is  King  in  Zion,  do  graciously  and 
seasonably  interpose  for  our  relief  she  is  in  no  small  danger 
of  expiring  outright,  and  that  quickly,  as  to  the  form,  order, 
and  constitution  of  an  organized  church,  which  hath  subsisted 
for  above  these  thirty  years  past,  in  a  very  great  degree  of 
comely  order  and  sweet  harmony,  until  of  late.  "We  say,  we 
being  deeply  afflicted  with  these  things  which  lie  heavy  on  our 
spirits,  and  being  sensible  that  it  is  our  indispensable  duty  to 
do  what  lies  in  our  power,  in  a  lawful  way,  according  to  the 
light  and  direction  of  the  inspired  oracles,  to  preserve  this 
swooning  church  from  a  total  expiration :  and  after  the  delibe- 
rate and  unprejudiced  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  these  confu- 
sions which  rage  so  among  us,  both  ministers  and  people,  we 
evidently  seeing,  and  being  fully  persuaded  in  our  judgments, 
that,  besides  our  misimprovement  of,  and  unfruitfulness  under, 
gospel  light,  liberty,  and  privileges,  that  great  decay  of  practi- 
cal godliness  in  the  life  and  power  of  it,  and  many  abounding 
immoralities:  we  say,  besides  these,  our  sins,  which  we  judge 
to  be  the  meritorious  cause  of  our  present  doleful  distractions, 
the  awful  judgment  we  at  present  groan  under,  we  evidently 
see  that  our  protesting  brethren  and  their  adherents  were  the 
direct  and  proper  cause  thereof,  by  their  unwearied,  unscrip- 
tural,  antipresbyterial,  uncharitable,  divisive  practices,  which 
they  have  been  pursuing,  with  all  the  industry  they  were  ca- 
pable of,  with  any  probability  of  success,  for  above  these 
twelve  months  past  especially,  besides  too  much  of  the  like 


PKESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  167 

practices  for  some  years  before,  though  not  with  such  bare- 
faced arrogance  and  boldness. 

And  being  fully  convinced,  in  our  judgments,  that  it  is  our 
duty  to  bear  testimony  against  these  disorderly  proceedings, 
according  to  our  stations,  capacity,  and  trust  reposed  in  us  by 
our  exalted  Lord,  as  watchmen  on  the  walls  of  his  Zion,  we 
having  endeavoured  sincerely  to  seek  counsel  and  direction 
from  God,  who  hath  promised  to  give  wisdom  to  those  that 
ask  him  in  faith,  yea,  hath  promised  his  Holy  Spirit  to  lead 
his  people  and  servants  into  all  truth,  and  being  clearly  con- 
vinced, in  our  consciences,  that  it  is  a  duty  called  unto  in  this 
present  juncture  of  affairs. 

Keverend  fathers  and  brethren,  we  hereby  humbly  and 
solemnly  protest,  in  the  presence  of  the  great  and  eternal  God, 
and  his  elect  angels,  as  well  as  in  the  presence  of  all  here  pre- 
sent, and  particularly  to  you,  reverend  brethren,  in  our  own 
names,  and  in  the  names  of  all,  both  ministers  and  people, 
who  shall  adhere  to  us,  as  follows : — 

1.  We  protest  that  it  is  the  indispensable  duty  of  this  synod, 
to  maintain  and  stand  by  the  principles  of  doctrine,  worship, 
and  government  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  as  the  same  are 
summed  up  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Catechisms,  and  Direc- 
tory composed  by  the  Westminster  Assembly,  as  being  agree- 
able to  the  word  of  God,  and  which  this  synod  have  owned, 
acknowledged,  and  adopted,  as  may  appear  by  our  synodical 
records  of  the  years  1729,  1736,  which  we  desire  to  be  read 
publicly. 

2.  AYe  protest  that  no  person,  minister  or  elder,  should  be 
allowed  to  sit  and  vote  in  this  synod,  who  hath  not  received, 
adopted,  or  subscribed  the  said  Confessions,  Catechisms,  and 
Directory,  as  our  presbyteries  respectivel}'  do,  according  to  our 
last  explication  of  the  Adopting  Act;  or  who  is  either  accused 
or  convicted,  or  may  be  convicted  before  this  synod,  or  any  of 
our  presbyteries,  of  holding  or  maintaining  any  doctrine,  or 
who  act  and  persist  in  any  practice,  contrary  to  any  of  those 
doctrines,  or  rules  contained  in  said  Directory,  or  contrary  to 
any  of  the  known  rights  of  presbytery,  or  orders  made  or 
agreed  to  by  this  synod,  and  which  stand  yet  unrepealed,  un- 
less or  until  he  renounce  such  doctrine,  and,  being  found 
guilty,  acknowledge,  confess,  and  profess  his  sorrow  for  such 


168  Webster's  history  of  the 

sinful  disorder,  to  the  satisfaction  of  this  synod,  or  such  infe- 
rior judicatory  as  the  synod  shall  appoint  or  empower  for  that 
purpose. 

3.  Wo  protest  that  all  our  protesting  brethren  have  at  pre- 
sent no  riglit  to  sit  and  vote  as  memljers  of  this  synod,  having 
forfeited  their  right  of  being  accounted  members  of  it  for 
many  reasons,  a  few  of  w^hich  we  shall  mention  aftenvards. 

4.  We  protest  that,  if,  notwithstanding  of  this  our  protesta- 
tion, these  brethren  be  allowed  to  sit  and  vote  in  this  synod, 
without  giving  suitable  satisfaction  to  the  synod,  and  particu- 
larly to  us,  who  noAv  enter  this  protestation,  and  those  who 
adhere  to  us  in  it,  that  whatsoever  shall  be  done,  voted,  or 
transacted  by  them,  contrary  to  our  judgment,  shall  be  of  no 
force  or  obligation  to  us,  being  done  and  acted  by  a  judicatory 
consisting  in  part  of  members  who  have  no  authority  to  act 
with  us  in  ecclesiastical  matters. 

5.  We  protest  that,  if,  notwithstanding  this  our  protestation, 
and  contrary  to  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  it,  these  pro- 
testing brethren,  and  such  as  adhere  to  them,  or  support  and 
countenance  them  in  their  antipresbyterial  practices^  shall  con- 
tinue to  act  as  they  have  done  this  last  year,  in  that  case  we, 
and  as  many  as  have  clearness  to  join  with  us,  and  maintain 
the  rights  of  this  judicatory,  shall  be  accounted  in  no  wise 
disorderly,  but  the  true  Presbyterian  church  in  this  province ; 
and  they  shall  be  looked  upon  as  guilty  of  schism,  and  the 
breach  of  the  rules  of  presbyterial  government,  which  Christ 
has  established  in  his  church,  which  w^e  are  ready  at  all  times 
to  demonstrate  to  the  world. 

Keverend  and  dear  brethren,  we  beseech  you  to  hear  us 
with  patience,  while  we  lay  before  you,  as  briefly  as  we  can, 
some  of  the  reasons  that  move  us  thus  to  protest,  and,  more 
particularly,  why  we  protest  against  our  protesting  brethren's 
being  allowed  to  sit  as  members  of  this  synod. 

1.  Their  heterodox  and  anarchical  principles  expressed  in 
their  Apology,  pages  twenty-eight  and  thirty-nine,  where  they 
expressly  deny  that  presbyteries  have  authority  to  oblige  their 
dissenting  members,  and  that  synods  should  go  any  further,  in 
judging  of  appeals  or  references,  &c.,  than  to  give  their  best 
advice,  which  is  plainly  to  divest  the  officers  and  judicatories 
of  Christ's  kingdom  of  all  authority,  (and  plainly  contradicts 


PRESBTTERIAN   church   in  AMERICA.  169 

the  thirty-first  article  of  our  Confession  of  Faith,  section  three, 
which  these  brethren  pretend  to  adopt,)  agreeable  to  which  is 
the  whole  superstructure  of  arguments  which  they  advance 
and  maintain  against  not  only  our  synodical  acts,  but  also  all 
authority  to  make  any  acts  or  orders  that  shall  bind  their  dis- 
senting members,  throughout  their  whole  Apology. 

2.  Their  protesting  against  the  synod's  act  in  relation  to  the 
examination  of  candidates,  together  with  their  proceeding  to 
license  and  ordain  men  to  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  in  oppo- 
sition to,  and  in  contempt  of,  said  act  of  synod. 

3.  Their  making  irregular  irruptions  upon  the  congregations 
to  which  they  have  no  immediate  relation,  without  order, 
concurrence,  or  allowance  of  the  presbyteries  or  ministers  to 
which  congregations  belong,  thereby  sowing  the  seeds  of  di- 
vision among  people,  and  doing  what  they  can  to  alienate  and 
fill  their  minds  with  unjust  prejudices  against  their  lawfully- 
called  pastors. 

4.  Their  principles  and  practice  of  rash  judging  and  con- 
demning all  who  do  not  fall  in  with  their  measures,  both  minis- 
ters and  people,  as  carnal,  graceless,  and  enemies  to^  the  work 
of  God,  and  what  not,  as  appears  in  JVIr.  Gilbert  Tennent's 
sermon  against  unconverted  ministers,  and  his  and  jVIr.  Blair's 
papers  of  May  last,  which  were  read  in  open  synod;  which 
rash  judging  has  been  the  constant  practice  of  our  protesting 
brethren,  and  their  irregular  probationers,  for  above  these 
twelve  months  past,  in  their  disorderly  itinerations  and  preach- 
ing through  our  congregations,  by  which  (alas  for  it!)  most 
of  our  congregations,  through  weakness  and  credulity,  are  so 
shattered  and  divided,  and  shaken  in  their  principles,  that  few 
or  none  of  us  can  say  we  enjoy  the  comfort  or  have  the  suc- 
cess among  our  people,  which  otherwise  we  might,  and  which 
we  enjoyed  heretofore. 

5.  Their  industriously  persuading  people  to  believe  that  the 
call  of  God,  whereby  he  calls  men  to  the  ministry,  does  not 
consist  in  their  being  regularlj'  ordained  and  set  apart  to  that 
work,  according  to  the  institution  and  rules  of  the  word ;  but 
in  some  invisible  motions  and  workings  of  the  Spirit,  which 
none  can  be  conscious  or  sensible  of  but  the  person  himself, 
and  with  respect  to  which  he  is  liable  to  be  deceived,  or  play 
the  hypocrite.     That  the  gospel,  preached  in  truth  by  uncon- 


170  WEBSTER'S    HISTORY   OF   THE 

verted  ministers,  can  be  of  no  saving  benefit  to  souls;  and 
their  pointing  out  such  ministers,  wliom  they  condemn  as 
graceless  by  their  rash  judging  spirit,  they  efiectually  carry  the 
point  with  the  poor  credulous  people,  who,  in  imitation  of  their 
example,  and  under  their  patrociny,  judge  their  ministers  to 
be  graceless,  and  forsake  their  ministers  as  hurtful  rather  than 
profitable. 

6.  Their  preaching  the  terrors  of  the  law  in  such  a  manner 
and  dialect  as  has  no  precedent  in  the  word  of  God,  but  rather 
appears  to  be  borrowed  from  a  worse  dialect;  and  so  indus- 
triously working  on  the  passions  and  aflcctions  of  weak  minds, 
as  to  cause  them  to  cry  out  in  a  hideous  manner,  and  fall  down 
in  convulsion-like  fits,  to  the  marring  of  the  profiting  both  of 
themselves  and  others,  who  are  so  taken  up  in  seeing  and  hear- 
ing these  odd  symptoms,  that  they  cannot  attend  to  or  hear 
what  the  preacher  says;  and  then,  after  all,  boasting  of  these 
things  as  the  work  of  God,  w^hich  we  are  persuaded  do  proceed 
from  an  inferior  or  worse  cause. 

7.  Their,  or  some  of  them,  preaching  and  maintaining  that 
all  true  converts  are  as  certain  of  their  gracious  state  as  a  per- 
son can  be  of  what  he  knows  by  his  outward  senses ;  and  are 
able  to  give  a  narrative  of  the  time  and  manner  of  their  con- 
version, or  else  they  conclude  them  to  be  in  a  natural  or  grace- 
less state,  and  that  a  gracious  person  £an  judge  of  another's 
gracious  state  otherwise  than  by  his  profession  and  life.  That 
people  are  under  no  sacred  tie  or  relation  to  their  own  pastors 
lawfully  called,  but  may  leave  them  when  they  please,  and 
ought  to  go  where  they  think  they  get  most  good. 

For  these  and  many  other  reasons,  we  protest,  before  the 
Eternal  God,  his  holy  angels,  and  you,  reverend  brethren, 
and  before  all  here  present,  that  these  brethren  have  no  right 
to  be  acknowledged  as  members  of  this  judicatory  of  Christ, 
whose  principles  and  practices  are  so  diametrically  opposite 
to  our  doctrine,  and  principles  of  government  and  order, 
which  the  great  King  of  the  Church  hath  laid  down  in  his 
word 

How  absurd  and  monstrous  must  that  union  be,  where  one 
part  of  the  members  own  themselves  obliged,  in  conscience,  to 
the  judicial  determinations  of  the  whole,  founded  on  the  word 
of  God,  or  else  relinquish  membership;  and  another  Dart  de- 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  171 

clare,  tliey  are  not  obliged  and  will  not  submit,  unless  tlie  de- 
termination be  according  to  their  minds,  and  consequently 
will  submit  to  no  rule,  in  making  of  which  they  are  in  the 
negative ! 

Again,  how  monstrously  absurd  is  it,  that  they  should  so 
much  as  desire  to  join  with  us,  or  we  with  them,  as  a  judica- 
tory, made  up  of  authoritative  officers  of  Jesus  Christ,  while 
they  openly  condemn  us  wholesale;  and,  when  they  please, 
apply  their  condemnatory  sentences  to  particular  brethren  by 
name,  without  judicial  process,  or  proving  them  guilty  of 
heresy  or  immorality,  and  at  the  same  time  will  not  hold 
Christian  communion  with  them ! 

Again,  how  absurd  is  the  union,  while  some  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  same  body,  which  meet  once  a  year,  and  join  as  a 
judicatory  of  Christ,  do  all  the  rest  of  the  year  what  they  can, 
openl}^  and  aboveboard,  to  persuade  the  people  and  flocks  of 
their  brethren  and  fellow-members  to  separate  from  their  own 
pastors,  as  graceless  hypocrites,  and  yet  they  do  not  separate 
from  them  themselves,  but  join  with  them  once  every  year,  as 
members  of  the  same  judicatory  of  Christ,  and  oftener,  when 
presb}i;eries  are  mixedi  Is  it  not  most  unreasonable,  stupid 
indolence  in  us,  to  join  with  such  as  are  avowedly  tearing  us 
in  pieces  like  beasts  of  prey  ? 

Again,  is  not  the  continuance  of  union  with  our  protesting 
brethren  very  absurd,  when  it  is  so  notorious  that  both  their 
doctrine  and  practice  are  so  directly-  contrary  to  the  Adopting 
Act,  whereby  both  they  and  we  have  adopted  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  Catechisms,  and  Directory  composed  by  the  Westmin- 
ster Assembly. 

Finally,  is  not  continuance  of  union  absurd  with  those  who 
would  arrogate  to  themselves  a  right  and  power  to  palm  and 
obtrude  members  on  our  synod,  contrary  to  the  minds  and 
judgment  of  the  body? 

In  fine,  a  continued  union,  in  our  judgment,  is  most  absurd 
and  inconsistent,  when  it  is  so  notorious  that  our  doctrine  and 
principles  of  church  government,  in  many  points,  are  not  only 
diverse,  but  directly  opposite.  For  how  can  two  walk  together, 
except  they  be  agreed  ? 

Reverend  fathers  and  brethren,  these  are  a  part,  and  but  a 
part,  of  our  reasons  why  we  protest  as  above,  and  which  we 


172  Webster's  history  of  the 

have  only  hinted  at,  but  have  forborne  to  onLarge  on  them,  as 
we  might.  The  matter  and  substance  of  them  are  so  well 
known  to  you  all,  and  the  whole  world  about  us,  that  we 
judged  this  hint  sufficient  at  present,  to  declare  our  serious 
and  deliberate  judgment  in  the  matter;  and,  as  we  profess 
ourselves  to  be  resolvedly  against  principles  and  practice  of 
both  anarchy  and  schism,  so  we  hope  that  God,  whom  we 
desire  to  serve  and  obey,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whose  minis- 
ters we  are,  will  both  direct  and  enable  us  to  conduct  our- 
selves, in  these  trying  times,  so  as  our  consciences  shall  not 
reproach  us  as  long  as  we  live.  Let  God  arise,  and  let  his 
enemies  be  scattered,  and  let  them  that  hate  him  fly  before 
him ;  but  let  the  righteous  be  glad,  yea,  let  them  exceedingly 
rejoice.  And  may  the  spirit  of  life  and  comfort  revive  and 
comfort  this  poor  swooning  and  fainting  church,  quicken  her 
to  spiritual  life,  and  restore  her  to  the  exercise  of  true  charity, 
peace,  and  order. 

Although  we  can  freely,  and  from  the  bottom  of  our  hearts, 
justify  the  Divine  proceedings  against  us,  in  suffering  us  to  fall 
into  these  confusions  for  our  sins,  and  particularly  for  the  great 
decay  of  the  life  and  power  of  godliness  among  all  ranks,  both 
ministers  and  people,  yet  we  think  it  to  be  our  present  duty  to 
bear  testimony  against  these  prevailing  disorders,  judging  that 
to  give  way  to  the  breaking  down  the  hedge,  of  discipline  and 
government  from  about  Christ's  vineyard,  is  far  from  being  the 
proper  method  of  causing  his  tender  plants  to  grow  to  grace 
and  fruitfulness. 

As  it  is  our  duty  in  our  station,  without  delay,  to  set  about 
a  reformation  of  the  evils  whereby  we  have  provoked  God 
against  ourselves,  so  we  judge  the  strict  observation  of  his  laws 
of  government  and  order,  and  not  the  breaking  of  them,  to  be 
one  necessary  mean  and  method  of  this  necessary  and  much- 
to-be-desired  reformation.  And  we  doubt  not,  but  when  our 
God  sees  us  duly  humbled  and  penitent  for  our  sins,  he  will 
yet  return  to  us  in  mercy,  and  cause  us  to  flourish  in  spiritual 
life,  love,  unity,  and  order:  though  perhaps  we  may  not  live  to 
see  it,  yet  this  testimony  that  we  now  bear  may  be  of  some 
good  use  to  our  children  yet  unborn,  when  God  shall  arise  and 
have  mercy  of  Zion. 

Ministers: — Robert  Cross,  John  Thomson,  Francis  Alison, 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  173 

Robert  Catlieart,  Richard  Zanchy,  John  Elder,  John  Craig, 
Samuel  Caven,  Samuel  Thomson,  Adam  Boyd,  James  Martin, 
Robert  Jamison. 

j^^(/crs  .-—Robert  Porter,  Robert  McKnight,  William  McCul- 
loch,  John  McEwen,  Robert  Rowland,  Robert  Craig,  James 
Kerr,  Alexander  McKnight. 

After  being  read,  it  was  laid  on  the  table,  and  was  signed 
by  several.  Some  cried  that  they  were  protesting  ^ross  lies 
before  Almighty  God ;  and  others  that  the  elders  were  sub- 
scribing what  they  had  not  heard  or  considered.  Andrews 
left  the  chair;  the  Brunswick  party,  loath  to  be  cast  out 
hastily,  spoke  in  their  own  defence;  but,  the  house  being  con- 
fused, it  was  hard  to  tell  what  was  said.  Blair  and  others 
insisted  that  the  Protesters  ought  to  withdraw,  not  being  a 
majority  of  the  body.  The  building  was  crowded,  and  the 
galleries  rang  with  the  cry  to  cast  the  Protesters  out. 

The  Brunswick  party  offered  no  pacific  overtures  or  any 
satisfaction  for  past  grievances,  but  only  unchristian  reproaches. 
This  brought  the  affair  to  a  crisis,  so  that  both  j)arties  could 
not  sit  together. 

"It  was  canvassed  by  the  former  Protesters  whether  they  or 
we  w^ere  to  be  looked  on  as  the  synod.  We  maintained  that 
they  had  no  right  to  sit,  whether  they  were  the  majority  or 
not.  Then  they  motioned  that  we  should  examine  this  point, 
and  that  the  major  number  was  the  synod." 

The  roll  was  counted.  Andrews  decided  at  once,  and  said 
openly  he  would  not  join  with  the  New  Brunswick  gentlemen. 
Gillespie  and  McHenry  did  not  appear,  when  it  was  now  or 
never  in  the  point  of  outvoting.  Elmer  had  probably  gone, 
home  with  his  elder,  Jonathan  Fithian,  on  Saturday.  Ilutche- 
son  hesitated.  The  minority  consisted  of  William  Tennent 
and  his  elder,  Richard  Walker ;  Gilbert  Tennent  and  his  elder, 
David  Chambers;  Richard  Treat,  Eleazer  Wales;  Samuel 
Blair  and  his  elder,  John  Ramsey;  William  Tennent,  junior; 
Charles  Tennent  and  his  elder,  William  McCrea ;  Alexander 
Craighead  and  David  Alexander.  They  withdrew,  followed 
by  a  great  crowd. 

Then  Andrews  resumed  the  chair,  and  the  synod  proceeded 


•  n 


174  Webster's  history  of  the 

to  business,  Andrews*  had  not  been  consulted,  and  knew 
nothing  of  the  design  till  the  protest  was  brought.  Itf  had 
been  drawn  up  and  agreed  upon  after  consultation  and  solemn 
prayer. 

The  protest  has  been  greatly  condemned  as  violent,  unpre- 
cedented, unwise,  and  unnecessary. 

Was  it  unprecedented  ?  It  was  not  unlike  the  protest  of 
the  subscribers  in  the  Synod  of  Ulster,  by  which  they  ex- 
cluded the  non-subscribers  in  1726,  who  withdrew  and  formed 
the  Antrim  Presbytery.  This  was  probably  the  precedent 
which  governed  their  course. 

Was  it  not  the  only  practicable  mode  of  pacification  ?  If 
they  tabled  charges,  who  should  judge?  "Were  not  the  Pro- 
testers accused  in  open  synod  and  in  print  by  Tennent  and 
Blair?  There  could  be  no  umpire.  Creaghead  would  submit 
his  case  only  to  a  committee  packed  with  a  majority  of  his 
friends.  Tennent  would  refer  neither  to  Scotland  or  Ireland, 
London  or  Boston,  for  he  had  the  smiles  of  God  on  his  course. 

Was  it  not  necessary?  What  could  be  more  absurd  and 
inconsistent  than  continued  union,  w4iile  the  minority  divided 
congregations,  defamed  their  brethren,  and  set  at  naught  the 
synod's  claim  to  make  any  rules  not  pleasing  to  them  ? 

It  was  a  warring  chaos, — potsherds  dashing  against  potsherds. 
Separation  was  necessary,  and  to  effect  it  a  test  was  necessary. 
Was  it  ill-timed?  Could  it  have  been  longer  delayed  with 
any  benefit  ?  Was  it  a  duty  for  the  synod  and  the  presbyteries 
to  brook  further  contumely  and  defiance  ?  The  New  Side  were 
fully  prepared,  and  they  would  yield  not  an  inch  in  Creaghead's 
case.  They  doubtless  expected  some,  if  not  many,  would  con- 
cur, and  demanded  that  the  Protesters  should  withdraw. 

There  were  five  classes  in  the  synod : — the  Protesters,  the 
excluded,  the  silent,  those  who  were  dissatisfied  with  both 
parties,  and  the  absent.  Death  had  removed  Anderson  and 
Houston;  Gould  had  gone  among  the  Congregationalists  on 
Long  Island;  and  Stevenson,  "having  omitted  his  ministry," 
was  struck  off  the  roll  at  the  opening  of  the  session. 

The  Protesters  were  Robert  Cross,  of  Philadelphia,  and  John 


*  MS.  Letter  of  Andrews  to  Pierson :   in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Sprague. 

■j-  Refutation  of  Tennent's  Remarks  on  the  Protest. — Presb.  Hist.  Soc.  Lib. 


PKESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  175 

Thomson,  of  Chestnut  Level,  who  had  been  memhers  of  the 
synod  ahnost  from  its  formation ;  Francis  Alison,  of  J^ew 
London,  and  Robert  Cathcart,  of  Wilmington,  and  the  live 
youngest  members  of  Donegal  Presbj-tery, — Zanchy,  Elder,  - 
Cavin,  and  Samuel  Thomson,  with  John  Craig,  of  Augusta,  in 
Virginia;  together  with  Adam  Boyd,  (then  in  the  sixteenth 
year  of  his  ministry,  who  seems  not  to  have  signed  the  protest 
till  it  was  laid  on  the  table,)  James  Martin,  of  Lewestown,  and 
Robert  Jamison,  of  Duck  Creek. 

The  excluded  were  William  Tennent,  of  Neshaminy,  now 
near  the  close  of  his  days,  and  his  three  sons;  Richard  Treat,  ^ 
of  Abingdon,  and  Eleazer  Wales,  who  had  been  ordained  nine 
or  ten  years ;  Samuel  Blair,  of  Fagg's  Manor,  and  Alexander 
Creaghead,  of  ^Middle  Octorara,  who,  in  six  or  seven  years, 
had  risen  to  the  first  rank  as  preachers  and  men  of  influence; 
and  David  Alexander,  whose  ministry  had  but  recently  begun. 

Those  who  were  dissatisfied  with  both  parties  were  the  large 
majority  of  the  synod.  Two  of  the  oldest  ministers,  Gillespie 
and  Hutcheson,  stood  aloof  on  the  division.  The  Presbytery 
of  Xew  York,  composed  of  the  best  men,  did  the  same ;  and 
the  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  took  under  its  care  the 
churches  in  West  Chester  county,  installed  a  pastor,  and  ap- 
pointed supplies  for  the  Highlands,  as  though  the  Presbytery 
of  New  York  had  ceased  to  exist. 

The  silent  were  a  small  fraction,  to  which  belonged  the 
oldest  minister,  Andrews;  Elmer,  of  Cohanzy,  who  protested 
the  next  year,  against  the  exclusion,  but  whose  congregation, 
nevertheless,  was  divided  by  the  Brunswick  Presbytery,  as 
though  he  were  a  dead  man;  Cowell,  of  Trenton,  like  the 
other  two,  from  New  England ;  and  McHenry  from  Ireland,  and 
very  recently  ordained  assistant  to  William  Tennent  at  Nesha- 
miny  and  Deep  Run. 

The  absent  were  the  three   most  distant  ministers,  aged 
men : — Orme,  of  Upper  Marlborough ;  Conn,  of  Bladensburg, 
and  Bertram,  of  Deny,  on  the  Swatara;  Hook,  of  Drawyers,      X 
like  Bertram,  near  the  close  of  life ;  and  the  Welshmen,  David 
Evans,  of  Pilesgrove,  and  Thomas  Evans,  of  Pencader. 

The  silent  and  the  absent  all  remained  Avith  the  Old  Side, 
while  of  the  dissatisfied  only  Gillespie  returned  to  them. 

The  extent  of  the  division  was  great.    Bedford  and  Crum- 


176  Webster's  history  of  the 

pond,  and  Salem  and  Setaukct,  in  New  York  Presbytery, 
placed  themselves  under  the  care  of  the  Brunswick  Preshytery. 
The  separation  in  Philadelphia  was  large;  Hopewell  and 
Maidenhead,  Cohanzy,  Neshaminy,  and  Great  Valley,  in  Phila- 
delphia Presbytery,  were  rent  asunder:  Greenwich,  Gloster, 
Cape  May,  and  Abingdon  went  over  undivided.  In  New- 
castle Presbytery,  Bohemia,  "White  Clay,  Pigeon  Eun,  or  Red 
Lyon,    withdrew:    there   were    separations    from   Kewcastle, 

rawyers,  Pejicader,  Red  Clay,  and  Elk  River.  In  Lewes 
Presbytery,  divisions  ensued  at  Lewes  and  Dover,  and  in 
Somerset;  in  Donegal  Presbyter}-,  in  every  congregation,  and 
especially  the  new  settlements  west  of  Susquehanna  and  in 
the  Valley  of  Virginia.  While  from  the  ISTew-Side  congrega- 
tions there  were  no  separations  to  any  extent;  a  few  only 
withdrew  from  Treat,  of  Abingdon,  Blair,  of  Fagg's  Manor, 
and  Creaghead,  of  Middle  Octorara. 

Thus  was  the  division  accomplished.  The  most  pious  and 
judicious  men  might  have  signed  the  protest,  or  have  upholdeu 
the  movers  of  it.  The  grounds  of  it  were  solid ;  the  reasons 
for  it  just  and  weighty. 

The  action  and  language  of  the  Brunswick  party  were  anar- 
chical, and  were  defended  by  precisely  the  assumptions  made 
by  the  non-subscribing  Presbytery  of  Antrim,  that  had  fallen 
into  Arianism. 

Licensing  and  ordaining  in  direct  violation  of  the  synod's 
express  and  repeated  injunction  was  rebellion;  and  to  give 
way  to  it,  was  to  abandon  the  authority  and  liberty  which 
Christ  had  given  them. 

Intrusion,  though  not  meriting  the  heavy  civil  penalties 
adjudged  to  it  in  Connecticut,  was  unbrotherly,  and  destruc- 
tive of  a  pastor's  success  and  comfort.  The  justification  of  it 
made  it  worse ;  for  they  admitted,  it  was  wrong  except  where 
the  people  were  burdened  with  the  ministry  of  dead  men. 

The  denunciation  was  a  lording  over  brethren,  and  a  con- 
demning of  the  law  of  Christ ;  its  efi:ect  on  the  converts  was 
the  generation  of  arrogance  and  censoriousness,  which  brought 
them  and  "the  work  of  God"  into  contempt.  To  it  must  be 
traced  much  of  the  bitterness  of  opposers,  and  the  sad,  rapid, 
amazing,  and  hopeless  decline  of  the  revival. 

The  doctrine  of  assurance  and  the  Spirit's  witness  were  so 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  177 

preached  as  to  lead  to  Antinomianism ;  John  Cross*  was  up- 
held by  many,  and  continued  to  exercise  his  ministry,  although 
suspended  on  glaring  evidence;  Dickinson  was  charged  with 
having  done  the  greatest  mischief,  such  as  no  professed  infidel 
could  have  accomplished,  in  teaching  that  we  must  seek  the 
evidences  of  our  acceptance  with  God  in  the  work  of  sanctifi- 
cation  in  us.f 

Gilbert  Tennent  had  asserted  in  preaching,  and  maintained 
in  private,  that  every  true  convert  is  as  sensible  of  the  grace 
of  God  in  him,  and  the  love  of  God  to  him,  as  he  is  of  a  stab 
in  the  flesh  or  a  thought  in  his  mind. 

"  Besides  this,  which  made  every  man  a  sufficient  judge  of  his 
interest  in  Christ,  they  complained  of  no  other  instance  of 
erroneous  teaching,  except  the  assertion  that  people  were 
bound  to  their  pastors  only  as  long  as  they  thought  they  could 
get  good  from  their  preaching,  and  had  the  right  to  forsake 
them  when  they  might  be  more  benefited  elsewhere. 

On  these  five  grounds  they  rested  their  demand  that  the 
Brunswick  party  should  be  excluded  from  membership  in  the 
synod  until  they  made  satisfaction  for  these  grievances,  and 
engaged  no  more  to  pursue  their  divisive  courses. 

The  New  York  brethren  agreed  with  the  Protesters,  that 
these  were  reasonable  grounds  of  complaint  and  loud  calls  for 
lamentation ;  and  they  would  not  come  into  any  union  with 
the  excluded  party,  until  they  had  solemnly  engaged  no  more 
to  ofifend  in  any  of  these  things.  Thus  was  the  protest  justi- 
fied by  those  who  condemned  the  exclusion;  and  the  exclu- 
sion was  maintained  by  New  York  Presbytery  to  its  full 
extent,  until  all  that  was  demanded  in  the  protest  was  secured 
by  the  plighted  faith  of  Tennent  and  his  coadjutors. 

In  this  connection,  the  following  calm  and  valuable  letter 
may  be  read  with  advantage,  as  illustrative  of  the  length  to 
which  the  leaders  of  the  Brunswick  party  had  gone  in  theo- 
logical views. 

*  Dickinson's  Defence  of  his  Display  of  Grace. 

f  Croswell's  Answer  to  the  Display  of  Grace. — Harv.  Coll.  Libr. 

12 


178  Webster's  history  of  the 

andrews*  to  pierson,  of  woodbridge. 

"Philadelphia,  June  25,  1741. 

"Rev.  and  Dear  Brother: — 

"Mr.  Dickinson's  letter  of  May  23,  and  yours  since  that 
date,  came  both  to  hand;  and,  though  you  both  agree,  it 
would  be  unreasonable  to  bring  on  the  debate  about  the 
contested  act  at  our  last  synod,  when  so  many  were  absent ; 
yet  I  am  told  there  is  reason  to  believe  it  was  designed,  and 
if  they  had  carried  their  point  in  having  that  act  rescinded, 
'  it  would  have  brought  in  such  a  deluge  of  preachers  that 
'twould  have  been  in  vain  for  any  that  don't  come  into  all 
their  new  notions,  to  have  appeared  at  synod  any  more.  And 
some  judged  they  were  strengthening  their  party  with  such 
a  view,  as  we  all  know  they  stick  at  nothing  to  gather  prose- 
lytes. What  influence  that  had  in  bringing  on  the  protesta- 
tion against  them  now,  as  I  was  not  consulted,  or  whether  any, 
I  can't  tell.     You  may  have  your  thoughts,  as  I  have  mine. 

"But,  brother,  you  that  way  don't  see,  hear,  and  feel  what 
we  do.  The  confusions  they  have  made  this  way,  in  town  and 
country,  are  perfectly  astonishing,  and  indeed ^'en  make  us 
weary  of  our  lives.  They  have  called  themselves  members 
with  us,  but  have  been  continually  acting  against  us,  and 
endeavouring  to  make  all  that  don't  follow  them  to  be  looked 
on  as  carnal,  graceless,  unconverted  hypocrites,  to  destroy  our 
usefulness  and  bring  as  man}^  as  possible  over  to  them,  so 
that  we  can  scarce  tell  where  to  go  or  who  to  speak  to.  But 
this  is  not  all ;  both  town  and  country  are  full  of  Antinomian 
notions,  which  if  we  say  any  thing  against,  in  pulpit  or  out, 
'tis  almost  as  much  as  our  lives  are  worth,  and  we  feel  our- 
selves bound  in  conscience  to  give  people  warning  and  endea- 
vour to  preserve  them  from  destruction. 

"  The  prevailing  opinion  among  the  party  is,  that  the  moral 
law  is  no  rule  to  believers.  They  freely  declare  they  don't 
do  any  good,  or  bring  forth  any  fruit,  or  avoid  any  evil,  on 
consideration  of  any  law  obliging  or  forbidding  them,  or  from 
any  fear  of  God  at  all.  Nay,  they  tell,  me  they  have  no 
regard  to  any  thing  they  do  or  can  do,  to  promote  their  own 

*  Transcribed  from  the  original  by  permission  of  Dr.  Sprague. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  179 

happiness  or  salvation  at  all.  They  utterly  disclaim  all  self- 
love,  and  make  it  a  wrong  mercenary  thing,  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  the  gospel,  to  have  any  eye  to  their  own  benefit  in 
any  thing  they  do,  but  only  the  glory  of  God,  exclusive  of 
their  own  good. 

"The  cgiijrapn  vogue  is,  that  we  must  not  press  the  un- 
converted to  do  duty,  because  all  they  do  is  sin ;  and  that 
there  is  no  need  to  urge  the  converted  to  it,  because  they 
will  do  it,  not  because  they  must.  Accordingly  they  avoid 
preaching  up  moral  duties ;  and,  though  they  have  ever  so  fair 
an  opportunity  for  it,  they  avoid  telling  the  people  that  the 
moral  law  is  the  eternal  rule  of  reasonable  creatures ;  they 
seem  to  be  afraid  to  do  it ;  for,  if  they  did,  they  would  be  as 
bad  as  we,  and  their  hearers  would  leave  them.  They  con- 
verse witb  that  party  a  hundred  times  more  than  I  do,  and, 
consequently,  must  know  their  errors  better  than  I  can ;  end 
yet  they  say  nothing  to  bring  them  off,  that  I  hear  of,  which 
they  would  do  if  they  were  not  of  the  same  mind  themselves, 
or  else  can't  be  honest  men.  This  enthusiastical  frenzy  is, 
I  think,  universal  among  them,  (I  mean  their  leaders  and  | 
some  others,)  that  they  can  tell  who  is  converted  or  not,  espe- 
cially upon  a  little  discourse,  and  so  judge  and  condemn  and 
damn  with  all  the  freedom  imaginable. 

"The  Christ  they  invite  persons  to,  seems  to  me  not  the  true(\/ 
Christ.     The  true  Christ  has  a  yoke,  which  they  that  come  to 
him  must  take  upon  them ;  but  this  yoke  is  not  mentioned, 
but  only  '  Come,  come.'     All  which,  and  much  more  to  the 
same   purpose,  they  say,    they   learned  of   Mr.  "VVhitefield ; 
and  they  do  think  they  follow  him  punctually  in  them,  which 
is  their  aim.     I  know  in  some  of  them  they  are  not  mistaken, 
and  I  feared  things  would  come  to  this  pass  from  the  begin- 
ning, which  made  me  dissatisfied.     Some  people  blamed  me    ,\ 
then  (thinking  people  would  take  the  good  and  leave  the  bad)      ^ 
that  now  justify  me  and  say  that  I  saw  further  than  they. 

"A  prevailing  rule  to  try  converts  is,  that,  if  you  don't 
know  when  you  were  without  Christ  and  unconverted,  &c., 
you  have  no  interest  in  Christ,  let  your  love  and  your  practice 
be  what  they  may ;  which  rule,  as  it  is  unscriptural,  so  I  am 
of  the  mind  will  cut  off  nine  in  ten,  if  not  ninety-nine  in 
a  hundred,  of  the  good  people  in  the  world  that  have  had  a 


180  Webster's  history  of  the 

pious  education.  And,  hence,  in  a  manner,  all  our  pious  fore- 
fathers are  doomed  to  the  pit,  as  most  sober,  pious  people  are 
now.  The  old  rule  that  our  Saviour  gave  of  judging  the  tree 
by  its  fruits,  is  now  generally  thrown  out  of  doors,  and  an 
intuitive  way  of  judging,  like  God's,  is  now  pretended  to.  All 
that  don't  come  up  to  this  way  of  thinking  and  judging  are 
declared  carnal ;  and  so  much  as  to  call  it  in  question,  is 
almost  fatal.  Nay,  all  that  don't  think  we  are  saved  in  the 
way  of  absolute  sovereignty,  (which  some  think  renders  all 
the  promises  of  the  gospel,  and  the  gospel  itself  and  the  Me- 
diator of  it,  all  needless  and  useless,)  and  that  don't  believe 
we  must  feel  the  Spirit  blow  upon  us  as  evidently  as  we  can 
feel  the  northwest  wind,  they  are  looked  upon  as  carnal 
persons. 

"  Now,  my  dear  brother,  I  don't  know  what  you  may  think 
of  these  things ;  but  I  think  they  strike  at  all  solid  religion, 
and  tend  to  pervert  the  good  principles  derived  to  us  from  our 
forefathers ;  and  I  think — nay,  I  am  almost  sure — ^you  like 
them  no  better  than  I,  notwithstanding  the  angry  letter  you 
wrote  me  concerning  the  convulsive  motions  caused  by  Ed.'s* 
extravagant  preaching.  You  quite  mistook  me,  or  you  had 
spared  the  pains  in  that  letter,  as  if  I  think  convictions  and 
awakenings,  &c.  were  needless.  Indeed,  my  brother,  I  never 
had  such  a  thought.  God  forbid  I  should ;  but  I  am  of  the 
mind  that  those  things  of  which  we  have  heard  so  often, 
at  least  some  of  them,  are  not  of  that  nature.  But  I'll 
forbear :  only  say  that  if  j'^ou  have  heard  nothing  of  them,  or 
if  you  judge  such  outcries  must  be,  or  we  are  lost,  I  think 
you  and  I  and  our  forefathers  have  been  doing  nothing  but 
deceiving  the  people;  but  I  hope  in  God  it  is  not  so,  at  least 
altogether.  But  enough  of  this  at  this  time,  and,  for  aught 
I  know,  more  than  expedient ;  for,  if  Whitefield  or  some 
other  should  come  at  the  sight  of  this  letter,  it  may  occasion 
many  a  raving  sermon,  as  the  exposing  my  former  letters  did. 
But,  though  such  an  unbrotherly,  not  to  say  unchristian,  thing 
were  done  once,  I  can't  entertain  a  thought  that  it  will  be 
done  again. 

"  I  have  here  enclosed  a  protestation.  What  you  may  think 

*  Rowland. 


PRESBYTEEIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  181 

of  it  I  won't  pretend  to  guess ;  nor,  as  I  was  not  concerned  in 
it,  will  I  tell  you  my  thoughts  of  it.  Only  this  I  will  venture 
to  say :  that,  if  it  had  not  been  done  now,  if  things  didn't  soon 
make  a  great  turn  for  the  better,  it  must,  in  my  mind,  have 
been  done  in  a  little  time,  unless  we  w^ould  be  contented  to  be 
a  Babel  both  as  to  principles  and  practice. 

"  My  dear  brother,  if  you  find  your  judgment  don't  jump 
with  mine  in  every  thing,  I  desire  charity  between  us  may 
be  kept  alive  ;  for  I  do  assure  you,  if  I  know  any  thing  of  the 
doctrines  of  our  predecessors  and  the  reformed  churches,  (and 
I  humbly  conceive  I  am  not  altogether  an  ignoramus  in 
them,)  I  have  not  varied  from  them.  "What  I  dislike  is,  for 
aught  I  know,  new,  not  known,  at  least  not  professed,  by 
those  that  went  before  us,  and,  which  is  abundantly  more,  not 
according  to  the  word.  Therefore,  non  credo  quia  non  lego.  I 
design  this  for  Brother  Dickinson  as  well  as  yourself;  and, 
with  hearty  aft'ection  from  Mr.  Cross  and  self  for  you  and  Mr. 
Dickinson  and  yours  and  his,  in  the  entire  bond  of  Christian 
brotherly  friendship,  I  rest,  your  own 

"Jedediah  Andrews." 


182  WEBSTER'S   UISTORT   OF   THE 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

The  Brunswick  party  having  withdrawn,  the  synod  pro- 
ceeded with  its  business,  making  no  other  reference  to  their 
departure  than  this : — that  they  appointed  Thomson,  Thomas 
Evans,  and  Alison  to  defend  the  protestation  in  print,  if  need 
be.  The  overture  which  Thomson  and  his  elders  had  brought 
before  Donegal  Presbytery  was  taken  up  and  readily  ap- 
proved, nem.  con. 

"  That  every  member  of  this  synod,  minister  or  elder,  do 
sincerely  and  heartily  receive,  own,  acknowledge,  or  subscribe 
the  "Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Larger  and 
Shorter  Catechisms  as  the  confession  of  his  faith,  and  the 
Directory,  as  far  as  circumstances  will  allow  and  admit  in  this 
infant  church,  for  the  rule  of  church  order. 

"  That  every  session  do  oblige  their  elders  at  their  admis- 
sion to  do  the  same." 

The  commission  was  appointed,  to  consist  of  Thomson, 
Dickinson,  Pemberton,  Pierson,  Robert  Cross,  Alison,  Boyd, 
and  Martin,  with  Andrews,  the  moderator;  but  there  is  no 
record  of  its  having  been  called  together. 

They  gave  ten  pounds  out  of  the  fund  to  the  under- 
^  takers  of  the  meeting-house  in  Wilmington  to  defray  the 
charge  of  it,  and  lent  them  thirty  pounds,  free  of  interest,  for 
three  years. 

The  synod,  taking  to  their  serious  consideration  that  God's 
judgments  are  abroad  in  the  earth,  and  the  war  in  which 
we  are  engaged,  the  threatening  scarcity  of  grain  by  the  dis- 
couraging prospects  of  our  crops,  and  the  mournful  melan- 
choly divisions  among  us  who  profess  to  be  followers  of  the 
Prince  of  peace,  resolved  to  keep  a  day  of  humiliation,  fasting, 
and  prayer,  to  implore  the  merciful  and  compassionate  regard 
of  our  good  God  in  these  difficulties ;  and  that  it  be  left  to 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  183 

each  presbytery  to  appoint  the  time  as  it  will  best  suit  within 
their  respective  bounds. 

They  then  adjourned. 
I     The  non-subscribers  in  Ireland,  always  assumed,  that  they 
!  withdrew  on  being    protested  against,   in   the   face   of   the 
synod's  declaration  that  they  were  excluded. 

The  Brunswick  party,  always  alleged,  that  they  were  ex- 
cluded, although  they  withdrew  on  finding  the  majority  of 
the  synod  resolute  in  demanding  of  them  satisfaction  for  the 
grievances  complained  of  in  the  protest ;  they  denying  that 
such  grievances  had  been  committed  by  them. 

The  three  excluded  ministers*  of  New  Brunswdck  Presby- 
tery met  in  Philadelphia  on  the  2d  of  June,  the  day  after  the 
protest  was  introduced,  pro  re  nata.  Rowdand  was  chosen 
clerk,  and  the  six  ministers  who  adhered  to  them  sat  as  cor- 
respondents. Hutcheson  was  present,  although  undecided 
what  course  to  pursue.  Gillespie,  though  absent,  signified 
his  willingness  to  join  them. 

"Having  been  all  along  joined  in  one  united  synod  with  the 
other  Presbyterian  ministers  in  these  parts,  the  greater  part 
of  whom,  with  us  in  synod  met,  did  yesterday,  without  any 
just  grounds,  protest  against  our  continuing  with  them  any 
longer,  and  so  cast  us  out  of  their  communion,  we  came 
together  to  consider  how  we  ought  to  conduct  ourselves  in 
present  circumstances  for  the  fulfilling  of  the  work  committed 
to  us  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  ministers  and  elders,  and  agreed 
to  declare, — 

"  That  the  protestation  is  unjust  and  sinful. 

"  That  it  is  our  bounden  duty  to  form  ourselves  into  dis- 
tinct presbyteries  for  carrying  on  the  government  of  Christ's 
church. 

"  That  those  brethren  who  have  left  Newcastle  and  Done- 
gal Presbyteries  meet  at  White  Clay  Creek,  on  the  30th  of 
June,  and  form  the  Presbytery  of  Londonderry. 

'•  That  the  two  presbyteries  do  meet  at  Philadelphia,  the 
second  Wednesday  in  August,  in  the  capacity  of  a  synod. 

"  Lest  any  should  suppose  us  to  be  receding  from  Presby- 
terian principles,  we  unanimously  declare  that  we  do  adhere 

*  MS.  Records  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery. 


184  wedster's  history  of  the 

as  closely  and  fully  to  the  Westminster  Confession,  Cate- 
chisms, and  Directory,  as  ever  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia 
did  in  any  of  their  puhlic  acta  and  agreements  about 
them." 

Blair  was  appointed  to  draw  up,  against  the  next  meet- 
ing, an  account  of  the  differences  in  the  synod  for  some 
years  past,  and  which  have  issued  in  this  separation.  Tcn- 
nent  was  directed  to  prepare  an  answer  to  the  protest, 
wherein  things  are  most  unjustly  represented.  Blair's  paper 
was  adopted  and  published  as  the  Declaration  of  the  Con- 
junct Presbyteries.  When  the  protestation  was  printed  with 
a  preface,  Tenuent  speedily  sent  forth  Remarks  on  the  Pro- 
test, and,  as  an  appendix,  the  apology  his  presbytery  had 
presented  to  the  synod  in  1739.  This  called  forth  two  pam- 
phlets,— one,  a  Refutation  of  Remarks  on  the  Protest,  and 
the  other  from  John  Thomson,  being  an  examination  of  the 
apology,  and  entitled  "The  Government  of  the  Church." 
'  To  this  latter  piece  Samuel  Blair  replied,  coinciding  with 
I  Thomson  in  all  his  principles,  and  denying  that  he  or  his 
party  had  ever  taken  the  positions  which  seem  to  constitute 
the  very  essence  of  the  apology. 

Blair's  paper  was  printed  in  1744,  and  was  entitled  "A  Vin- 
dication of  the  Brethren  cast  out,  from  maintaining  Princi- 
ples of  Anarchy  and  denying  the  Scriptural  Authority  of 
Church  Judicatories."  He  expresses  surprise  that  Thomson 
never  once  charged  them  with  holding  the  Congregational 
plan,  and  asserts  that  the  apology  was  valid  and  conclusive 
against  the  claim  of  legislative  or  law-making  power,  and 
maintained  the  executive  authority  of  church  courts.  He 
declares  all  that  had  been  said  of  the  apology  as  anarchical 
was  palpably  false.  He  said  he  knew  nothing  of  Tennent's 
paper  when  he  prepared  his  representation.  "  What  hurt  was 
there  in  obtaining  such  a  synodical  admonition  when  there 
was  really  so  much  needed  and  more  ?" 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  2d  of  June,  the  Brunswick  party 
received  supplications  from  Tredryffryn,  l!^orriton,  Brandy- 
-V.  wine,  Nottingham,  Leacock,  Hopewell,  (now  Big  Spring,) 
Pigeon  Run,  Christiana  Bridge,  Little  Britain,  Donegal,  Derry, 
Greenwich,  Cape  May,  Hanover  in  Lancaster,  Penn8boro',( Car- 
lisle,) Conecocheague,  Newtown,  and  Tehicken,  and  from  James 


PKESBYTERIAN   CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  185 

River  in  Virginia.  From  this  it  would  seem  as  if  preparations 
had  been  made  by  these  congregations,  which  were  vacancies, 
to  petition  the  synod  for  supplies,  passing  over  their  own  pres- 
byteries; and  by  those  of  them  which  had  pastors,  to  demand 
new  erections,  or  to  be  loosed  from  their  ministers  and  have 
supplies.  Probably  intimations  of  this  revolutionary  measure 
were  conveyed  to  the  synod  in  some  informal  way,  and  decided 
them  to  delay  no  longer,  but  to  free  themselves  from  continued 
union  with  men  who  behaved  to  them  as  if  they  were  heathen 
and  publicans.  ISTothiug  but  the  foresight  of  some  impending 
catastrophe  could  have  led  so  many  congregations  to  send  up 
supplications  at  such  a  time.  They  were  the  effects  which 
might  naturally  have  been  predicted  from  the  dispersion  abroad 
of  the  representations  of  Tennent  and  Blair.  In  many  places, 
public  worship  was  forsaken  to  a  large  extent,  and  the  ministry 
of  the  pastors  scouted,  as  being  as  unlikely  to  be  used  by  God 
in  the  conversion  of  souls,  as  the  agency  of  Satan. 

They  appointed  James  Campbell,  a  licentiate,  who  had  told 
the  synod  openly  that  he  was  unconverted,  and  had  laid  aside 
preaching,  until  solemnly  engaged  by  Whitefield  to  resume  it, 
to  begin  at  Londonderry,  (Fagg's  Manor,)  and  go  to  Forks  of 
Brandywine,  left  vacant  by  the  removal  of  Black ;  Leacock  and 
Donegal,  also  vacant;  Hanover,  Zanehy's  charge;  Berry,  Ber- 
tram's; Paxton,  Elder's;  Pennsboro',  Samuel  Thomson's ;  Cone- 
cocheague,  Gavin's;  Little  Britain,  J.  Thomson's;  iSTottingham, 
the  new  erection ;  Elk  River,  vacant  by  Houston's  removal ;  7^. 
Pigeon  Run  and  Christiana  Bridge,  vacancies ;  and  Greenwich, 
in  West  Jersey,  also  vacant.  Rowland  was  directed  to  follow  in 
Campbell's  track.  Finley  was  sent  to  supply  the  new  erection 
at  Nottingham,  and  to  go  to  Baltimore,  and  to  Dover  in  Dela- 
ware. There  being  a  great  necessity  in  the  valley,  embracing 
Tredryffryn  and  Norriton,  David  Alexander  was  sent  thither. 

A  few  weeks  after,  John  Cross  was  called  up  and  suspended; 
David  Alexander  probably  died  within  a  year. 

No  notice  is  taken  in  the  manuscript  records  of  the  fact 
stated  in  another  place  by  Blair,*  that  at  this  meeting,  or  the 
one  in  August,  Creaghead  and  his  elder,  Samuel  Irwin,  brought 

*  Animadversions  on  the  reasons  which  induced  A.  C.  to  leave  the  Presbyterian 
church. — Philadelphia  Library. 


186  Webster's  history  of  the 

in  a  proposal  for  the  conjunct  presbyteries  to  adopt  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant.  lie  urged  that  neglect  of  it  was  the 
great  cause  of  the  decline  of  religion.  They  declined  to  com- 
ply, because  the  renewal  of  it  was  properly  a  national  work, 
belonging  to  the  three  kingdoms,  and  not  to  two  presbyteries. 
He  immediately  withdrew,  and  sounded  the  alann  on  both 
sides  of  the  Susquehanna,  that  the  Westminster  standards  had 
never  been  adopted"  by  either  the  synod  or  the  presbyteries. 
The  bond  which  had  held  the  party  together  while  contending 
with  the  synod  was  gone ;  they  had  no  occasion  to  unite  to- 
gether against  a  majority;  they  began  to  make  demands  on 
each  other.  The  Seceder  and  the  Covenanter  element  worked 
freely  and  developed  itself  rapidly.  Creaghead  had  been  com- 
plained of  by  his  people  for  introducing  new  terms  of  com- 
munion ;  he  now  opened  a  correspondence  with  the  Reformed 
Presbytery*  in  Scotland,  to  send  ministers  to  Pennsylvania, 
for  there  were  many  who  had  embraced  all  the  principles  of 
"the  mountain  men,"  and  others  had  emigrated  to  this  country 
who  at  home  had  been  associated  with  the  Society  people  in 
their  native  land.  There  were  others,  still  more  numerous,  but 
for  the  time  more  quiescent,  who  clung  to  the  peculiarities  of 
the  Associate  Presbytery,  and  who  were  not  behind  the  very 
chiefest  of  them  in  their  repugnance  to  the  Burgess  Oath,  and 
in  their  abhorrence  of  a  defective  or  mutilated  testimony 
against  all  errors,  individual  and  national,  of  every  degree  of 
importance.  The  Tennents  were  correspondents  of  the  Ers- 
kines ;  so  also  was  Whitefield,  and  in  his  letters  showed  the 
greatest  interest  in  the  movements  of  the  Seceders;  and  it  was 
doubtless  a  widely-current  rumour,  that  he  was  going  to  Scot- 
land at  their  solicitation  to  espouse  their  cause.  Almost  at 
the  very  time  the  conjunct  presb3i;eries  met  in  Philadelphia, 
Whiteiield  met  with  the  Associate  ministers  in  Edinburgh,  and 
the  silver  cord  was  loosed  which  bound  him  in  endearing  friend- 
ship to  the  Erskines.  He  could  not  consent  to  unite  himself 
as  a  member  with  them,  or  be  confined  by  their  methods  in 
intercourse  with  other  denominations.    The  breachf  took  place 


*  Sketch  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  America,  by  Dr.  J.  N.  McLeod. 
f  Fraser's  Life  of  Erskiue ;    Philips's  Whitefield ;    McKerrow's  History  of  the 
Secession  Church. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN  AMERICA.  18T 

August  5,  1741 ;  and  ou  the  8th,  he  wrote  to  Thomas  Nohle, 
Esq.,  of  New  York,  detailing  the  particulars  and  desiring  them 
to  be  communicated  to  the  Tennents.  "I  am  glad  to  hear  the 
work  of  the  Lord  prospers  in  their  hands,  and  that  they  intend 
to  meet  in  a  synod  by  themselves.  Their  catholic  spirit  will 
do  good." 

In  the  very  month  of  the  rupture,  Davenport  went  through 
his  extraordinary  career  in  Connecticut.  He  was  no  wild  en- 
thusiast, but  a  grave  man,  of  great  piety,  of  unblemished  life ; 
a  powerful  reasoner,  no  mean  poet,  and,  what  was  of  great  im- 
portance in  that  colony,  of  one  of  its  most  ancient  and  honour- 
able families.  It  is  monstrous  to  pretend  that  he  had  a  capti- 
vating eloquence,  or  could  preach  so  as  to  depict  as  if  before 
them  hung  and  groaned  the  bleeding  Saviour.*  His  sermons 
were  plain,  not  striking;  his  exhortations  stirring  and  warm, 
but  uttered  in  a  strange  singing  tone  that  was  intolerable  to 
the  careless,  but  which  moved  amazingly  the  feelings  of  the 
newly  awakened,  and  of  all  who  sympathized  with  him.  De- 
nouncing men  as  unconverted,  walking  with  his  hearers  in 
procession  through  the  streets  and  from  town  to  town,  singing 
"human  composures,"  or  hymns  of  his  own  composing;  burn- 
ing pious  books  and  gay  apparel  in  one  bonfire,  and  setting 
up  separate  meetings :  these,  with  the  delusive  notions  of  the 
AVitness  of  the  Spirit,  brought  him  into  contempt  and  caused 
his  good  to  be  evil  spoken  of.  Friends  and  foes  were  thrown 
together  in  opposition  to  him,  and  good  men  by  their  zeal 
against  him  strengthened  the  hands  of  evil-doers,  and  led  many 
to  separate  from  the  standing  order,  and  forsake  the  ministra- 
tions of  faithful  pastors. 

A  few  Moravians  had  been  in  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey, 
and  New  York,  for  several  years.  Peter  Boehler  was  at  Skip- 
pack,  in  1739 ;  and  in  November,  1741,  Count  Ziuzendorff  ar- 
rived :  he  laid  aside  all  mark  of  rank,  and  lived  as  a  Lutheran 
minister,  with  the  name  of  Von  Thurnstein.  He  appeared 
before  the  governor  in  Philadelphia,  and,  in  the  presence  of 
Logan,  Franklin,  Allen,  and  other  persons  of  distinction, 
defined  his  position  in  a  Latin  oration ;  he  also  made  several 


*  Chauncey's  Seasonable  Thoughts ;    Bacon's  Historical  Discourses  at  New 
Haven. 


188  Webster's  history  of  the 

statements  of  his  intentions  in  French.  Logan*  speaks  of  the 
Latin  and  the  French  as  being  wholly  unlike  any  performances 
he  had  ever  heard  in  either  of  those  tongues.  The  brethren 
had,  previously  to  the  count's  arrival,  bought  "a  barony"  called 
Kazareth,  which  Whitefield  had  once  contracted  for,  to  found 
a  home  for  coloured  persons,  and  which,  after  having  laid  the 
foundation  of  aljuilding,  he  had  given  up.  When  Zinzendortf 
came  to  the  Brethren  on  the  Lehigh,  they  met  for  worship  in 
a  stable,  and  called  the  place  Bethlehem.  He  visited  the  Ger- 
mans in  Oley  and  Tulpehocken,  and,  finding  that  one  of  the 
Brethren  had  joined  the  "Sieben  Taegers"  in  the  Kloster  at 
Ephrata,  he  went  thither.  He  soon  set  forward  measures  for 
gathering  the  pious  of  the  numerous  German  sectsf  into  a 
yearly  conference  for  friendly  religious  intercourse.  The  prin- 
cipal obstruction  in  the  way  was  the  belief  of  some  that  he 
was  an  immoral  man,  who  had  fled  from  his  own  country,  and  / 
the  impression  in  others  that  he  w^as  the  Beast  of  the  lievela-  ^ 
tions.  He  made  a  great  impression  in  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia, and  drew  many  of  Whitefield's  chiefest  friends  after 
him.  Dickinson,  Tennent,  and  Finley  all  wrote  against  him, 
viewing  his  tenets  as  subversive  alike  of  law  and  gospel. 

About  this  time,  Rowland  was  indicted  for  horse-stealing, 
and  acquitted  on  the  testimony  of  William  Tennent  and  two 
of  the  elders  of  the  New-Side  church  of  Hopewell.  The  wit- 
nesses were  indicted  for  having  procured  his  acquittal  by  wilful 
perjury;  and  popular  indignation  rose  so  high  that  Rowland 
left  Hunterdon  county,  and  settled  at  New  Providence  and 
Charlestown,  in  Pennsylvania. 

Amid  all  these  painful  circumstances,  the  stout  heart  of 
Gilbert  Tennent  shook;  and  he  who  had  preached  on  the  bene- 
fits of  spiritual  desertion  learned  the  bitterness  of  it,|  and 
trembled  for  his  salvation. 


*  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia ;  Translation  of  the  Count's  Letter,  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Reading,  of  Appoquinimy ;  Answers  to  Queries  proposed  to  the  Count;  Curious 
and  astounding  documents  in  Philadelphia  papers  of  1741,  '42,  '43. 

•j-  Jackson's  Life  of  ZinzendorfiF. 

J  MS.  Letter  of  D.  Brainerd  to  Bellamy,  February  4,  1742-3: — "I'm  more  dead 
to  the  world  than  ever  ;  but  I'm  afraid  I  shall  fall  into  the  same  state  dear  Mr.  Ten- 
nent has  been  in,  so  amuse  myself  with  something,  the'  I  satisfie  myself  with 
nothing." 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN  AMERICA.  189 

"WTiitefield  heard  of  his  distressed  state,  and  wrote  to  him 
from 

"Gloccester,  England,  February  5,  1742. 

"I  bless  God  for  delivering  Brother  Rowland  out  of  the 
hands  of  his  enemies.  I  am  persuaded  he  will  deliver  your 
brother  William  also.  By  your  desertion  and  temptations,  I 
believe  God  is  preparing  you  for  a  fresh  work.  I  believe  you 
would  be  better  if  you  would  always  evangelize." 

The  following  letter  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  state  of  Mr. 
Tennent's  mind  at  this  period : — 

"GILBERT  TENNENT*  TO  JONA.  DICKINSON. 

"February  12,  1742. 

"  I  have  many  afflicting  thoughts  about  the  debates  which 
have  subsisted  in  our  synod  for  some  time.  I  would  to  God 
the  breach  were  healed,  were  it  the  will  of  the  Almighty.  As 
for  my  own  part,  wherein  I  have  mismanaged  in  doing  what  I 
did,  I  do  look  upon  it  to  be  my  duty,  and  should  be  willing  to 
acknowledge  it  in  the  openest  manner.  I  cannot  justify  the 
excessive  heat  of  temper  which  has  sometime  appeared  in  my 
conduct.  I  have  been  of  late,  since  I  returned  from  New 
England,  visited  with  much  spiritual  desertion  and  distresses 
of  various  kinds,  coming  in  a  thick  and  almost  continual  suc- 
cession, which  have  given  me  a  greater  discovery  of  myself 
than  I  think  I  ever  had  before.  These  things,  with  the  trialf 
of  the  Moravians,  have  given  me  a  clear  view  of  the  danger 
of  every  thing  which  tends  to  enthusiasm  and  division  in  the 
visible  church.  I  think  that  while  the  enthusiastical  Moravians, 
and  Long-beards  or  Pietists,  are  uniting  their  bodies,  (no  doubt 
to  increase  their  strength  and  render  themselves  more  consider- 
able,) it  is  a  shame  that  the  ministers  who  are  in  the  main  of 
sound  principles  in  religion  should  be  divided  and  quarrelling. 
Alas  for  it !  my  soul  is  sick  for  these  things.     I  wish  that  some 

*  Published  in  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  and  reprinted  in  Hodge's  History. 

•)•  Brainerd  to  Bellamy,  March  26,  1743,  writes  as  follows: — "The  Moravian 
tenets  cause  as  much  debate  as  ever ;  and  for  my  part  I'm  totally  lost  and  non- 
plussed about  'em,  so  that  I  endeavour  as  much  as  possible  to  suspend  my  judgment 
about  'em,  for  I  cannot  teU  whether  they  are  eminent  Christians,  or  whether  their 
conduct  is  all  underhanded  policy  and  an  intreague  of  Satan.  The  more  I  talked  to 
Mr.  Noble  and  others,  the  more  I  was  lost  and  puzzled ;  and  yet  Mr.  Noble  must  be 
a  Christian." 


190  Webster's  history  of  the 

scriptural  methods  could  be  fallen  upon  to  put  an  end  to  these 
confusions.  Some  time  since  I  felt  a  disposition  to  fall  on  my 
knees,  if  I  had  opportunity,  to  entreat  them  to  be  at  peace. 

"I  remain,  with  all  due  honour  and  respect,  your  poor 
worthless  brother  in  the  ministry. 

"P.S. — I  break  open  this  letter  myself,  to  add  my  thoughts 
about  some  extraordinary  things  in  Mr.  Davenport's  conduct. 
As  to  his  making  his  judgment  about  the  internal  states  of 
persons  or  their  experience,  a  term  of  church  fellowship,  I 
believe  it  is  unscriptural,  and  of  awful  tendency  to  rend  and 
tear  the  church.  It  is  bottomed  upon  a  false  base, — viz. :  that 
a  certain  and  infallible  knowledge  of  the  good  estate  of  men 
is  attainable  in  this  life  from  their  experience.  The  practice 
is  schismatical,  inasmuch  as  it  sets  up  a  term  of  communion 
which  Christ  has  not  fixed.  The  late  method  of  setting  up 
separate  meetings  upon  the  supposed  unregeneracy  of  pastors 
is  enthusiastical,  proud,  and  schismatical.  All  that  fear  God 
ought  to  oppose  it  as  a  most  dangerous  engine  to  bring  the 
churches  into  the  most  damnable  errors  and  confusions.  The 
practice  is  built  upon  a  twofold  false  hypothesis : — infallibility 
of  knowledge,  and  that  unconverted  ministers  will  be  used  as 
instruments  of  no  good  in  the  church.  The  practice  of  openly 
exposing  ministers  who  are  supposed  to  be  unconverted,  in 
public  discourse,  by  particular  application  of  times  and  places, 
serves  only  to  provoke  them  instead  of  doing  them  any  good, 
and  declares  our  own  arrogance.  It  is  an  unprecedented,  divi- 
sial,  and  pernicious  practice.  It  is  lording  it  over  our  brethren 
to  a  degree  superior  to  what  any  prelate  has  pretended,  since 
the  coming  of  Christ,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  pope  only  excepted ; 
though  I  really  do  not  remember  to  have  read  that  the  pope 
went  on  at  this  rate.  The  sending  out  of  unlearned  men  to 
teach  others  upon  the  supposition  of  their  piety  in  ordinary 
cases  seems  to  bring  the  ministry  into  contempt,  to  cherish 
enthusiasm,  and  bring  all  into  confusion.  "\^Tiatever  fair  face 
it  may  have,  it  is  a  most  perverse  practice.  The  practice  of 
singing  in  the  streets  is  a  piece  of  weakness  and  enthusiastical 
ostentation. 

"I  wish  you  success,  dear  sir,  in  your  journey;  my  soul  is 
grieved  for  such  enthusiastical  fooleries.  They  portend  much 
mischief  to  the  poor  church  of  God  if  they  be  not  seasonably 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  191 

checked.  May  your  labours  be  blessed  for  that  end !  I  must 
also  express  my  abhorrence  of  all  pretence  to  immediate  inspi- 
ration or  following  immediate  impulses,  as  an  enthusiastical, 
perilous  ignis-faiims." 

"Well  might  "  Philalethes"  array  Gilbert  against  Tennent, 
when  this  letter  issued  from  the  press,  at  the  very  time  the 
third  edition  of  the  N'ottingham  Sermon  appeared.  How 
Tennent  could  so  entirely  have  forgotten  his  own  guiltiness 
in  the  main  with  Davenport,  is  not  to  be  conjectured.  The 
letter  is  like  David's  condemnation  to  death  of  the  rich  man 
who  furnished  his  guest  with  a  feast  on  the  only  lamb  of  his 
poor  neighbour.  Did  Dickinson  reply  with  Nathan's  rebuke 
to  him  ?  Probably  he  was  so  rejoiced  to  be  furnished  for  his 
journey  with  this  weapon  of  proof,  that  he  forgot  to  notice 
the  inconsistency. 

Dickinson  journeyed  through  New  England  to  Boston ; 
"  for  they  were  wont  in  old  time  to  say,  '  Surely  they  will  ask 
counsel  at  Abel,'  and  so  they  ended  the  matter."  He  also,  in 
concert  with  Edwards  and  Burr,  used  his  influence  to  have 
Brainerd  restored  to  his  standing  in  Yale  College,  but  to  no 
purpose.  The  determination  seems  to  have  been  formed  in 
consultation  at  Boston  to  make  the  withdrawment  of  the  pro- 
test the  indispensable  prerequisite  to  further  continuance  in 
union  with  the  Philadelphia  Synod,  or  to  demanding  an  ac- 
knowledgment from  the  Brunswick  party  of  their  errors  or 
missteps.  This  was  in  effect  to  constitute  the  synod  as  if  the 
separation  had  never  taken  place,  and  to  take  up  the  whole 
controversy  as  it  stood  on  the  morning  of  June  1,  1741.  The 
letter  of  Tennent  to  Dickinson,*  with  others  of  like  import 
to  Pemberton  and  "Whitefield,  strongly  impelled  them  to  gra- 
tify him  in  this  tender  point;  and  the  conjunct  Presbyterians, 
having  cleared  themselves  of  all  receding  from  Presbyterian 
principles,  and  from  all  concurrence  in  any  of  the  offensive 
things  in  the  practices  or  teachings  of  Cross,  Creaghead,  and 
Davenport,  satisfied  the  New  York  brethren  that  they  were 


*  The  latter  was  placed  by  Dickinson  in  the  hands  of  Clap,  of  New  Haven,  who 
had  it  printed.     The  letters  to  Whitefield  and  Pemberton  we  have  not  seen. 


192  Webster's  history  of  the 

clear  of  the  charges  in  the  protest,  of  promoting  anarchy  and 
inflaming  enthusiasm. 

In  April,  1742,  Tennent  preached  in  Kew  York  his  sermons 
against  the  Moravians ;  he  used  hardly  stronger  language  than 
Dickinson,  who  pictured  the  Moravians  as  libertines  in  his  "Dis- 
play of  Grace."     Tennent  uttered  his  own  condemnation  in 
every  syllable  in  which  he  exposed  and  denounced  them ;  and 
the  paragraphs  of  the  Nottingham  Sermon,  placed  in  parallel 
columns  with   others  from  the  Moravian  Sermon,  furnish  a 
remarkable    specimen   of   recantation    made    unconsciously. 
Among  the  memorable  things  of  that  day,  is  the  fact  that 
•  Tennent  saw  no  self-contradiction  in  the  two  productions ; 
I  and  that  neither  he  nor  Blair  nor  any  of  their  party  inter- 
j  preted  their  apology  as  Thomson  did,  or  saw  in  it  any  of 
I  the  anarchical  or  heterodox  principles,  which,  to  every  other 
person,  glare  on  the  surface  and  are  the  very  soul  of  it. 

The  synod  met  in  Philadelphia  in  May,  1742,  the  Brunswick 
brethren  being  in  town,  with  their  newly-ordained  co-presby- 
ters and  a  full  quota  of  elders.  Gillespie  and  Hutcheson  were 
absent.  Of  New  York  Presbytery,  there  were  present  Dick- 
inson and  his  elder,  David  Whitehead,  Pemberton  and  his 
elder,  Nathaniel  Hazard,  Pierson  and  his  elder,  John  Ball, 
Simon  Horton,  of  Connecticut  Farms,  and  his  elder,  Timothy 
"Whitehead,  Nutman,  (without  charge,)  Leonard,  of  Goshen, 
and  Azariah  Horton,  the  missionary  to  the  Long  Island  In- 
dians. Of  Donegal  Presbytery,  there  were  Thomson,  Boyd, 
Zanchy,  Cavin,  Black,  Samuel  Thomson,  and  Alexander 
McDowell,  newly  ordained  as  an  evangelist.  With  them  were 
the  elders, — John  Hally,  Andrew  Gray,  Thomas  Hope,  Walter 
Caruth,  George  Davison,  James  McTire.  Of  Newcastle  Pres- 
bytery, there  were  only  two  present, — viz. :  Cathcart  and 
Alison,  with  the  elders,  William  Lindsay  and  Samuel  Steeh 
'  From  Lewes,  only  Jamison ;  and  the  presbytery,  being  reduced 
to  two  by  the  death  of  Hook,  was  merged  in  Newcastle.  Of 
Philadelphia  Presbytery,  there  were  Andrews  and  his  elder, 
William  Gray,  R.  Cross  and  his  elder,  John  Cross,  David 
Evans,  Elmer  and  his  elder,  Jonathan  Fithian,  Cowell, 
McHenry  and  his  elder,  Samuel  Hart,  Samuel  Evans,  newly 
ordained  pastor  of  Great  Valley,  and  his  elder,  David  Griffith, 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  193 

and  Guild,  newly  ordained  at  Hopewell,  and  his  elder,  Thomas 
Stidraore.  "j  I  'wv  -^  j  f,-^,-^      7 

Dickinson  was  chosen  moderator,  and  Alison  clerk.  An- 
drews preached  from  2  Cor.  iv.  5.  The  absence  of  New  York 
Presbytery  last  year  was  considered,  and  the  excuses  of  some 
of  the  members  sustained. 

The  next  day,  Dickinson  moved  that  a  conference  be  held 
with  the  Brunswick  brethren,  to  accommodate  the  difference 
and  make  up  the  unhappy  breach.  It  was  resolved  to  hold  the 
conference  at  the  usual  place  of  meeting  in  the  afternoon,  and 
that  four  of  the  absentees  at  the  time  of  the  divison, — Dick- 
inson, David  Evans,  Pierson,  and  Pemberton, — and  four  of 
the  Protesters, — Cross,  Thomson,  Cathcart,  and  Alison, — with 
Andrews,  should  be  a  committee  to  trj^  all  methods  consistent 
with  gospel  truth,  to  prepare  the  way  for  healing  the  breach. 
The  conference  was  so  far  encouraging*  that,  at  the  next  morn- 
ing session,  the  synod  was  resolved  into  an  interloquitur  of 
ministers,  and  elders,  and  the  ejected  brethren  had  leave  to 
bring  with  them  those  they  had  ordained,  and  whom  the  synod 
had  not  accepted  as  members,  with  their  respective  elders.  A 
great  deal  of  time  was  spent  to  no  purpose,  the  question  being, 
"  Who  should  be  judges  in  the  case?"  The  ejected  brethren 
would  submit  it  to  the  consideration  of  none  but  those  who 
had  not  signed  the  protest;  and  the  Protesters  answered  that 
they,  with  those  who  adhered  to  them,  were  the  synod,  acted 
as  such  in  the  ejection,  and  in  doing  so  had  only  cast  out  such 
as  they  judged  had  rendered  themselves  unworthy  of  member- 
ship by  openly  maintaining  and  practising  things  subversive 
of  their  constitution ;  and  that,  therefore,  they  would  not  be 
called  to  account  by  absent  brethren  or  any  judicature  on 
earth,  though  they  were  willing  to  give  the  reasons  of  their 
conduct  to  their  absent  brethren  and  the  public,  to  consider 
and  review  it.  Alison  did  not  concur  in  this,  but  entered  on 
the  minutes  his  dissent.  He  agreed  with  the  Protesters,  that 
it  was  an  infringement  of  their  rights,  for  any  absent  members 
to  pretend  to  call  the  body  to  an  account,  and  to  judge  of  the 
legality  of  their  proceedings ;  yet  he  firmly  believed  it  to  be 


*  According  to  David  Evans,  (letter  in  Pennsylvania  Gazette,)  Gilbert  Tennent 
seemed  Trilling  to  make  a  retraction  as  full  as  could  be  desired. 

18 


194  "Webster's  history  of  the 

the  synod's  duty,  to  submit  them  to  a  review  of  the  next  synod. 
Though  looking  on  it  as  giving  up  some  of  tlieir  rights,  it  was 
his  earnest  desire,  and  he  insisted  that  the  merits  of  the  synod's 
action  in  the  exclusion  be  fairly  tried  by  the  present  synod,  to 
n^anifest  the  justness  of  the  proceedings. 

''On  the  next  day,  two  hours  were  again  spent  in  an  interlo- 
quitur,  and  on  Monday  the  New  York  Presbytery  brought  in 
their  protest,  in  which  Elmer  joined  them.  1.  They  declare 
the  exclusion  without  previous  trial  to  be  an  illegal  and  un- 
precedented procedure,  contrary  to  the  rules  of  the  gospel, 
and  subversive  of  our  excellent  constitution.  2.  They  con- 
demn the  conduct  of  the  Protesters  in  refusing  to  have  the 
legality  of  the  exclusion  tried  by  the  present  synod.  3.  They 
demand  that  all  who  were  excluded,  with  their  adherents,  are 
to  be  owned  as  members  of  synod  until  excluded  by  fair  and 
impartial  process.  4.  They  protest  against  all  passages  in  any 
pamphlets  lately  published  in  these  parts,  which  seem  to  reflect 
on  the  work  of  divine  power  and  grace,  carried  on  in  so  won- 
derful a  manner  in  many  of  our  congregations,  and  declare  to 
all  the  world,  that  we  look  upon  it  to  be  the  indispensable 
duty  of  all  our  ministers  to  encourage  that  glorious  work  with 
their  most  faithful  and  diligent  endeavours.  5.  With  equal 
solemnity,  they  protested  against  all  divisive  and  irregular 
methods  and  practices,  by  which  the  peace  and  good  order  of 
our  churches  have  been  broken  in  upon. 

This  protest  is  dated  on  the  preceding  Saturday.  Three 
elders  joined  in  it:  —  the  two  Whiteheads  and  jSTathaniel 
Hazard.  The  synod  took  no  notice  of  it,  and  adjourned,  after 
entering  Alison's  concurrence  with  it  in  the  second  article,  to 
the  next  year.  A  note  enclosed  in  brackets  was  appended  to 
the  protestation,  declaring  the  first  article  to  be  untrue ;  for 
the  synod,  by  a  vote,  declared  they  were  to  be  excluded  if 
they  refused  to  give  satisfaction  for  the  points  complained  of; 
and  upon  this  they  withdrew. 

This  places  the  matter  in  its  true  light.  The  Protesters 
demanded  of  the  synod  that  the  Brunswick  party  should  be 
excluded,  unless  they  repented  and  desisted  from  their  irre- 
gular and  divisive  methods.  The  roll  being  called,  it  appeared 
that  the  majority  sustained  them  in  their  demand.  On  this, 
the  Brunswick  party  withdrew. 


PEESBYTERIAN   church   in   AMERICA.  195 

They  were  as  unprepared  to  comply  with  the  demand  in 
1742  as  in  the  preceding  year,  and  determined  to  persevere ; 
for  they  had  never  intermitted  them  in  the  methods  con- 
demned so  strongly  hy  the  J^ew  York  brethren  and  the  Pro- 
testers. The  labour  of  Dickinson  and  his  estimable  associates 
seems  to  have  been  spent  solely  in  endeavouring  to  bring  the 
Protesters  to  repentance,  all  that  had  been  done  on  the  other 
side,  being  passed  over  in  a  closing  clause  of  their  paper. 
Continued  union  would  have  been  as  absurd  and  mischievous 
as  before  the  protest.  There  was  no  movement  on  the  part 
of  the  conjunct  presbyteries,  to  allay  the  uneasiness  their  pro- 
ceedings had  produced,^  or  to  soften  the  vindictive  asperity  of 
their  lano;uao:e  or  their  action  towards  the  Old  Side  and  their 
adherents.  The  separation  in  Philadelphia  was  completed, 
and  Samuel  Finley  preached  six  mouths  to  the  new  congrega- 
tion, and  Gilbert  Tenuent  was  installed  by  his  presbytery  over 
it.  The  new  erections  were  supplied  as  frequently  as  possible ; 
pastors  were  given  to  them,  and  evangelists  ordained  to  minis- 
ter to  them  and  to  go  on  distant  missions. 

Tennent's  letter  to  Dickinson  was  published  in  August, 
and  was  followed  by  David  Evans's  remarks,  showing  how 
both  it  and  the  "  Declaration  of  the  Boston  Ministers  in  Rela- 
tion to  Davenport"  justified  the  "Protest"  and  "our  watchful 
Querists."  Tennent  hastened  to  send  forth  an  explanation  of 
it,  which  was  really  a  retraction  of  it.  The  third  edition  of 
the  "  Nottingham  Sermon"  appeared.  If  Davenport  had 
preached  or  published  it,  it  would  have  been  denounced  by 
"  all  that  fear  God"  as  fanatical  and  insane.  He  would  have 
been  compelled,  before  being  restored  to  standing  in  the 
church,  to  have  retracted  explicitly  almost  every  sentiment  it 
contained.  For  all  that  Davenport  did  in  his  frenzy,  with 
**  the  long  fever  and  the  unceasing  flow  of  the  cankery 
humour,"  was  mild  when  compared  with  the  denunciations 
which  Tennent  uttered,  and  published  and  republished  in  all 
soberness  and  cold  blood.  No  retraction  was  demanded  of 
Tennent.  He  denied  solemnly  that  he  had  ever  urged  people 
to  separate  from  their  pastors  if  they  deemed  them  unworthy; 
yet,  in  his  printed  letter  to  Franklin  in  September,  1742,*  he 

*  Quoted  by  Dr.  Hodge. 


196  Webster's  history  of  the 

said,  "  I  see  not  how  any  who  fear  God  can  sit  contentedly 
under  their  ministrations"  (whom  he  supposed  to  have  con- 
spired in  opposing  the  work  and  sei'vants  of  God)  "without 
becoming  accessory  to  their  crimson  guilt."  The  "Exa- 
miner; or,  Gilbert  vei'sus  Tennent,"  was  too  thorough  an  ex- 
posure, in  his  own  words,  of  his  inconsistencies  and  con- 
tradictions, for  him  to  pass  over.  In  his  "  Examiner  Exa- 
mined" he  retracted  nothing,  but  renewed  some  of  his  most 
cruel,  unsupported,  and  sweeping  charges.  He  had  said,  in 
the  "Sermon  on  an  Unconverted  Ministry,"  "  Let  those  who 
live  under  the  ministry  of  dead  men,  whether  they  have  the 
form  of  religion  or  not,  repair  to  the  living."  To  assert  that 
this  was  a  call  to  set  up  separate  meetings  on  the  supposition 
the  ministers  were  unconverted,  or  even  contentedly  unsuc- 
cessful iu  their  work,  he  pronounced  a  dreadful  instance  of 
effi'onted  impiety,  and  that  all  the  world  knew  it  to  be  a 
groundless  and  crimson  calumny  imputed  to  him  by  the 
enemies  of  the  power  of  religion.  The  "  outgate"  from  the 
dilemma  was,  he  was  charged  with  encouraging  separation 
from  ministers  merely  because  unconverted;  while  he  had 
only  done  so  where  the  ministers  were  opposers  of  the  work 
of  God.  "It  is  the  necessity  of  their  wretched  cause  that 
urges  those  unhappy  men  to  take  such  sinful  and  scandalous 
methods  to  cloak  their  horrible  wickedness  in  opposing  God's 

work Is  not  this  the  reason  why  a  work  of  conviction 

and  conversion  has  been  so  rarely  heard  of  in  the  churches  till 
of  late  ? — that  the  bulk  of  her  spiritual  guides  are  stone-blind 
and  stone-dead  ? .  .  .  .  Consider  that  there  is  no  probability  of 
your  getting  good  by  the  ministry  of  Pharisees ;  for,  take  them 
first  and  last,  they  do  more  harm  than  good.  When  the  life  of 
piety  comes  near  their  quarters,  they  rise  up  in  arms  against  it 
as  a  common  enemy  that  discovers  and  condemns  their  craft 
and  hypocrisy.  And  with  what  art,  rhetoric,  and  appearances  of 
piety,  will  they  varnish  their  opposition  of  Christ's  kingdom!" 
If  unconverted,  of  course  they  would  oppose  the  work  of 
God,  and,  consequently,  were  to  be  forsaken.  That  the  "Ser- 
mon" had  a  reference  to  his  brethren,  he  openly  admitted  in 
1743.  "  When  I  composed  it,  I  expected  it  would  be  judged 
by  that  tribe  it  detected,  as  guilty  of  scandalum  magnatum,  as 
worthy  of  stripes  and  of  bonds.     I  supposed  it  would  be  like 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  197 

rousing  a  wasp's  nest ;  and  I  have  found  it  according  to  my 
expectations."  At  that  time,  also,  lie  said,  "Give  me  leave 
"also  to  propose  this  query  to  Mr.  Thomson  and  his  associates : — 
"Whether  it  was  because  such  as  were  convinced  of  sin  had 
generally  a  less  esteem  for  his  ministry  and  theirs,  that  he, 
and  some  at  least  of  them,  have  so  fiercely  opposed  the 
blessed  operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  convincing  and 
alarming  a  secure  world?  For  my  own  part,  I  must  say,  I 
humbly  conceive  that  to  be  the  secret  of  the  story  of  their 
opposition,  the  bottom  of  the  mystery,  the  true  spring  of  their 
malignant  contending  against  vital  godliness.  The  false  and 
ungenerous  method,  as  well  as  long  continuance  of  their  op- 
position to  the  work  of  God,  under  so  much  advantage  of 
light  and  evidence  in  favour  of  it,  together  with  their  dan- 
gerous errors,  free  me  from  the  just  imputation  of  rash 
judging  in  thinking  as  I  have  expressed."  They  opposed 
God's  work  by  their  "  false  and  dangerous  Moravian  doctrine 
of  conviction.  Witness  Mr.  Thomson's  detestable  and  incon- 
sistent performance  on  that  subject,  which  divers  leaders  of 
that  schismatical  party  have  expressed  their  approbation  of. 
Hardly  any  thing  can  be  invented  that  has  a  more  direct 
tendency  to  destroy  the  common  operations  of  God's  Spirit 
and  keep  men  from  Jesus  than  what  Mr.  Thomson  has  ex- 
pressed in  that  performance."  Croswell  had  not  used  more 
unbounded  language  in  describing  Dickinson's  "  Display  of 
Grace." 

Tennent  affronted  the  "  Old  Side"  by  his  contempt  no  less 
than  by  his  invectives.  The  "  Protesters"  said,  "  Through 
their  rash  judging  and  condemning  all  who  do  not  join  with 
them,  which  has  been  their  constant  practice  in  their  itinera- 
tions through  our  congregations,  most  of  them  are  so  shat- 
tered, divided,  and  shaken  in  their  principles,  that  we  have 
neither  the  comfort  or  success  we  had  heretofore."  He  re- 
marked on  this: — "As  to  their  comfort,  we  believe  them;  but 
respecting  their  success,  we  thought  it  had  been  the  same  as 
formerly,  for  truly  this  is  the  first  time  we  ever  heard  of  the 
success  of  most  of  them." 

Men  must  have  had  rare  constitutions  and  unequalled 
sensibilities  who  could  regard  the  author  of  such  attacks  on 
them  with   calmness,  or  who   could   feel  confidence   in   the 


■J98  Webster's  uistort  of  the 

mediation  of  those  who  upheld  his  right  to  memhersliip  with 
them. 

As  an  illustration  of  this  mild  and  forbearing  spirit,  the 
following  letter  will  sen- e  as  an  example : — 

ANDREWS  TO  PIERSON.* 

"  Philadelpuia,  August  3,  1742. 

"  Rev.  and  Dear  Sir  : — 

"As  you  desired  me,  when  here  last,  to  give  you  account 
of  things  that  should  happen  here  from  time  to  time,  so,  old 
friendship,  conscience  of  duty,  and  inclination,  prompt  me  to 
gratify  you  in  that  regard.  Being  now  entered  into  the 
sixty-ninth  year  of  my  life, — and  so  know  it  can't  be  long 
before,  in  the  course  of  nature,  I  shall  be  called  to  give  up 
my  account, — and  being  lately  threatened  with  death  by  a  sur- 
feit contracted  by  the  excessive  heat,  (from  which  indisposi- 
tion I  am  scarcely  recovered,)  I  thought  myself  obliged  to 
open  my  heart  and  ease  my  mind  a  little  to  you.  And,  as 
w^hat  I  am  about  to  say  will  be  the  entire  fruit  of  brotherly 
love  and  Christian  friendship,  I  hope  and  desire  that,  though 
my  sentiments  may  not  be  agreeable  to  yours,  and  may  seem 
to  bear  too  hard  on  some  late  transactions,  yet,  considering 
our  state  of  imperfection,  in  which  none  is  secured  from  being 
sometimes  deceived,  I  trust  your  piety  and  candour  will  cause 
you  to  put  the  best  of  constructions  upon  them.  I  must, 
therefore,  dear  brother,  tell  you,  that,  according  to.  my  opinion 
and  that  of  all  sober,  judicious,  unprejudiced  persons  I  speak 
with  about  it,  the  '  Protest'  given  in  last  synod  is  chargeable 
with  at  least  three  imperfections.  I  don't  mean  simply  as  to 
the  matters  of  complaint  contained  in  it,  (those  against  whom 
it  is  levelled  must,  in  that  respect,  answer  for  themselves ;) 
but  that  any  thiug  of  that  nature  should  be  exhibited  at  that 
time  seems  to  me  liable  to  no  mean  exceptions.  In  short, 
then,  I  take  it  to  have  been  needless,  unseasonable,  and 
unkind. 

"1.  I  take  it  to  have  been  altogether  needless ;  for  I  cannot 
apprehend  any  need  or  necessity  can  be  pretended  for  it, 
unless  it  were  to  tell  the  world  you  were  not  guilty,  or  had  no 

*  Transcribed  from  the  original,  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Sprague. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  199 

hand  in  the  exchiding  protestation  which  you  represent  as  a 
criminal  action.  If  this  were  the  reason  (and  I  can  see  no 
other  of  any  consequence,)  nothing  could  be  more  need- 
less. Everybody  knew  you  were  not  here  when  it  was  done, 
and,  therefore,  could  not  possibly  have  any  hand  in  it.  But 
it  may  be  replied,  if  we  hadn't  done  as  we  did,  people  might 
think  we  agreed  to  it  or  connived  at  it.  I  answer,  your  dis- 
approbation might  have  been  declared  in  synod,  and  entered 
on  the  minutes,  without  such  a  public  and  noisy  procedure, 
which  would  have  sufficiently  saved  your  credit,  if  there  was 
any  danger  of  it, — as  I  apprehend  there  was  none,  for  I 
never  heard  of  any  thing  suggested  that  had  the  least  hint 
that  way. 

"  2.  To  me  it  appears  to  have  been  egregiously  unseasonable. 
"We  were  at  that  time,  and  some  time  before,  on  motions  and 
endeavours — as  was,  I  think,  on  all  hands  professed — about 
ways  and  means  of  accommodation  and  healing  the  doleful 
rent  and  divisions  among  us.  Now,  in  my  poor  judgment, 
that  transaction  had  a  direct  tendency  to  prevent,  or  at  least 
retard.  Let  it  be  considered  that  all  men  have  their  weak- 
nesses and  imperfections ;  and  that  an  inclination  not  to  be 
undervalued  or  despised  more  or  less  obtains  with  all  men. 
Now,  let  any  body  look  impartially  into  the  nature  and  ten- 
dency of  that  protestation,  and  see  whether  it  hath  not  a 
direct  tendency — especially  considering  the  public  clamorous 
circumstances  of  it — to  exasperate  the  spirits  of  the  former 
'  Protesters,'  and  render  them  abundantly  more  unfit  and 
indisposed  for  accommodation  and  passing  by  grievances  than 
they  were  before.  I  desire  you  will  not  take  it  amiss  if  I  tell 
you  that  it  appears  to  me  in  that  aspect,  a.nd  not  to  me  only, 
but  to  all  indifferent  persons  I  hear  speak  of  it.  It  appears 
to  me  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  peace  and  concord, 
(though  I  don't  believe  designed  so,)  and  the  most  material 
one  of  that  nature  which  has  been  thrown  in  the  way  all 
along,  not  so  much  from  the  nature  of  the  thing,  as  the  emi- 
nent quality  of  some  persons  concerned  in  it.  My  dear  brother, 
look  over  it  again,  and  say  if  it  don't  look  like  a  design, 
(though  I  won't  suffer  myself  to  imagine  it  was  so,) — if  it 
don't  carry  an  aspect  of  an  intention  to  disgrace,  vilify,  and 
rufla.e  the  passions  of  the  '  Protesters,'  and  consequently,  put 


200  WEBSTER'S    HISTORY   OF   THE 

them  out  of  humour,  and  indisposed  for  that  glorious  and 
necessary  work  of  coalition  which  all  profess  to  be  aiming  at? 
My  dear  friend,  I  shall  look  upon  it  as  my  duty,  and  hope  I 
shall  not  be  wanting  in  endeavours,  to  prevent  such  an  evil 
elfect;  but  if  the  transaction  be  looked  on  with  an  impartial 
eye  it  bears  too  much  of  that  aspect.  I  am  willing  to  think 
myself  mistaken,  not  being  willing  to  harbour  any  wrong 
notions  of  my  old,  dear,  valuable  friends. 

"  3.  As  for  the  third  particular,  I  think  myself  equally  con- 
cerned with  my  neighbours, — viz. :  unkindness.  I  am  at  a 
loss  to  make  the  matter  agree  with  the  friendship  that  is  pro- 
fessed. Did  not  you  know  how  sorely  we  have  been  handled, 
and  what  loads  of  affliction  we  have  laboured  under,  and  par- 
ticularly myself,  your  old,  sincere,  unfeigned  ft-iend  and  bro- 
ther, by  the  enormous  doings  of  these  men?  Did  not  you 
know  these  things,  which  we  have  suffered,  to  the  wounding 
of  our  souls,  disturbance  of  our  peace,  and  almost  to  death? 
Surely  you  could  not  be  altogether  ignorant  of  it.  If  so,  to  do 
a  thing,  as  if  designed  on  purpose  to  throw  us  in  the  dirt,  and 
give  our  enemies,  that  have  sought  our  ruin  and  to  deprive  us 
of  all  comfort  of  life,  advantage  to  trample  on  us  and  render 
us  despicable  and  useless  in  the  world, — I  say,  it  looks  very 
strange  from  friends.  I  bless  God  that  I  do  not  perceive  it 
hath  done  us  any  harm  as  to  our  particular  charge  and  busi- 
ness, which  is,  to  me,  a  wonderful  providence ;  but  if  you  had 
come  on  purpose  to  weaken  our  hands,  I  do  not  see  how  a 
more  direct  method  could  have  been  taken.  Suppose  we  were 
in  the  wrong  in  our  sentiments,  and  don't  agree  with  you  in 
our  notions  of  some  men  and  things :  as  long  as  we  profess 
■  sincerity  and  conscience,  and  are  in  other  things,  I  hope, 
tolerably  regular, — and  nobody  can  convict  us  of  hypocrisy 
in  our  profession, — one  would  have  expected  pity  from  old 
friends,  and  not  such  a  blow  under  the  fifth  rib,  when  there 
was  really  no  need  of  it,  by  opening  a  door  to  let  in  our  ene- 
mies to  devour  us.  Truly,  my  dear  brother,  it  appears  asto- 
nishing to  me.  But  I  will  stop  my  pen,  (perhaps  it  has  run 
too  far  already,)  and  tell  you  my  thoughts.  I  don't  impute 
it  to  old  friends :  it  was  chiefly  the  transaction  of  one  man, 
who,  in  an  ostentatious,  noisy  manner — so  my  old  friends  shall 
be  such  still ;  some  say  dux  fcemina  facii;   if  so,  more  is  the 


PREgBYTfiKIAlir   CHlTllCH   IN   AMERICA.  201 

pity.  I  was  going  for  an  appendix  to  compare  the  former  pro- 
test (wherein  I  had  no  hand)  with  this,  and  see  if  I  could  not 
make  this  look  as  black  as  that.  But  I  forbear,  and  pray  the 
Lord  open  all  our  eyes,  rectify  our  mistakes,  and  keep  us  from 
being  biassed  by  human  favour,  affection,  or  example,  but 
sincerely  follow  the  things  that  tend  to  true  Christian  peace 
and  truth,  that  so  we  may  give  in  our  account  with  joy. 

"  Let  there  be  no  diminution  of  affection  or  stagnation  of 
correspondence. 

"  Let  us  compassionate  each  other's  weaknesses ;  and,  if  you 
reckon  me,  as.  Gilbert  does,  an  enemy  to  God's  work,  or  call 
me  devil,  my  Christian  charity  towards  my  good  old  friends 
shall,  I  hope,  remain  inviolate.  Pray,  take  in  good  part  these 
uncouth  lines,  because  the  effort  of  the  sincere  affection  and  to 
deliver  the  soul  of 

"  Your  old  friend  and  brother, 

"J.  Andrews. 

"  You  may  let  this  go  to  next  town,  sed  non  ultra.  Having 
heard  the  Moravians  twice,  think  their  doctrine  the  same  as 
Whitefield's  when  he  first  came  here.  Divers  dead  last  week 
of  the  heat.     Pray  the  Lord  make  us  ready.'' 

In  New  England  and  parts  adjacent,  while  many  separated 
from  the  standing  order,  and  became  strict  Congregationalists, 
a  number  invoked  councils  to  relieve  them  from  lukewarm  or 
insufficient  pastors,  or  to  countenance  them  in  forming  new' 
congregations. 

The  Irish  Presbyterians  there/ were  not  united.  The  Rev. 
John  Caldwell  preached  in  the  old  church  of  Londonderry, 
N.H.,  on  the  Trial  of  the  Spirits ;  and  the  Rev.  David  McGre- 
goire,  of  the  second  church  in  the  town,  to  whom  "the 
wondrous  work  now  making  its  triumphant  progress  through 
our  land  was  agreeable,"  preached  on  the  same  text  with  widely 
different  doctrine  and  inferences.  Both  sermons  were  printed. 
Caldwell,  during  Davenport's  stay  in  Boston,  preached  before 
the  Presbytery  of  Boston,  in  the  French  meeting-house,  a 
sermon  on  the  false  prophets,  full  of  personal  allusions  and 
incidents  and  instances  taken  from  Whitefield's  writings  and 
those  of  his  friends.     Tennent  had  described  the  old  Pharisees 


202  Webster's  history  of  the 

as  having  a  fair  and  strict  outside,  but  being  full  of  pride, 
policy,  malice,  ignorance,  covetousness,  and  bigotry  to  liuman 
inventions  in  religious  matters;  and  that  those  that  have 
covetously  and  cruelly  crept  into  the  ministry  in  swarms  and 
crowds,  were  as  like  those  of  old,  as  one  crow's  egg  is  like 
another.  Caldwell  described  false  teachers  as  laying  aside 
reason,  opposing,  contradicting,  and  endeavouring  to  bring 
into  disgrace  the  ministry  of  God's  appointment;  speaking 
loud,  like  Baal's  prophets;  presumptuous,  throwing  defiance  at 
Satan,  and  saying  "Why  sleepest  thou?"  and  being  in  some 
or  more  particulars  answerable  to  the  characters  given  in 
2  Pet.  ii.  10,  and  "turning  the  grace  of  God  into  lascivious- 
ness."  Such  he  declared  the  whole  tribe  of  evangelists  and 
itinerants  to  be.  It  was,  in  the  highest  degree,  merciless  and 
unjust.  Caldwell  has  left  these  two  sermons;  but,  besides 
these,  we  know  nothing  of  him,  and  little  or  nothing  of  those 
who  acted  with  him. 

The  expression  of  religious  joy  by  a  hearty  laugh  during 
divine  service,  was  quite  as  oiFensive  to  some,  as  the  fits  into 
w^hich  Satan  cast  several  in  Philadelphia  were  to  Whitefield. 
Lay  exhorters  rose  up  in  abundance  in  the  East;  and,  though 
Tennent  condemned  the  practice  of  sending  them  forth  as 
perverse  and  unjustifiable,  yet  the  names  of  several*  are  given 
who,  under  his  auspices,  went  out  to  supply  the  lack  of  service 
of  the  plastered  hypocrites. 

Creaghead  published  his  manifesto  or  declaration  of  prin- 
ciples, and  formed,  after  the  mode  of  the  Societ}-  people  in 
Scotland,  praying-societies  in  many  places.  A  part  of  his 
congregation  forsook  him  to  receive  supplies  from  Donegal 
Presbytery;  another  portion  left  him  to  remain  with  the  Xevv- 
Side;  and  a  third  fraction  adopted,  with  him,  the  distinctive 
tenets  of  the  Cameronians.  While  in  Isew  England,  New 
York,  and  New  Jersey,  there  were  opposers  of  the  revivals, 
opposers  of  Davenport,  and  friends  of  his  proceedings,  each 
widely  parted  from  the  other;  throughout  Pennsylvania  and 
the  lower  provinces  there  were  Old-Side,  New-Side,  and  Cover 
nanter  congregations  worshipping  in  the  same  log  meeting- 

*  Lawyer  Paine,  Daniel  Rogers,  Samuel  Thatcher. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  203 

house,  at  different  hours  or  on  different  days,  and  severed  from 
each  other  as  if  by  oceans. 

""The  trial  of  the  Moravians"  continued.  Pemberton*  wrote 
to  Doddridge  that  the  Moravians  tried  to  draw  oft'  the  affec- 
tions of  the  people  from  the  soundest  and  most  zealous 
preachers ;  and  the  following  extracts  show  that  Tennent  had 
his  share  of  "the  trial." 

WHITEFIELDf    TO   NOBLE,  OF   NEW   YORK. 

"Edinburgh,  September  2,  1742. 

"I  have  just  been  writing  to  our  dear  brother,  Gilbert  Ten- 
nent. Both  your  letters  came  to  me  at  the  same  time,  and, 
had  I  not  been  used  to  trials  of  that  nature,  would  have  affected 
me  much.  Dear  Mr.  Tennent  speaks  many  things  that  I  know 
are  too  true  of  the  Moravian  brethren;  but  his  spirit  seems  to 
be  too  much  heated,  and  I  fear  too  much  of  his  own  wild  fire 
is  mixed  up  with  that  sacred  fire  of  zeal  which  comes  from 
God." 

"  September  22. — Take  heed  that  your  getting  acquainted 
with  any  new  set  of  Christians  does  not  insensibly  lead  you  to 

despise  others  of  your  old  acquaintance Principles  of 

themselves,  without  the  Spirit  of  God,  will  not  unite  any  set 
of  men  together." 

WHITEFIELD   TO   DR.  COLMAN,  OF  BOSTON. 

"  September  24,  1742. 

"  There  seems  to  be  such  a  time  in  Philadelphia  as  we  have 
had  in  England.  I  have  wrote  to  Mr.  Tennent.  He,  in  a  late 
letter,  thinks  me  too  charitable ;  but  my  conscience  does  not 
reproach  me  for  that.  I  go  on  preaching  the  cross  and  the 
power  of  the  Pedeemer,  and  desire  to  say  as  little  as  possible 
about  others,  lest  I  should  divert  people's  minds  from  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  gospel.  I  have  often  found  that  opposing,  in- 
stead of  hurting,  makes  erroneous  people  more  considerable. 
This  made  me  wish  the  Boston  ministers  would  not  say  so 
much  about  the  exhorters.  It  will  only  set  the  people  the 
more  upon  following  them. 

Zinzendorff  formed  the  English  Moravian  church  in  Phila- 

*  Doddridge's  Correspondence.  •}•  Whitefield's  Correspondence,  3  vols. 


204  Webster's  history  of  the 

delphia,  December  31,  1742,  and  immediately  left  the  city  for 
Frankford,  on  his  way  to  Kew  York,  to  sail  for  England. 

That  fanaticism  was  making  headway  at  this  time  in  Xew 
England,  the  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  the  Rector  of 
Yale  to  Dickinson,  dated  March  14, 1743,  will  testify :—"  I  take 
the  liberty  to  inform  you  of  one  pretty  remarkable  piece  of 
news, — viz. :  the  Separatists  or  Antinomians  at  New  London, 
under  the  conduct  of  Messrs.  Croswell,  Allen,  Curtiss,  &c., 
have  sent  for  Mr.  Davenport  to  embody  them  into  a  church. 
The  next  Sabbath  after  he  came,  they  made  a  bonfire  in  the 
street,  before  Mr.  Adams's  meeting-house,  just  as  the  people 
were  coming  out,  and  burnt  up  your  dialogues,  sermons,  &c., 
Mr.  Adams's  sermons,  Russel's  seven  sermons,  the  Whole  Duty 
of  Man,  the  Old  Testament,  and  sundry  other  such  erroneous 
books.  One  of  them  made  a  prayer  and  exhortation  over  the 
bonfire,  and  told  them  it  was  a  mercy  they  had  escaped  the 
errors  contained  in  those  books ;  for,  if  they  had  not,  they 
would  have  been  in  the  flames,  as  those  books  were.  Mr.  D.* 
also  commanded  Mr.  Allen  and  Mr.  Curtiss  to  pull  off  their 
gowns,  and  others  their  banyans,  wiggs,  short  cloaks,  &c. ; 
they  accordingly  pulled  the^hrofl'  and  laid  them  in  a  heap.  But 
some  said  they  had  a  revelation  not  to  burn  them;  so,  after 
some  dispute,  it  was  deferred." 

The  synod  met  in  1743,  the  Brunswick  party  being  also  in 
town.  Dickinson,  Pemberton,  Pierson,  Burr,  and  Is^utman, 
of  New  York  Presbytery,  were  present  without  elders.  From 
Newcastle  Presbytery,  now  embracing  Lewes,  there  were  Cath- 
cart,  Alison,  and  Jamison ;  Martin,  and  Thomas  Evans  being 
a_  dead,  Glasgow  having  embraced  Episcopacy,  and  Carlisle 
ceasing  to  be  mentioned.  From  Donegal  Presbytery,  there 
were  Thomson,  Boyd,  Black,  Elder,  Zanchy,  McDowell,  and 
the  newly-ordained  ministers.  Bell  and  Hyndman.  There 
were  also  eight  elders.  From  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  there 
were  Andrews  and  his  elder,  William  Gray;  Robert  Cross; 
Elmer  and   his  elder,  John  Ogdeu;  Cowell;   McHeury  and 


*  Transcribed  from  E.  Hazard's  MSS.  Brainerd  wrote  to  Bellamy,  March  20, 
1743  : — "  Mr.  Davenport's  conduct  makes  a  terrible  noise  at  New  York  and  the 
Jerseys ;  where,  'tis  affirmed,  he  has  bm-nt  the  Old  Testament  among  other  books." 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  205 

his  elder,  Samuel  Hart;  and  S.  Evans  and  his  elder,  David 
Griffith. 

Dickinson  preached  from  1  Cor.  i.  10.  Cowell  was  chosen 
moderator,  and  Alison  clerk.  Thomas  Cookson,  Esq.,  one  of 
his  Majesty's  justices  for  Lancaster  county,  appeared,  in  the 
name  of  the  governor,  with  a  paper  and  an  affidavit  about  it. 
All  business  was  laid  aside  to  hear  the  paper,  and  they  unani- 
mously declared  their  detestation  of  it,  and  that  they  knew 
not  who  was  the  author ;  and  that  Mr.  Alexander  Creaghead, 
to  whom  it  was  ascribed,  "  hath  been  no  member  of  our  society 
for  some  time  past,  nor  do  we  acknowledge  him  as  such." 

Dickinson,  Pemberton,  Alison,  and  Cowell  drew  up  an  ad- 
dress to  the  governor,  which  the  synod  approved,  and  ap- 
pointed Andrews,  Cross,  Cathcart,  and  the  moderator  to 
present  it,  with  a  copy  of  the  minute.* 

The  meeting  on  Monday  morning  was  adjourned  till  the 
afternoon  of  that  day,  that  some  proposals  of  peace  and  agree- 
ment might  be  prepared  and  sent  to  the  Brunswick  party. 
These  proposals  were  sent  in  an  extra-judicial  way  by  Burr, 
and  were  in  substance : — 1.  That  they  recant  the  principles  of 
their  Apology,  and  engage  to  submit  to  agreements  and  con- 
clusions adopted  by  the  majority  of  the  synod.  2.  That  they 
license  only  those  who  submit  to  the  synod's  rule  or  an  equiva- 
lent, and  give  up  those  licensed  or  ordained  without  such  sub- 
mission, to  be  examined  by  the  synod,  and  promise  to  hold  no 
ministerial  communion  with  those  of  them  who  refuse  submis- 
sion, or  who  being  examined  are  found  deficient.  3.  That 
they  will  neither  intrude  or  send  missionaries  within  fixed 
pastoral  charges,  nor  encourage  separation,  nor  supply  with 
preaching  the  societies  that  have  separated,  but  will  declare 
all  such  practices  pernicious  and  anti-presbyterian.  4.  That, 
until  censured  on  proper  judicial  process,  they  will  in  no  way 
diminish  any  minister's  character,  nor  claim  the  right  to  judge 
of  men's  spiritual  states  towards  God,  if  sound  in  faith  and  of 
a  good  life.  5.  That  they  renounce  the  tenets  of  the  Notting- 
ham Sermon,  such  as  the  allowance  to  church  members  to 
guess  at  their  pastor's  spiritual  state,  and  on  this  guess  without 
further  trial  to  leave  him  as  graceless.     6.  That  they  acknow- 

*  Printed  in  Bradford's  Weekly  Mercury. 


206  webstek's  history  or  the 

ledge  tlieir  guiltiness  in  these  things,  and  that,  though  they 
may  have  been  influenced  in  doing  them  by  zeal  to  promote  a 
work  of  grace,  they  are  convinced  these  practices  have  had  a 
dreadful  tendency  to  promote  divisions  and  disturb  the  church. 
7.  That,  whether  they  accept  of  these  terms  or  not,  they  are 
welcome  to  table  charges  in  the  proper  judicature  against  any 
of  us,  and  that^  if  they  accept  these  terms  or  any  other  that 
they  and  we  can  devise,  all  other  grounds  of  complaint  shall 
be  removed  by  public  trial,  or  by  such  method  as  they  or  we 
shall  determine.  These  proposals,  except  the  first  and  second, 
are  evidently  identical  with  the  acknowledgments  made  by 
Tennent  in  his  letter  to  Dickinson.  They  took  him  at  his 
word,  and  offered  reconciliation  on  the  terms  of  his  own  choos- 
ing. On  meeting  in  the  afternoon,  the  Brunswick  party  sent 
for  answer,  that  they  judge  that  there  can  be  no  regular  method 
of  reconciliation  until  the  illegal  protest  be  withdrawn ;  that 
they  and  we  may  be  both  upon  an  equal  footing  in  the  regular 
trial  of  the  difference.  They  alleged  that  there  were  misre- 
presentations and  unreasonable  demands,  and  that  they  had 
several  charges  in  which  they  must  have  satisfaction  before 
they  could  come  into  stated  union  with  them. 

The  New  York  Presbytery  had  prepared  and  sent  proposals 
of  a  different  character.  They  asked : — 1,  That  the  protest  be 
withdrawn,  and  that  the  excluded  members  peaceably  take 
their  seats  as  formerly.  The  synod  replied,  that  the  protest 
was  sufficiently  justified  by  the  reasons  contained  in  it ;  and 
that  the  only  sensible  expedient  for  reunion  was  for  the  ex- 
cluded to  give  under  their  hands  a  statement  how  far  they 
would  comply  with  the  demands  of  it,  by  acknowledging  their 
misconduct  and  by  giving  satisfactory  security  against  the 
fears  of  its  being  repeated.  2.  They  proposed  that  all  who  in 
future  are  privately  educated  for  the  ministry  shall  submit  to 
the  synod's  rule  or  else  go  to  a  New  England  college  for  a 
year:  their  expenses  there,  if  need  be,  to  be  defrayed  out  of 
the  synod's  fund.  The  synod  replied,  that  if  the  excluded 
refused  to  give  satisfaction  for  the  past,  it  was  unlikely  any 
equivalent  to  the  rule  would  be  of  service;  and  that  the  best 
method  would  be  for  them  to  state  what  satisfaction  they  are 
willing  to  give  on  this  head.  That  no  one  shall  close  his 
pulpit  against  any  brother,  and  no  one  encourage  separation 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  207 

or  alienation  from  pastors.  They  replied,  where  love  and 
esteem  actually  subsist,  there  is  no  need  for  such  a  right  to 
be  pleaded  by  the  itinerant;  and  where  jealousy  and  distrust 
exist,  such  a  rule  would  undoubtedly  increase  them.  That  no 
minister  ought  to  be  allowed  to  itinerate  unless  by  order  of  his 
presbytery,  and  by  concurrence  of  the  body  into  whose  bounds 
he  goes.  That  the  separations  were  already  made,  and  that 
those  concerned  in  them  ought  to  be  required  to  return  to 
their  pastors,  or  be  dealt  with  as  disorderly.  4.  That  if  any 
one  has  or  thinks  he  has  ground  for  any  complaint  against  a 
brother,  he  shall  privately  seek  to  have  it  removed ;  and  that 
on  failing,  he  may  cite  him  to  appear  before  his  presbytery  or 
the  synod  or  its  commission.  They  replied,  this  was  the  rule 
already,  and  that  the  natural  method  was  the  best,  to  bring 
every  case  before  the  next  highest  judicature.  5.  That  all 
treat  one  another  as  if  no  difference  had  ever  existed.  They 
replied,  this  was  impossible  until  repentance  were  shown  and 
security  given;  and  was  uuscriptural,  for  we  are  required  to 
rebuke  them  that  sin,  and  avoid  the  author  of  division.  6. 
They  urged,  that  at  this  session  some  plan  of  accommodation 
should  be  adopted,  but  that  if  none  could  be  agreed  on,  then 
they  asked  the  synod  to  give  leave  to  as  many  of  their  mem- 
bers as  pleased  to  erect  a  new  synod,  to  be  in  communion 
with  them,  and  yearly,  by  the  interchange  of  two  correspond- 
ents, to  consult  the  general  interest  of  religion  in  these  parts. 
They  refused  on  the  ground  that  this  would  be  authorize  and 
perpetuate  schism,  and  would  be  a  continual  temptation  to 
each  party  to  build  up  itself  against  the  other ;  but  that  if  the 
new  synod  should  be  erected,  though  they  could  not  but  regard 
it  as  a  contentious  separation,  yet  they  would  endeavour  to  cul- 
tivate a  truly  Christian  and  charitable  disposition  towards  them, 
so  far  as  they  could ;  for  they  added,  they  had  reason  to  acknow- 
ledge that  the  remains  of  corruption  and  uncharitableness  did 
too  much  and  too  often  prevail  over  them. 

These  proposals  were  unanimously  rejected  by  the  synod. 

On  this,  Dickinson,  in  behalf  of  his  co-presbyters,  declared 
that  they  complained  of  no  unfriendly  or  unbrotherly  treatment 
from  the  synod  to  themselves,  but  that,  as  long  as  the  Brunswick 
brethren  were  excluded,  they  could  not  see  their  way  clear  to 
sit  and  act  as  though  we  were  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia. 


208  WEBSTER'S   HISTORY  OF  THE 

An  answer  to  this  paper  was  read ;  but  it  was  unanimously 
agreed  not  to  enter  it  on  the  record. 

The  New  York  brethren  had  happily  escaped  the  divisions 
that  rent  and  tore  the  congregations  in  West  Jersey  and  Penn- 
sylvania; they  had  seen  much  of  the  contending  in  New  Eng- 
land, and  sympathized  with  the  moderate  party  which  bore 
the  cross-fire  of  the  opposers  of  the  revival  and  the  favour- 
ers of  extravagances.  They  had  no  occasion  to  burden  them- 
selves with  Saul's  massive  armour,  and  could  not  understand 
why  the  Protesters  and  their  associates  refused  to  harness  them- 
selves in  coats  of  mail  which  would  render  them  helpless 
before  the  giants  that  were  in  those  days.  They  approached 
the  shield  on  the  golden  side,  w^hile  the  others  saw  no  sign  of 
any  thing  better  than  brass.  They  were  at  their  ease,  and  could 
not  have  compassion  on  those  whose  flocks  were  scattered,  and 
who  met  with  reverence  more  rarely  than  with  reviling.  The 
New  York  terms  of  accommodation  would  have  been  rejected 
by  their  best  friends  in  New  England.  Dr.  Colman  was  not 
satisfied  with  Davenport's  ample  retraction,  till  he  added  to  it 
an  explicit  condemnation  of  intrusions.  In  July,  1743,  a  tes- 
timony in  behalf  of  the  revival,  signed  by  many  ministers  in 
New  England,  contained  this  proviso: — That  ministers  do  not 
invade  the  province  of  others,  and  in  ordinary  cases  preach  in 
another's  parish  without  his  knowledge  and  against  his  con- 
sent, nor  encourage  new  and  indiscreet  young  candidates  to 
rush  into  particular  places.  Colman*  and  fourteen  others 
concurred  in  the  testimony,  with  the  exception  of  the  article 
of  itinerancy,  or  ministers  and  others  intruding  into  parishes 
without  the  consent  of  the  pastors;  "which  great  disorder  we 
apprehend  not  sufliciently  testified  against."  The  New  York 
terms  proposed  to  sanction  this  itinerancy  on  the  largest  scale. 
The  frankness  on  both  sides  is  pleasing.  The  Protesters  made 
their  demands  full  and  clear;  each  party  understood  how  much 
was  asked,  and  how  much  was  yielded. 

In  1742,  several  of  the  back-inhabitants  of  Virginia  suppli- 
cated the  commission  to  ask  the  Scottish  kirk  to  send  them  a 
probationer  or  a  minister.  The  letter  was  written,  but  was 
not  answered.     McDowell,  from  Virginia,  had  been  ordained  as 

*  Tracy's  Great  Awakening. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  '  209 

an  evangelist,  and  sent  to  them ;  and  Hyndman  was  on  tHa 
supplication  ordained  and  sent  to  them. 

In  1743,  the  synod  laid  before  the  General  Assembly  in 
Edinburgh  the  low  and  melancholy  condition  of  the  church  for 
want  of  probationers  to  supply  numerous  vacancies,  and  for 
want  of  suitable  encouragement  of  ministers  in  new  settle- 
ments; and  asked  them  to  send  probationers  and  ministers, 
and  allow  them  some  small  support  for  a  few  years  in  new 
places,  and  also  to  aid  in  establishing  a  school.  Alison  and 
McDowell  wrote  to  some  gentlemen  in  Virginia,  begging  their 
interest  to  further  the  application. 

The  Brunswick  party  had  not  been  idle;  they  ordained 
Robinson  and  Campbell  in  1742,  and  the  next  year,  Finley, 
McKnight,  Youngs,  and  Beatty.  They  also  licensed  Dean, 
and  sent  Treat  to  preach  at  Milford,  in  Connecticut,  and  heal 
the  separation  there.  Robinson  went  through  the  Valley  of 
Virginia  into  North  Carolina,  and  spent  two  years  in  the  new 
settlements  there  and  beyond  the  Susquehanna. 

Davenport,  having  denounced  the  Boston  ministers,  was  pre- 
sented to  the  grand  jury  and  by  them  declared  to  be  insane. 
He  offered  himself  in  October,  1743,  as  a  member  of  New 
Brunswick  Presbytery ;  the  people  of  Hopewell,  New  Jersey, 
petitioning  that  he  might  supply  them  with  a  view  to  settle- 
ment. The  presbytery  examined  him,  and,  finding  him  hum- 
bled and  contrite  for  some  of  the  things  in  which  they  thought 
him  faulty,  but  not  in  all,  they  could  not  allow  a  call  to  be 
presented  to  him,  but  suffered  the  people  to  "improve"  him 
for  the  next  six  months. 

Early  in  February,  1743-4,  Gillespie*  waited  upon  New- 
castle Presbytery,  "convened  at  the  New  London  tract,  and 
then  and  there,  in  the  presence  of  the  said  presbytery  and  of 
a  very  numerous  congregation,  confessed  his  error  and  sin  in 
leaving  them,  and  solemnly  declared  he  was  sorry  he  had  ever 
joined  with  the  new  party;  that  he  had  acted  rashly  and  divi- 
sively,  and  was  led  to  it  by  the  appearance  of  piety  in  some, 
and  by  not  duly  considering  and  comparing  the  protestation  and 
the  apology  of  the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery.  He  thought 
that  the  things  laid  to  the  charge  of  said  presbytery,  and  used 


*  Philadelphia  newspapers. 
14 


210  Webster's  history  of  the 

as  a  ground  of  casting  them  out,  had  not  been  tabled  against 
them,  nor  they  called  to  an  account  and  tried  before  their 
exclusion.  Whereas,  upon  a  fair  and  impartial  review  of  the 
aflair,  he  found  there  was  a  sufficient  ground  to  cast  them  out 
in  1739,  when  they  gave  in  their  apology,  because  in  it  they 
argued  for  the  subversion  of  the  Presbyterian  plan  of  govern- 
ment, and  paved  the  way  for  all  the  anarchy  and  confusion 
that  has  followed  since.  The  letter  that  he  published  to  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York,  went  upon  a  false  foundation,  as  if 
the  apology  had  not  been  tried ;  and  that,  by  their  adhering  to 
it  and  endeavouring  to  vindicate  it,  they  deserved  exclusion. 
He  was  received  as  a  member  with  mutual  joy  and  satis- 
faction." 

In  1744,  none  of  New  York  Presbytery  were  present  in 
synod,  and  they  sent  no  further  proposals.  Pomeroy  sent  his 
excuse  for  absence,  he  being  near  his  end.  Gillespie  appeared 
for  the  first  time  since  the  rupture.  Hutcheson  wrote  to  the 
synod  expressing  his  views  of  the  proceedings  on  both  sides, 
and  giving  his  advice.  They  sent  a  respectful  reply  to  him  by 
Alison.  Jamison  and  Stevenson  had  been  removed  by  death, 
Griffith  and  Steel  had  been  ordained,  Scougal  received  from 
Scotland,  and  Bell  suspended.  Newcastle  Presbytery  now 
had  seven  ministers,  all  present;  there  were  five  from  Donegal 
and  six  from  Philadelphia :  there  were  fifteen  elders.  McHenry 
was  chosen  moderator.  Many  people  of  North  Carolina  re- 
quested the  synod  to  take  their  desolate  condition  into  consi- 
deration, and  send  one  of  their  number  to  correspond  with 
them.  John  Thomson,  who  was  about  settling  in  Virginia, 
was  appointed,  and  travelled  thither  to  preach  to  them  and 
learn  fully  their  condition.  They  also  wrote  to  Wales,  that  a 
probationer,  speaking  the  language  of  the  Principality,  might 
be  sent  over. 

The  brethren  having  agreed  privately  to  establish  a  school, 
the  synoi  took  it  under  their  care,  and  resolved  to  keep  it 
open  through  the  year,  that  all  who  please  may  have  their 
children  instructed  gratis  in  the  languages,  philosophy,  and 
divinity.  It  was  to  be  supported  by  yearly  congregational  col- 
lections. Alison  was  chosen  master,  with  a  salary  of  twenty 
pounds,  with  leave  to  choose  an  usher,  to  whom  they  promised 
fifteen  pounds. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  211 

Tlie  Rev.  Mr.  Dorsius,  or  Dorse}',  of  the  Reformed  Dutch 
ehurch  in  Bucks  county,  from  the  deputies  of  !N"orth  and  South 
HolUind,  desiring  of  the  synod  an  account  of  the  state  of  the 
High  and  Low  Dutch  churches  in  the  province,  and  of  the 
synod's  churches,  and  whether  they  can  be  united  in  one 
synod,  or  whether  the  Dutch  can  be  formed  into  a  synod  by 
themselves, — the  synod  wrote  to  the  deputies  of  those  synods 
and  to  the  Scotch  ministers  in  Rotterdam,  giving  the  account 
and  signifying  their  willingness  to  join  with  the  Calvinist 
Dutch  churches.  They  represented  also  the  great  want  both 
of  High  and  Low  Dutch  ministers,  and  desired  them  to  help 
in  educating  men  for  the  ministry. 

The  Brunswick  party  sent  Blair  to  the  synod,  demanding 
that  a  portion  of  the  fund  be  allowed  them.  They  replied, 
that  they  saw  in  this  no  endeavour  for  peace  or  for  healing 
the  lamentable  divisions;  and  that  as  they  have  by  their  con- 
duct forfeited  all  right  to  membership,  their  demand  is  highly 
unreasonable  and  unjust,  and  not  to  be  complied  with. 

Dickinson,  Pierson,  and  Nutman,  with  Gillespie,  were  put 
on  the  commission. 

On  the  8th  of  July,  1744,  Davenport  made  a  free,  complete 
retraction  of  all  his  errors: — "I  had  the  long  fever  and  the 
cankery  humor  raging  at  once ;  my  spirit  was  devoid  of  in- 
ward PEACE,  laying  too  much  stress  on  externals,  neglect- 
ing the  heart,  being  full  of  impatience,  pride,  and  arrogance." 
"  His  manner  was  so  changed ;  it  was  with  such  a  mild,  plea- 
sant, meek  and  humble  spirit,  broken  and  contrite,  as  I  scarce 
ever  saw  exceeded  or  equalled.  He  asked  pardon  of  those  he 
had  treated  amiss,  and  in  a  large  assembly  made  a  public 
recantation  of  his  mistakes  and  offences." 

In  August,  1744,  Whitefield  arrived  in  New  England,  and 
remained  there  till  the  spring.  On  one  occasion,  while  preach- 
ing at  Webb's  meeting-house  in  Boston,  there  was  an  outcry 
and  great  confusion.  Dr.  Colman*  wrote  at  once  to  him,  not 
to  encourage  such  things  and  make  a  party  for  Moorhead,  the 
Presbyterian  minister.  Whitefield  disclaimed  any  such  idea ; 
and  Colman  replied,  wishing  "such  things  might  be  confined 
to  walls,  where  I  always  esteemed  them  but  the  signs  of  the 

*  MSS.  of  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 


212  tvebstek's  history  of  the 

weakness  and  infirmity  of  minister  and  people."  A  body  of 
people  separated  at  Newburyport,  and  subsequently  became  a 
Presbyterian  church.  When  "Whitefield  preached  in  their 
new  meeting-house,  such  was  his  kindness*  on  the  head 
of  separations,  that  he  declared  to  the  congregation  before 
preaching,  that  he  would  not  have  appeared  there,  but  be- 
cause of  the  snow,  and  the  other  places  of  worship  being 
refused  him.  He  also  declared  at  that  time  against  unscrip- 
tural  separations. 

In  June,  1745,  the  General  Association  of  Connecticutf 
declared,  that  "Whitefield  having  been  the  promoter  or  faulty 
occasion  of  the  prevailing  disorders-,  it  would  be  by  no  means 
advisable  for  any  of  our  ministers  to  open  their  pulpits  to  him, 
during  his  progress  through  this  government,  or  for  any  of 
our  people  to  attend  his  administrations. 

The  synod  in  1745  was  attended  by  Dickinson,  Pierson,  and 
Pemberton,  with  his  elder,  l^athaniel  Hazard;  all  of  Philadel- 
phia Presbytery  but  Guild ;  all  of  JSTewcastle  Presbytery,  and 
only  three — \iz. :  Thomson,  Boyd,  and  Zauchy — from  Donegal. 
There  were  thirteen  elders.  Cathcart  was  chosen  moderator; 
Dickinson,  Pierson,  and  Pemberton  were  put  at  the  head  of 
the  commission. 

At  the  request  of  the  Xew  York  brethren,  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  confer  with  them  and  accommodate  the  difference 
between  them.  The  committee  did  not  succeed,  and  the  synod 
spent  much  time  in  committee  of  the  whole,  and  appointed 
Thomson,  Alison,  Griffith,  Steel,  and  McDowell,  to  prepare  and 
bring  in  a  plan  of  union.  As  a  preliminary,  the  Xew  York  \ 
brethren  declared  that  they  accounted  only  such  of  the  Bruns-  ' 
wick  party  as  had  been  members  of  the  synod,  to  be  members 
now. 

The  plan  was  prefaced  by  a  narrative  of  the  diflferences ; 
and,  premising  that  the  New  York  brethren  proposed  that 
all  the  members  of  the  synod  should  subscribe  the  essential 
agreements  on  which  the  synod  was  established,  they  concur, 
and  declare  those  agreements  to  be : — 1.  In  all  prudential 
acts,  every  member  shall  either  actively  concur  or  peaceably 


*  Noticed  in  all  the  papers  of  the  day. 
I  Trumbull's  History  of  Connecticut. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  213" 

submit  to,  and  not  counteract  the  determinations  of  tlie  ma- 
jority ;  or  else  withdraw  if  he  have  not  freedom  of  con- 
science to  comply.  2.  Only  the  rules  of  the  gospel  and  our 
known  methods  shall  be  used,  when  any  one  sees  faultiness 
in  his  brother's  life  or  doctrine.  3.  No  minister  shall  preach 
in  another's  charge,  unless  invited  by  him  or  appointed  by 
the  proper  authority ;  and  new  erections  in  any  regulated 
congregations  shall  neither  be  maintained  or  supported  by 
any  of  our  members.  4.  j^one  shall  be  admitted,  without 
submitting  to  examination  and  subscribing  these  agree- 
ments. 5.  That  each  member  keep,  a  day  of  fasting,  to 
mourn  the  decline  of  religion  and  irhplore  the  blessing 
of  God. 

The  New  York  brethren  immediately  declared  they  would 
not  be  united  with  them  on  this  plan,  and  desired  a  copy 
of  it  for  their  presbytery.  They  proposed  that  they  be 
allowed  to  form,  with  the  consent  of  the  synod,  a  new 
synod;  that  there  may  be  a  foundation  for  both  bodies  to 
act  in  mutual  concert,  and  maintain  love  and  brotherly 
kindness.  The  synod  replied,  that  they  saw  no  just  ground 
for  their  withdrawal;  yet,  seeing  they  proposed  to  erect  a 
new  synod  in  the  most  friendly  manner  possible,  we  shall 
endeavour  to  maintain  Christian  affection  towards  them  and 
show  it  on  all  suitable  occasions  by  correspondence  and 
fellowship. 

Minuteness  was  necessary  in  the  detail  of  the  measures 
which  separated  the  New  York  Presbytery  from  the  Protest- 
ers, that  justice  might  be  done  to  the  character  of  the  latter, 
as  Christian  men  of  good  report.  They  insisted  on  one  point 
only,  to  which  the  New  York  brethren  could  not  fully  con- 
sent ;  for  they  concurred  in  regarding  those  only  as  members 
of  the  synod  who  were  so  at  the  protestation.  All  ordained 
since,  as  well  as  any  ordained  in  disregard  of  the  rule  con- 
cerning candidates,  were  not  to  be  admitted  as  members  of  the 
synod,  even  on  the  withdrawal  of  the  protest,  until  the  ma- 
jority of  the  body  consented.  The  hinderancey  was  the  demand 
to  amalgamate  the  Old  and  New  Side  congregations,  as  if  no 
separation  had  taken  place ;  to  unsettle  their  pastors ;  and  to 
.compel  the  people  to  return  to  the  old  meeting-houses.  The 
thing  was  impracticable;  and,  even  if  the  Brunswick  party 


214  Webster's  history  of  the 

had  faithfully  used  all  their  endeavours  to  effect  it,  their  suc- 
cess would  have  amounted  only  to  filling  old  bottles  with  the 
new  fermenting  liquor,  merely  to  see  them  burst  and  waste 
the  wines. 

It  was  a  kind  Providence  that  frustrated  their  well-meant 
endeavours  for  a  reunion.  Separation  placed  both  parties  in 
a  position  to  see, other's  excellencies,  and  made  them  cordially 
desirous  of  drawing  together.  There  was  too  much  corrup- 
tion and  contentiousness,  and  too  frequent  yieldings  to  it,  in 
most  of  the  Protesters  and  the  excluded,  to  have  rendered 
union  comfortable.  Many  expedients  might  have  been  de- 
vised ;  but  it  is  a  blessing  that  cometh  of  the  Lord,  "  to  make 
men  of  one  mind  in  a  house."  The  commission  met  at  Bran- 
d}^ne,  Delaware,  on  the  20th  of  August,  and  wrote  to  Presi- 
dent Clapp  and  the  Trustees  of  Yale,  who,  in  reply,  expressed 
their  readiness  to  aid  them  in  sustaining  their  school,  and 
inquired  about  the  plan  of  it  and  the  state  of  the  synod. 
"  Our  poor  undertaking  has  been  so  blessed  by  Providence 
as  to  exceed  our  expectations.  Several  ministers  and  gentle- 
men have  helped  us  to  books,  to  begin  a  library ;  and  we  hope 
in  time  to  obtain  assistance  from  England,  Ireland,  and  else- 
where, to  found  a  college.  Our  fund  for  public  uses  is  consi- 
derable ;  but  we  have  had  no  occasion  to  apply  any  of  it  to 
the  school."  They  proposed  to  send  their  scholars  to  Yale, 
to  be  examined  by  the  president  and  fellows,  and  treated  only 
according  to  proficiency. 

The  particulars  are  lost  to  us  of  the  proposals  interchanged 
between  the  New  York  and  the  Brunswick  brethren,  before 
they  united  in  forming  a  union.  Whitefield  was  in  the 
country;  but  he  was  not  consulted,*  although  he  was  at 
New  York  very  shortly  before  the  new  synod  met  at  Eliza- 
bethtown. 

"  At  New  York,  Whitefield  found  the  seed  sown  had  sprung 
up  abundantly,  and  at  the  east  end  of  Long  Island  he  saw 
many  instances.  Near  Freehold,  he  preached,  through  an 
interpreter,  to  the  Indians  who  had  been  converted  under 
Braiuerd,  and  saw  nearly  fifty  in  a  school  learning  the  Assem- 


*  "His  seeming  to  favour  the  Moravians  causes  our  ministers  to  keep  aloof 
from  him." — Rev.  Enos  A^res  to  Mr.  Bellamy,  September,  1745.     MS.  Letter. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  21^ 

bly's  Catecliism.  "William  Tennent  seemed  to  encourage  the 
mission  with  his  whole  heart." 

"His  party  I  found  much  on  the  advance,"  is  all  that 
"Whitefield  says  on  the  matter,  so  interesting  and  so  important 
in  its  vast  and  happy  results. 

Fifty  persons  on  horseback  escorted  "Whitefield  into  Phila- 
delphia, where  he  found  Gilbert  Tennent  settled;  and  the  trus- 
tees of  the  Great  House  offered  him  eight  hundred  pounds  if 
he  would  preach  for  them  six  months  in  the  year.  It  appears 
that  he  urged  Eomaine  and  E^;^  Haweis*  to  go  and  preach 
in  the  Great  House.  He  remained  seven  days  in  the  city, — 
from  the  13th  to  the  20th. 

The  meeting  to  constitute  the  synod  was  large.  Of  ISTew 
York  Presbytery  were  present,  Dickinson  and  his  elder, 
Joseph  Woodrufte ;  Pemberton  and  his  elder,  JSTathaniel  Ha- 
zard ;  Pierson  ;  Simon  Horton ;  Burr  and  his  elder,  Joseph 
Prudden  ;  Johnes ;  Byram,  of  Mendham,  and  his  elder,  Ben- 
jamin Leonard ;  Sturgeon,  of  Bedford,  and  his  elder,  John 
Ayres ;  and  A.  Horton. 

Of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  Gilbert  Tennent  and 
his  elder,  Samuel  Hazard;  Lamb;  Treat;  William  Ten- 
nent and  his  elder,  Robert  Gumming;  McCrea  and  his 
elder,  John  Craig;  Robinson;  Youngs;  Beatty  and  his 
elder,  Richard  Walker;  McKnight  and  his  elder,  Peter 
Peryen. 

Of  Newcastle  Presbytery,  Samuel  Blair  and  his  elder,  John 
Love ;  S.  Finley ;  C.  Tennent ;  John  Blair  and  his  elder, 
Alexander  Moody. 

They  considered  and  adopted  the  following  plan  and  foun- 
dation of  their  synodical  union  : — 

"  1.  They  agree  that  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith, 
with  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  be  the  public  con- 
fession of  their  faith  in  such  manner  as  was  agreed  unto 
by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1729,  and  to 
be  inserted  in  the  latter  end  of  this  book.  And  they  declare 
their  approbation  of  the  Directory  of  the  Assembly  of 
Divines  at  Westminster,  as  the  general  plan  of  worship 
and  discipline. 

*  Life  and  Times  of  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon. 


216  Webster's  history  op  the 

"  2.  They  agree  that,  in  matters  of  discipline,  and  those 
things  that  relate  to  the  peace  and  good  order  of  our  churches, 
they  shall  be  determined  according  to  the  major  vote  of  minis- 
ters and  elders,  with  which  vote  every  member  shall  actively 
concur  or  pacifically  acquiesce  ;  but  if  any  member  cannot  in 
conscience  agree  to  the  determination  of  the  majority,  but 
supposes  himself  obliged  to  act  contrary  thereunto,  and  the 
synod  think  themselves  obliged  to  insist  upon  it  as  essen- 
tially necessary  to  the  well-being  of  our  churches,  in  that 
case  such  dissenting  member  promises  peaceably  to  with- 
draw from  the  body,  without  endeavouring  to  raise  any  dis- 
pute or  contention  upon  the  debated  point,  or  any  unjust 
alienation  of  affection  from  them. 

"  3.  If  any  member  of  their  body  supposes  that  he  hath 
any  thing  to  object  against  any  of  his  brethren  with  respect 
to  error  in  doctrine,  immorality  in  life,  or  negligence  in  his 
ministry,  he  shall  not  on  any  account  propagate  the  scandal 
until  the  person  objected  against  is  dealt  with  according  to 
the  rules  of  the  gospel  and  the  known  methods  of  their 
discipline. 

"  4.  They  agree  that  all  who  have  a  competent  degree  of 
ministerial  knowledge,  are  orthodox  in  their  doctrine,  regular 
in  their  lives,  and  diligent  in  their  endeavours  to  promote 
the  important  designs  of  vital  godliness,  and  that  will  submit 
to  their  discipline,  shall  be  cheerfully  admitted  into  their  com- 
munion. 

"And  they  do  also  agree  that,  in  order  to  avoid  all  divisive 
methods  among  their  ministers  and  congregations,  and  to 
strengthen  the  discipline  of  Christ  in  the  churches  in  these 
parts,  they  will  maintain  a  correspondence  with  the  Synod 
of  Philadelphia  in  this  their  first  meeting,  by  appointing  two 
of  their  members  to  meet  with  the  said  Synod  of  Philadelphia 
at  their  next  convention,  and  to  concert  with  them  such  mea- 
sures as  may  best  promote  the  precious  interests  of  Christ's 
kingdom  in  these  parts. 

"And  that  they  may  in  no  respect  encourage  any  factious 
separating  practices  or  principles,  they  agree  that  they  will 
not  intermeddle  tvith  judicially  hearing  the  complaints,  or 
with  supplying  with  ministers  and  candidates  such  parties 
of  men^  as  shall  separate  from  any  Presbyterian  or  Cougrega- 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  217 

tional  churches  that  are  not  within  their  bounds,  unless  the 
matters  of  controversy  be  submitted  to  their  jurisdiction  or 
advice  by  both  parties." 

Compared  with  the  proposals  oftered  by  the  Protesters, 
these  articles  look  almost  as  if  drawn  by  the  latter.  The 
fourth  article  is  so  contrary  to  all  that  had  been  taught  about 
graceless  and  unconverted  preachers,  that  it  might  have  been 
brought  in  by  Thomson  and  Robert  Cross  and  accepted  by 
any  one  of  the  Old  Side. 


218  Webster's  history  of  the 


CHAPTER  Vni. 

Acting  by  themselves,  and  engaged  in  constituting  a  synod 
for  themselves,  the  New  Side  yielded  much  to  the  New  York 
brethren,  without  imagining  they  were  yielding  any  thing.* 
Demanded  as  articles  of  submission  by  Philadelphia  Synod, 
most  of  the  terms  of  the  Plan  would  have  been  rejected  super- 
ciliously. 

Dickinson  was  chosen  moderator,  and  Pemberton  clerk, 
and  they  two  were  appointed  a  committee  to  meet  with  the 
Philadelphia  Synod  and  propose  terms  of  agreement  and  cor- 
respondence. An  interloquitur  was  held,  probably  to  agree 
on  the  terms  to  be  offered  by  them;  and  a  commission  was 
appointed,  embracing  four  members  of  the  New  York  Presby- 
tery, and  two  from  each  of  the  other  presbyteries. 

Philadelphia  Synod  met  May  29,  1746,  with  twelve  minis- 
ters and  eleven  elders.  No  new  members  had  been  added, 
and  Bertram  and  Scougal  had  died.  The  smallpox  being  in 
Philadelphia,  the  committee  of  New  York  Synod  did  not  at- 
tend ;  but  Dickinson  wrote,  desiring  correspondence,  each  body 
to  send  yearly  to  the  other  two  of  their  members,  and  pro- 
posing a  triennial  meeting,  by  delegates,  in  some  convenient 
place,  "to  order  public  affairs  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the 
good  of  the  church."     They  replied: — 


*  Samuel  Finley  to  Bellamy,  Elizabethtown,  September  20,  1745.  "I  can  truly 
sympathize  with  you  in  your  grievances  as  to  the  declension  of  religion  and  to 
those  horrendous  principles  you  mention;  they  are  antinomian  and  enthusiastic. 
....  We  iiave  some  that  treat  us  in  the  same  way  as  your  Eastern  Exhorters,  and 
equally  pervert  the  Scriptures,  ignorantly  taking  some  scriptural  expressions  in 
their  full  extent,  and  will  not  observe  the  limitations  made  by  other  Scriptures. 
But  I'm  so  hurried  I  cannot  write  the  fourth  part  of  what  I  would.  We  are  joined 
in  a  synod  with  New  York  Presbytery.  Religion  is  not  lively  with  us ;  yet  some- 
times a  sinner  is  brought  home  and  saints  refreshed." 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  219 

• 

"Reverend  and  Dear  Brother: — 

"We  had  yours  laid  before  us  by  Mr.  Andrews,  and  trust  we 
can  heartily  join  in  all  proper  methods  to  promote  the  glory 
of  God,  the  interest  of  Christ's  kingdom,  and  welfare  of  the 
churches  in  these  parts;  and  shall  readily  join  with  you  in 
remembering  each  other  at  the  throne  of  grace,  and  praying 
for  each  other's  gospel  endeavours  to  advance  religion.  We 
are  also  pleased,  that  attempts  are  making  by  you,  to  prevent 
divisive  methods.  We  would  desire,  you  might  communicate  to 
us  the  plan  on  w^hich  you  have  erected  yourselves,  what  general 
agreements  you  have  brought  the  members  under  on  their  ad- 
mission, and  who  are  members  with  you.  When  we  are  better 
acquainted  with  these  things,  we  can  the  more  readily  judge 
how  we  shall  be  able  to  answer  your  desires.  We  can  assure 
you  of  our  regard  and  friendship,  and  of  our  prayers  for  the 
divine  blessing  on  your  person  and  ministerial  labours." 

In  their  letter  to  the  Rector  and  the  Trustees  of  Yale,  they 
say,  "The  New  York  Synod's  proposals  seem  fair;  but,  till  the 
dividers  of  our  churches  (and  they  chiefly  make  up  that  body) 
declare  against  the  late  divisive,  uncharitable  practices,  and  show 
us  in  what  way  they  intend  to  have  their  youth  educated  for 
the  ministry,  we  shall  be^hy  to  comply  with  their  proposals." 
The  omission  of  sending  the  plan  and  the  list  of  members 
of  the  new  synod  was  a  fatal  one.  Had  Dickinson  met  with 
them,  it  would  have  been  supplied,  and  the  way  prepared  for  a 
reconciliation  and  for  friendly  intercourse  as  two  contiguous 
and  distinct  judicatories. 

The  next  meeting  of  New  York  Synod  was  in  the  spring, 
and  was  very  small.  The  members  were  prevented  from  at- 
tending by  the  apprehension  of  smallpox  and  other  difficulties. 
Dickinson  preached  from  Psalm  xxiv.  4;  and  Pemberton  was 
chosen  moderator.  The  reply  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia 
was  read;  but  no  notice  appears  to  have  been  taken  of  it  at 
this  time,  or  at  the  meeting  in  May,  1T47,  or  in  1748.  During 
this  time,  Robinson,  Dickinson,  Brainerd,  and  Tucker  died ; 
and  there  were  ordained  Roan,  Sackett,  Bostwick,  Grant, 
Hunter,  Dean,  Green,  Lawrence,  Davies,  Arthur,  Sterling,  Bay, 
and  Prudden.  Davenport,  Symmes,  and  Lewis  had  been  re- 
ceived from  Long  Island  or  New  England.  j. 


220  Webster's  HistoRY  of  the 

♦ 

jSTothing  was  done  on  the  subject  of  union  or  correspond- 
ence with  the  New  York  Synod  by  the  Old  Synod  in  1747  or 
1748.  The  meeting  in  1747  was  small, — twelve  ministers  and 
twelve  elders.*  Andrews  had  beeii  removed  by  death,  and 
four  ministers  had  been  ordained: — Thom,  Dick,  Hamilton,  and 
Hector  Alison.  In  1748,  there  were  fourteen  ministers  pre- 
sent, and  twelve  elders;  Dick  had  died,  and  Brown  had  been 
received  from  Scotland. 

During  this  lull  in  the  storm,  which  so  completely  becalmed 
the  two  ships  of  Zion  that  they  attempted  no  intercourse,  the 
spirit  of  Gilbert  Tennent  stirred  within  him,  and  he  preached, 
June  20,  1749,  the  "Irenicum;  or,  a  Plea  for  the  Peace  of 
Jerusalem." 

In  May,  1749,  the  New  York  Synod  met,  with  twenty-two 
ministers  and  six  elders.  Twenty-one  ministers  were  absent. 
Dean  had  died  and  Allen  had  been  received,  and  Rodgers, 
Smith,  John  Brainerd,  and  Richards  had  been  ordained.  The 
/T  Presbytery  of  Suflblk  was  admitted  into  the  synod,  and  Mr. 
Prime  and  Mr.  Brown  took  their  seats. 

A  motion  waSsjnade  for  making  proposals  to  the  Philadelphia 
Synod  for  a  union :  it  was  considered  the  next  day,  and,  after 
much  reasoning,  was  carried  by  a  great  majority.  Among 
the  absentees  were  Samuel  and  John  Blair,  William  and 
Charles  Tennent,  Wales,  and  Sterling. 

The  paper  was  as  follows : — 

"  The  Synod  of  New  York  are  deeply  sensible  of  the  many 
unhappy  consequences  that  flow  from  our  present  divided 
state,  and  have  with  pleasure  observed  a  spirit  of  moderation 
increasing  between  many  of  the  members  of  both  synods. 
This  opens  a  door  of  hope,  that,  if  we  were  united  in  one  body, 
we  might  be  able  to  carry  on  the  designs  of  religion  in  future 
peace  and  agreement  to  our  mutual  satisfaction;  and,  though 
we  retain  the  same  sentiments  of  the  work  of  God  which  we 
formerly  did,  yet  we  esteem  mutual  forbearance  our  duty, 
since  we  all  profess  the  same  Confession  of  Faith  and  Direc- 
tory of  Worship.  We  would,  therefore,  humbly  propose  to 
our  brethren  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  that  all  our  former 

*  Gillespie,  though  recorded  as  absent,  was  present  on  the  second  day  of  the 
meeting. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  221 

diflferences  be  buried  in  perpetual  oblivion,  and  that  for  tlie 
time  to  come,  both  synods  be  united  into  one,  and  that  hence- 
forth there  be  no  contentions  among  us ;  but  to  carry  towards 
each  other  in  the  most  peaceable  and  brotherly  manner,  which 
we  are  persuaded  will  be  for  the  honour  of  our  Master,  the 
credit  of  our  profession,  and  the  edification  of  the  churches 
committed  to  our  care.  Accordingly,  we  appoint  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  John  Pierson,  Gilbert  Tennent,  Ebenezer  Pemberton, 
and  Aaron  Burr,  to  be  our  delegates  to  wait  upon  the  S3'nod 
of  Philadelphia  with  these  proposals.  And  if  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia  see  meet  to  join  with  us  in  this  design,  and  will 
please  to  appoint  a  commission  to  meet  for  that  purpose,  we 
appoint  the  Rev.  Messrs.  John  Pierson,  Ebenezer  Pemberton, 
Aaron  Burr,  Gilbert  and  William  Tennent,  Richard  Treat, 
Samuel  or  John  Blair,  John  Roan,  Samuel  Finley,  Ebenezer 
Prime,  David  Bostwick,  and  James  Brown,  (whom  we  appoint 
a  commission  of  the  synod  for  the  ensuing  year,)  to  meet  with 
the  commission  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  at  such  time 
and  place  as  they  shall  choose,  to  determine  the  affair  of  the 
union,  agreeable  to  the  preliminary  articles  concluded  upon 
by  this  synod ;  and  it  is  agreed  that  any  other  of  our  members 
who  shall  please  to  meet  with  the  commission  shall  have 
liberty  of  voting  and  acting  in  said  affair  equally  with  the 
members  of  said  commissioui  Which  articles  proposed  as  a 
general  plan  of  union  are  as  follows,  viz.: — 

"  1.  To  preserve  the  common  peace,  we  would  propose  that 
all  names  of  distinction  which  have  been  made  use  of  in  the 
late  times  be  forever  abolished. 

"  2.  That  every  member  assent  unto  and  adopt  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  and  Directory,  according  to  the  plan  formerly 
agreed  to  by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  in  the  years . 

"  3.  That  every  member  promise,  that  after  any  question  has 
been  determined  by  the  major  vote,  he  will  actively  concur  or 
passively  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  body;  but  if  his  con- 
science permit  him  to  do  neither  of  these,  that  then  he  shall 
be  obliged  peaceably  to  withdraw  from  our  synodical  com- 
munion, without  any  attempt  to  make  a  schism  or  division 
among  us.  Yet  this  is  not  intended  to  extend  to  any  cases 
but  those  which  the  synod  judges  essential  in  matters  of  doc- 
trine or  discipline. 


222  Webster's  history  of  the 

"  4.  That  all  our  respective  congregations  and  vacancies  be 
acknowledged  as  congregations  belonging  to  the  synod,  but 
continue  under  the  care  of  the  same  presbytery  as  now  they 
are,  until  a  favourable  opportunity  presents  for  an  advan- 
tageous alteration. 

"5.  That  we  all  agree  to  esteem  and  treat  it  as  a  censurable 
evil,  to  accuse  any  of"  our  members  of  error  in  doctrine  or 
immorality  in  conversation,  any  otherwise  than  by  private 
reproof,  till  the  accusation  has  been  brought  before  a  regular 
judicature  and  issued  according  to  the  known  rules  of  our 
discipline." 

The  Synod  of  Philadelphia  met  the  week  following:  four 
ministers  present  from  each  presbytery,  and  ten  elders.  One 
minister  had  been  ordained.  Joseph  JTate  and  Brown  had 
returned  to  Scotland.  At  the  first  sederunt,  the  proposals  for 
peace  and  union  were  brought  in  by  the  four  delegates  of  New 
York  Synod,  and  the  synod  resolved  itself  into  a  committee 
and  spent  the  next  morning  in  considering  them. 

The  delegates  agreed  to  the  following  concessions  and 
amendments  in  the  proposals. 

1.  We  retain  the  same  sentiments  of  the  work  of  God  which 
we  formerly  did,  [though  great  and  good  men  have  been  of 
different  opinions.] 

In  the  third  article  to  strike  out  "yet  this  is  not  intended," 
&c.,  and  to  substitute  "always  reserving  a  liberty  for  such 
dissenting  members  to  lay  their  grievances  before  the  synod 
in  a  peaceable  manner."  To  add  two  articles: — "6.  That 
there  be  no  intrusion  into  the  bounds  of  presb}i;eries  or  pas- 
toral charges  against  the  inclination  of  presbyteries  or  pastors. 

"7.  That  all  candidates  for  the  w^ork  of  the  ministry 
either  be  examined  by  the  synod  or  its  commission  previous 
to  their  admission  on  trials  by  any  of  our  presbyteries,  or  else 
be  obliged  to  obtain  a  college-diploma,  or  a  certificate,  from  the 
president  and  trustees  of  the  college,  of  their  having  been 
examined  and  found  qualified." 

Gilbert  Tenneut  only  objected  to  the  synodical  examination 
of  candidates. 

It  was  also  agreed  tliat  the  two  commissions  should  ripen 
things  for  the  next  synodical  meetings,  but  not  finally  deter- 
mine any  thing. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  223 

The  synod,  at  the  close  of  this  conference,  resolved,  as  tlio 
delegates  have  given  us  some  hope  of  our  great  ground  of 
complaint  being  removed,  to  leave  the  matter  to  a  commis- 
sion ;  and  to  lay  a  copy  of  the  New  York  Synod's  plan  and 
confession  before  every  presbytery;  and  that,  if  possible,  every 
member  be  consulted;  and  that  the  presbyteries  offer  what 
else  they  think  necessary  for  this  valuable  end,  and  give  it  in 
charge  to  those  of  their  members  who  are  of  the  commission, 
to  treat  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  New  York  Synod  at  Tren- 
ton, in  October. 

"  John  Thomson  was  then  labouring  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia ; 
and  the  moderator,  Timothy  Griffith,  was  ordered  to  write  to 
him  on  this  head. 

By  a  remarkable  coincidence,  the  records  of  each  of  the 
three  presbyteries  for  that  year  are  lost. 

On  the  4th  of  October,  the  two  commissions  met  to  treat 
upon  the  overture  of  union.  From  the  Philadelphia  Synod, 
there  were  four  Protesters, — Cross,  Boyd,  Cathcart,  and  Alison ; 
two  who  had  adhered  to  them  at  the  rupture, — Cowell  and 
McHenry;  and  two  members  ordained  since, —  Griffith  and 
Thom.  From  the  New  York  Synod  there  were  present, ^f 
those  who  were  excluded  by  the  protest,  Gilbert  and  William 
Tennent,  Treat,  and  Samuel  Blair ;  three  of  those  who,  in 
those  trying  times,  had  as  probationers  and  candidates  been 
strongly  identified  with  them, — Samuel  Finley,  James  Blair, 
and  Roan ;  two  who  had  signed  the  New  York  Presbytery's 
protest  against  the  exclusion, — Pierson  and  Pemberton ;  and 
two  new  members, — Lewis  and  Arthur. 

Of  the  New  York  commission,  there  were  absent.  Burr, 
Prime,  Bostwick,  and  Brown.  Cowell  was  chosen  moderator, 
and  Arthur  clerk.  Leave  had  been  granted  by  the  New  York 
Synod  to  their  members  not  in  commission  to  attend  and  have 
equal  liberty  of  voting  with  those  in  commission.  A  number 
availed  themselves  of  this  privilege:  their  names  are  not 
given.  Several  who  had  not  been  present  in  forming  the 
general  plan  of  union  desired  a  private  conference  with  their 
brethren,  that  they  might  be  fully  acquainted  with  each  other's 
sentiments,  and  with  the  general  concessions  or  preliminary 
articles  made  by  their  committee.  The  commissioners  ad- 
journed till  the  next  day,  when  the  New  York  brethren,  waiv- 


224  Webster's  history  of  the 

\  ing  all  other  matters,  immediately  insisted  that  the  protest 
'  should,  by  some  authentic  and  formal  act  of  the  Philadelphia 
Synod,  be  declared  null  and  void.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
reported  by  some  of  the  Old  Side  that  the  protest  was  to  be 
contirmed,  and  the  New  York  Synod  to  be  received  on  that 
footing;  and  that  this  was  the  reason  of  their  mentioning  the 
protest  in  particular.  The  debates  on  this  head  rose  very 
high;  and,  no  prospect  appearing  of  coming  to  any  conclusion, 
by  reason  of  some  of  the  New  York  brethren  being  unable  to 
agree  on  the  explication  of  their  own  plan,  they  unanimously 
agreed  that  each  synod,  at  its  next  session,  more  fully  prepare 
proposals  for  accommodation,  and  interchange  them ;  and  that 
in  the  mean  time  there  be  a  mutual  endeavour  to  cultivate  a 
spirit  of  candour  and  friendship. 

The  principal  things  to  be  considered  by  the  synods  were, — 
1.  The  protest;  2.  The  paragraph  about  essentials;  3.  Of 
presbyteries. 

The  Synod  of  New  York  met  May  16, 1750.  There  was  a 
J  Q  large  attendance.  They  had  lost  Lanib  by  death,  had  received 
Spencer,  and.  ordained  Ayres  and  Reid.  Gilbert  and  Charles 
Tennent  were  absent,  with  Samuel  Finley  and  all  of  the  Suf- 
folk Presbytery.  They  were  not  able  to  proceed  to  make  fur- 
ther proposals  for  union,  the  minutes  of  their  last  meeting  and 
the  plan  not  being  in  the  house.  They  expressed  to  the  Phila- 
delphia Synod  their  regret,  and  professed  their  design  to  enter 
upon  that  affair  the  next  year. 

The  Philadelphia  Synod  met  on  the.  23d  of  May,  1750.  The 
venerable  John  Thomson  had  come  from  Virginia  to  be  pre- 
sent at  this  interesting  period.  Craig  was  also  there.  There 
were  besides,  from  Donegal  Presbytery,  Boyd,  Elder,  Zanchy, 
y  Caven,  and  Tate.  From  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  there  were 
Cross,  Elmer,  Cowell,  Guild,  and  McIIenry.  From  Newcastle, 
Cathcart,  Alison,  McDowell,  Griffith,  Steel,  Hamilton,  and 
Hector  Alison.  There  were  fourteen  elders.  Thorn  had  de- 
ceased, and  no  new  member  had  been  added. 

On  receiving  the  minute  of  the  New  York  Synod  in  relation 
to  the  union,  they  joined  them  in  regretting  that  a  thing  so 
much  desired  by  them  cannot  be  prosecuted ;  and,  hoping  to  have 
their  expectations  answered  by  such  proposals  next  year  as  shall 
effectually  promote  union,  they  would  heartily  join  with  them  in 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  225 

the  mean  time  in  such  measures  as  shall  promote  candour  and 
friendship. 

The  Synod  of  New  York  met  at  Newark  in  the  following 
September,  1750.  A  large  attendance  of  ministers,  but  only 
three  elders.  Among  the  absentees  were  Gilbert  and  Charles 
Tennent,  Samuel  and  John  Blair,  Roan,  Rodgers,  and  Davies. 
Treat,  William  Tennent,  Finley,  Green,  and  Spencer  were  ap- 
pointed to  draw  up  proposals  for  union,  and  the  sjaiod  approved 
their  draught  of  a  plan.  They  ordered  the  clerk  to  place  a 
copy  in  the  hands  of  Samuel  Hazard,*  of  Philadelphia,  to  be 
by  him  delivered  to  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  when  he  shall 
have  received  their  proposals. 

The  Philadelphia  Synod  met  in  May,  1751,  having  lost 
David  Evans  and  Samuel  Caven  by  death.  The  attendance 
was  small, — eleven  ministers  and  ten  elders.  Being  unpre- 
pared to  send  proposals,  not  having  their  previous  minutes  at 
hand,  they  resolved  to  meet  in  the  fall,  that  the  Synod  of  New 
i" ork  "  may  consider  our  overtures  and  take  proper  measures 
for  concluding  a  union.  We  recommend  it  to  them  to  use  all 
endeavours  to  promote  a  healing  spirit ;  and  we  shall,  through 
divine  assistance,  endeavour  to  do  the  same,  that  our  designs 
may  be  brought  to  a  comfortable  issue." 

Ten  ministers  and  four  elders  assembled  in  September, 
1751,  and,  having  seriously  and  maturely  considered  the  affair 
of  union,  agreed  to  comply  with  the  proposals  laid  down  by 
the  Synod  of  New  York  in  1749  "  as  closely  and  as  far  as  we 
can  expect  to  preserve  our  future  peace  and  union."  The  dif- 
ference between  the  two  plans  will  be  seen  by  exhibiting  them 
side  by  side. 

THE   PLAN   OF  THE   SYNOD  OF  NEW  YORK,         THE     PLAN     OF    THE     SYNOD     OF    PHILA- 
OMITTED     IN     1750,     BUT     BEING      THE  DELPHIA,   PROPOSED    IN  1751. 

FIRST    PROPOSAL    IN    1749. 

1.    That    all    names    of    distinctions 
made   use  of  in  late  times  be  forever 
abolished. 
1.  That  every  member  assent  unto  2.  That  every  member  give  his  assent 

*  The  second  son  of  Nathaniel  Hazard,  an  elder  in  New  York  from  1728  to  1745. 
He  was  a  merchant  in  Philadelphia,  an  elder  in  the  Second  Church,  and  an 
original  and  active  trustee  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey. 

He  was  the  father  of  Ebenezer  Hazard,  to  whom  we  are  so  largely  indebted  for 
the  preservation  of  the  materials  of  our  church  history. 

15 


226 


WEBSTER  S   HISTORY   OF  THE 


and  receive  the  Westminster  Confession 
and  Catechisms  as  the  confession  of  his 
faith,  according  to  the  plan  agreed  to 
by  the  Synod  of  Phihulelphia  in  1729, 
and  agree  to  the  Directory  as  the  gene- 
ral plan  of  worship  and  discipline. 


2.  That  all  matters  shall  be  deter- 
mined by  a  majority  of  votes,  to  which 
determination  all  shall  submit;  but  if 
any  cannot  in  conscience  submit  to  a 
particular  act  or  determination  of  the 
body,  he  shall,  after  sufficient  liberty  of 
reasoning  and  modest  remoustration,  be 
obliged  to  withdraw  from  our  synodical 
communion:  provided  always  that  this 
last  article  shall  not  extend  to  any  cases 
but  such  as  the  synod  judges  essential 
iu  doctrine,  worship,  or  discipline. 

3.  That  it  shall  be  treated  as  a  cen- 
surable misconduct  for  any  member  to 
charge  any  of  his  brethren  with  errors 
in  doctrine,  or  immorality,  except  in  a 
way  of  private  reproof  or  judicial  pro- 
cess ;  and  that  none  shall  be  judicially 
condemned  or  censured  without  a  fair 
trial  and  process,  according  to  the  known 
rules  of  our  discipline. 


4.  That  no  candidate  shall  be  taken 
on  trials  by  any  presbytery  without  a 
degree  or  certificate  from  the  president 
and  a  sufficient  number  of  tutors  and 
trustees  of  some  college,  testifying  to 
the  sufficiency  of  his  learning,  except  in 
extraordinai-y  cases,  in  which  the  pres- 
byteries shall  be  accountable  to  the 
synod. 


5.  That  it  shall  be  treated  as  irre- 
gular for  any  minister  or  candidate  to 


to  the  Westminster  Confession  and  Di- 
rectory, according  to  the  plan  agreed 
on  in  our  synod. 

And  that  no  acts  be  made,  but  con- 
cerning what  appears  to  the  body  plain 
duty,  or  concerning  opinions  that  we 
believe  relate  to  the  great  truths  of 
religion. 

And  that  all  public  and  fundamental 
agreements  of  this  synod  stand  safe. 

3.  That  every  member  engage  that,  after 
any  question  has  been  determined  by  a 
major  vote,  he  will  actively  concur  or 
passively  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the 
body;  or,  if  his  conscience  will  not  per- 
mit him  to  comply  with  either,  then  he 
shall  be  obliged  peaceably  to  withdraw, 
always  reserving  him  a  liberty  to  sue 
for  a  review,  or  to  lay  his  grievances 
before  the  body  in  a  Christian  manner. 


4.  That  it  be  esteemed  a  culpable 
evil,  and  treated  as  such,  to  accuse  any 
of  our  brethren  of  error  in  doctrine  or 
immorality  in  practice,  otherwise  than 
by  private  admonition,  or  to  spread  evil 
surmises  that  he  is  graceless  or  uncon- 
verted, till  the  accusation  has  been 
brought  before  a  regular  judicature  and 
issued  according  to  the  rules  of  well- 
known  church  discipline. 

And  that  no  person  be  excluded  from 
any  of  our  judicatures  without  regular 
proceedings,  according  to  our  known 
rules  of  discipline. 

6.  That  all  candidates  for  the  ministry 
be  examined  either  by  the  synod  or  its 
commission,  and  be  approved  by  them 
in  the  languages  and  philosophy,  or  bo 
obliged  to  bring  a  college-certificate  or 
diploma  that  they  are  suitably  qualified 
according  to  the  rules  of  that  college, 
before  they  be  admitted  to  trials  in  any 
of  our  presbyteries;  and  we  promise 
that  we  will  encourage  them  to  fall  in 
with  this  last,  as  the  most  honourable 
and  customary. 

That  there  be  no  intrusion  into  the 
bounds  of  any  of  our  presbyteries  or 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA. 


227 


preach  or  perform  other  ministerial  of- 
fices in  the  congregations  of  other  mi- 
nisters belonging  to  our  body,  contrary 
to  their,  minds. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  shall  be  deemed 
uubrotherly  for  any  minister  to  refuse 
his  consent,  without  weighty  reasons, 
when  amicably  desired. 

6.  That  all  the  several  presbyteries 
belonging  to  both  synods  respectively 
Bhall  continue  distinct  presbyteries  as 
now  they  are,  and 


That  the  several  congregations  and 
vacancies  may  continue  under  the  same 
presbyteries  as  at  present. 


7.  That  the  protestation  made  in  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia  in  1741  be  de- 
clared henceforth  void  and  of  none  ef- 
fect, and  that  the  proposed  union  shall 
not  be  understood  to  imply  an  agree- 
ment or  consent  to  the  protest  on  our 
part. 

8.  As  this  synod  doth  believe  that  a 
glorious  work  of  God's  Spirit  was  car 
ried  on  in  the  late  religious  appear- 
ances, (though  we  doubt  not  there  were 
several  follies  and  extravagances  of  peo- 
ple and  artifices  of  Satan  intermixed 
with  it,)  it  would  be  pleasing  and  de- 
sirable to  us,  and  what  we  hope  for,  that 


pastoral  charges  without  the  consent 
of  the  presbytery  or  minister  first  ob- 
tained, explicitly  or  implicitly. 


6.  That  our  presbyteries  shall  be  ' 
made  up  everywhere  of  the  ministers 
that  live  contiguous,  so  that  there  shall 
be  no  old  and  new  presbyteries  for  old 
and  new  congregations  to  repair  to  and 
obtain  ministers  bearing  party  names  ; 
and  that  any  minister  may,  on  applica- 
tion to  the  synod,  have  liberty  to  join 
with  any  neighbouring  presbytery  he 
shall  choose,  if  they  think  it  for  edifica- 
tion to  allow  him. 

That  such  congregations  where  there 
are  new  erections,  and  each  is  able  to 
support  a  minister,  shall  be  continued; 
that  where  there  are  two  parties,  and 
both  vacant,  and  neither  is  able  to  sup- 
port a  minister,  all  care  be  taken  to 
unite  them ;  and  that  where  erections 
have  been  made  by  these  divisive  prac- 
tices to  the  disadvantage  of  former 
standing  congregations,  the  ministers 
supplying  them  shall  be  removed,  and 
all  proper  methods  taken  to  heal  the 
breach.  We  hope  few  will  be  afiected 
hardly  by  this,  for  they  may  find  more 
comfortable  settlements  in  our  nume- 
rous vacancies. 


228  Webster's  history  of  the 

both  synods  may  come  so  far  to  agree 
in  their  sentiments  about  it,  as  to  give 
their  joint  testimony  thereto. 

The  Synod  of  New  York  received  these  proposals  in  the 
course  of  a  few  weeks,  having  met  on  September  26  of  the 
same  year,  (1751.)  Samuel  Blair,  "the  greatest  light  in  these 
parts,"  had  taken  wing  and  flown  to  his  heavenly  home. 
Thomas  Arthur  was  also  dead.  There  had  been  ordained, 
Thane,  Mofl'ett,  Graham,  Kennedy,  Chesnutt,  Gumming,  Jona- 
than Elmer,  Todd,  and  Hugh  Henry.  Gilbert  Tennent  and 
Charles  were  again  absent.  The  attendance  of  ministers  was 
large.     There  were  only  eleven  elders. 

The  Philadelphia  plan  was  considered,  and  Pierson,  Finley, 
Smith,  Beatty,  and  the  moderator,  John  Blair,  were  appointed 
to  draw  up  an  answer,  which  was  approved  by  the  synod,  and 
is  as  follows  :* — 

"  The  proposals  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  for  union  with 
this  synod  were  opened  and  read.  The  synod,  after  deliberate 
perusal  of  them,  are  pleased  in  observing  any  steps  taken 
towards  the  uniting  the  two  synods,  and  that  our  brethren 
of  the  Philadelphia  Synod  profess  a  peaceable  disposition, 
and  determine  to  concur  with  our  proposals  as  closely  and 
as  far  as  they  can,  in  their  present  view  of  things.  But,  as 
they  have  not  seen  fit  to  comply  with  some  of  the  particu- 
lars proposed  by  us  so  closely  as  we  could  have  wished,  we 
judge  it  becomes  our  professions,  and  our  endeavours  for  peace, 
to  be  candidly  open  and  free  in  pointing  out  those  things  from 
which  we  disagree  in  their  present  plan  of  accommodation. 

"  1.  Though  the  synod  should  make  no  acts  but  concern- 
ing matters  of  plain  duty,  or  opinions  relating  to  the  great 
truths  of  religion,  yet,  as  every  thing  that  appears  plain  duty 
and  truth  unto  the  body  may  appear  at  the  same  time  not 
to  be  essential,  so  we  judge  that  no  member  or  members 
should  be  obliged  to  withdraw  from  our  communion  upon  his 
or  their  not  being  able  actively  to  concur  or  passively  submit, 
unless  the  matter  be  judged  essential  in  doctrine  or  discipline. 

"  2.  We  cannot  agree  that  all  the  public  and  fundamental 
agreements  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  should  stand  safe,  if 

*  Records,  pp.  245,  246. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCII    IN    AMERICA.  229 

this  is  imderstood  to  extend  to  agreements  made  by  said 
synod  since  the  rupture  happened, 

"  3.  We  cannot  see  that  it  will  consist  with  the  peace  and 
edification  of  the  church  to  use  any  coercive  measures  to 
oblige  people  to  be  under  the  ministry  of  those  whom  they  do 
not  choose,  or  to  dissolve  and  new-model  presbyteries. 

"  4.  Seeing  by  the  goodness  of  Divine  Providence  we  have 
now  a  college  erected,  we  see  no  necessity  for  the  alternative 
of  the  synod  or  their  commission  examining  candidates  before 
they  be  admitted  to  presbyterial  trials. 

"  As  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  had  not  our  last  proposals 
before  them  when  they  drew  up  the  present  plan  of  accom- 
modation, we  refer  them  to  said  proposals,  as  to  what  we 
further  desire  in  order  to  our  union  with  them." 

The  Philadelphia  Synod  met  in  Ma}^,  1752.  Sampson 
Smith  had  been  ordained.  There  were  present  fourteen  mi- 
nisters and  twelve  elders.  They  considered  the  New  York 
proposals,  and  their  reply  was  as  follows:* — 

"  Upon  perusal  of  yours,  our  pleasing  views  of  a  comfort- 
able union,  from  repeated  intimations  of  your  readiness  to 
comply  with  what  appeared  reasonable,  are  considerably 
abated;  especially  as  we  apprehend  you  receding  further  from  a 
union,  and  from  your  own  former  proposals  in  order  thereunto, 
which  we  shall  fully  point  out,  being  persuaded  it  is  our  duty, 
being  willing  for  and  desirous  of  a  reasonable  accommodation. 

"  1st.  You  have  repeatedly  proposed  that  all  former  differ- 
ences be  buried  in  pei'petual  oblivion,  which  you  apprehend 
for  the  honour  of  our  Master,  the  credit  of  our  profession,  and 
the  edification  of  the  church.  How,  consistently  therewith, 
do  you  insist  that  the  protestation  of  the  synod,  in  the  year 
1741,  be  declared  void  and  of  none  etfect?  and  that  this 
declaration  shall  be  a  term  of  union,  since  the  synod  have 
assured  you,  and  are  willing  to  declare  that,  upon  the  union, 
they  shall  act  and  cany  it  towards  you  as  if  this  protestation 
had  never  been  made,  lookmg  upon  the  design  of  the  protes- 
tation answered  bj'  reasonable  terms  of  union ;  and,  if  any 
thing  further  be  intended  by  your  insisting  that  said  protesta- 
tion be  declared  void  and  of  no  efiiect,  we  assure  you  we  are 

*  Records,  pp.  205-207. 


230  Webster's  history  of  the 

well  satisfied  tliat  said  protestation  was  made  on  sufficient  and 
justifiable  grounds,  and  we  are  not  in  the  least  convinced  tliat 
the  synod  acted  wrong  in  said  step. 

"2d]y.  You  insist  that  presbyteries  shall  continue  as  they 
are,  and  declare  you  see  no  reason  to  dissolve  the  new- 
modelled  presbyteries.  How  is  this  consistent  with  your  pro- 
posals, that  all  differences  be  perpetually  buried,  and  that  all 
names  and  distinctions  be  forever  abolished  ?  nay,  how  can 
you  reconcile  it  in  your  own  minds  with  the  peace  of  this 
church,  the  valuable  end  to  be  aimed  at  by  the  union? 
Besides,  we  acquainted  you  that  a  uniting  of  presbyteries 
appeared  to  us  so  requisite  to  the  peace  of  our  church,  that  un- 
less your  delegates  had  given  us,  by  their  concessions,  ground 
to  believe  your  synod  would  have  consented  to  this,  we  should 
have  looked  upon  any  attempt  for  union  as  vain  and  useless. 

"  And  your  own  former  proposals  on  this  head — viz. :  that 
congregations,  as  they  are  at  present,  should  belong  to  the 
same  presbytery  they  now  do,  till  a  favourable  opportunity 
of  an  advantageous  alteration — gave  us  ground  to  apprehend 
that  you  would  consent,  from  the  apparent  necessity  of  the 
thing,  to  this  advantageous  alteration. 

"  odly.  You  have  fomierly  declared,  that  though  your  sen- 
timents, of  what  you  esteemed  a  work  of  God,  continued  the 
same,  yet  you  judged  mutual  forbearance  your  duty,  since  we 
all  profess  the  same  Confession  of  Faith  and  Directory  for 
worship.  But  now  you  seem  to  insist  on  a  joint  testimony 
for  such  a  glorious  work  of  God,  in  the  late  religiou§  appear- 
ances, as  a  term  of  union,  by  making  it  one  of  your  proposals 
ibr  peace  and  union,  that  you  hope  both  synods  will  go  into 
Buch  a  testimony-.  How  is  this  consistent  with  your  former 
professed  sentiments  of  duty  of  forbearance  in  said  case,  and 
with  your  declared  sentiments,  that  no  difference  in  judgment 
in  cases  of  plain  sin  and  duty,  and  opinions  relating  to  the 
great  truths  of  religion,  is  a  sufficient  reason  why  the  differing 
member  should  be  obliged  to  withdraw,  unless  the  said  plain 
duty  or  truth  be  judged  l)y  the  body  essential,  in  doctrine  or 
discipline  ?  And  we  think  it  strange  you  would  insist  on 
this,  or  even  niention  it,  as  a  proposal  for  union,  seeing  your 
delegates  before  us  conceded  that  both  great  and  good  men  had 
diflfered  from  them  on  that  head,  besides  your  own  declaration 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  231 

on  that  affiiir — viz. :  that  you  doubt  not  but  that  there  were 
several  follies  and  extravagancies  of  the  people  and  artifices 
of  Satan  intermixed  with  what  you  call  a  glorious  work  of 
God's  Spirit,  plainly  evince  the  difficulty  of  such  a  testimony, 
especially  to  such  who  cannot  easily  be  persuaded  to  declare 
that  these  religious  appearances  were  a  saving  work  of  God's 
Spirit. 

"  Besides,  in  order  to  such  a  testimony,  in  an  affair  confes- 
sedly difficult,  that  it  be  consistent  with  reason  and  a  good 
conscience,  we  apprehend  that  it  is  your  business  and  duty 
■who  hope  for  and  insist  on  such  testimony,  that  you  point 
out  what  you  believe  to  be  a  glorious  work  of  God's  Spirit  in 
the  late  religious  appearances,  and  what  to  be  the  follies  and 
extravagancies  of  the  people,  and  the  artifices  of  Satan,  that 
80  a  distinct  testimony  be  given  for  the  encouragement  of  the 
one,  and  for  preventing  the  other,  and  undeceiving  many 
among  the  simple  and  ignorant  who  may  have  mistaken  the 
one  for  the  other,  and  yet  continue  in  the  mistake. 

"  4thly.  We  have  condescended,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  that 
all  the  ministers  belonging  to  your  synod,  and  all  their  con- 
gregations, should  belong  to  this  body ;  but  when  intrusions 
have  been  made  by  disorderly  ministers  into  our  congrega- 
tions, so  as  to  render  them  incapable  to  perform  their  solemn 
engagements  to  their  pastors,  we  think  these  things  that  are 
BO  unjust  ought  to  be  rectified  ;  yet  if,  consistent  with  the 
rights  of  gospel  ministers,  you  can  find  a  salve  for  this  diffi- 
culty, we  will  gladly  approve  of  it.  "^ 

"  5thly.  As  for  our  sentiments  in  other  affiiirs,  relating  to  the 
proposed  union,  we  refer  you  to  our  late  proposals,  which  we 
apprehend  just  and  reasonable,  and  as  yet  see  no  just  reasons 
to  recede  from,  or  make  any  material  abatements  of  them ; 
and  particularly  in  regard  to  proposals  for  deciding  afliairs  by 
majority  of  vote,  we  apprehend  it  strictly  Presbyterian  and 
reasonable,  and  are  not  convinced  that  the  alteration  in  that 
article  proposed  by  you,  about  what  is  essential  and  what  not, 
is  necessary ;  nay,  we  apprehend  that  such  an  alteration  as 
stated  by  you  has  a  bad  aspect,  and  opens  a  door  for  an 
unjustifiable  latitude  both  in  principles  and  practice. 

"  6thly.  AVe  are  much  satisfied  to  hear  you  propose  that 
young  men  should  bring  college  certificates,  seeing  that  you 


232  Webster's  history  of  the 

I  have  now,  by  the  goodness  of  Divine  Providence,  a  college 
'  erected.  AVe  are  and  ever  were  as  much  for  this,  and  more,  . 
than  some  of  those  brethren  who  once  belonged  to  this  synod ; 
and  we  would  put  you  in  mind  that  there  were  colleges 
erected  in  reach  of  your  youth  before  you  had  one  in  New 
Jersey.  But  no  regard  was  to  be  paid  to  our  repeated  desires  I 
and  public  votes  that  our  young  men  should  have  education, 
and  certificates  from  them,  when  it  was  proposed  by  our 
synod ;  and  we  think  that  our  synod  may  find,  among  their 
number,  men  as  well  quaUfied  to  examine  and  judge  of  men's 
abilities  as  either  the  tutors,  trustees,  or  rectors  of  your  col- 
lege ;  so  that  we  think  the  approbation  of  our  synod,  or 
committee,  a  good  alternative,  and  yet  will  give  it  up  if  you 
oblige  all  your  candidates  to  bring  college  certificates,  unless 
in  extraordinary  cases,  and  these  shall  be  settled  to  prevent 
such  disorders  as  we  have  seen  and  felt  in  time  past. 

"  At  present,  we  are  well  pleased  with  any  degree  of  a  dis- 
position towards  peace  and  union  professed  by  you,  and  are 
resolved  to  cultivate  and  improve,  in  ourselves  and  others  in 
any  measure  under  our  influence,  the  same  peaceable  disposi- 
tion, and  to  concur  heartily  with  you  in  any  plan  of  accom- 
modation reasonable  and  consistent  with  our  profession  as 
Presbyterians,  and  for  the  good  of  the  church  and  honour  of 
our  Lord  and  Master." 

The  Philadelphia  Synod's  remarks  were  not  considered  by 
the  Xew  York  Synod  in  September,  1752.  There  had  been 
ordained.  Worts,  John  Campbell,  James  Finley,  and  Robert 
Smith.  Youngs  had  died.  Jonathan  Edwards  preached  tlie 
opening  sermon  : — "True  Grace  distinguished  from  the  Expe- 
rience of  Devils."  Gilbert  and  Charles  Tennent  were  again 
absent.  In  October,  1753,  they  were  present  at  the  meeting 
held  in  Philadelphia ;  at  which  there  were  thirty-two  minis- 
ters and  fifteen  elders.  Alexander  Creaghead  had  returned 
to  the  synod ;  Evander  Morrison,  John  Smith,  and  Joseph 
Park  had  been  received,  and  Maltby,  Harker,  Wright,  and 
Robert  Henry  had  been  ordained 

The  New  York  Synod  answered  the  letter  from  the  Phila- 
delphia Synod  on  the  plan  of  union,  insisting  that  the  protes- 
tation of  1741  should  be  declared  of  no  eftect,  and  that  the 
presbyteries  and  congregations  should  continue  as  they  now 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  233 

are.  An  agreement  in  a  joint  testimony  in  regard  to  "  the 
late  glorious  work  of  God"  was  also  considered  highly  desir- 
ahle  and  important.  The  general  tone  of  the  synodical  reply 
was  firm,  but  conciliatory. 

The  Philadelphia  Synod,  in  1753,  did  nothing  towards  the 
union :  they  had  lost  their  two  oldest  members,  John  Thom- 
son and  Hugh  Conn,  and  had  gained  none.  In  1754,  they 
had  lost,  by  death,  Cathcart  and  Griffith,  and  ordained 
McMordie  and  Kinkead.  The  oldest  minister  sent  his_coiiu- 
sel.*     The  letter  from  the   Synod  of  New  York  was  read, 

*  To  the  Reverend  Moderator  and  worthy  members  of  the  Preshyterial  Synod  of  Phila- 
delphia,  there  met  some  few  days  after  the  date  hereof 

Eeveeend  and  Worthy  Brethren  : — 

I  would  gladly  have  been  present  with  you,  but  my  weakness  of  body  hath 
rendered  me  unfit  to  ride  such  a  journey.  I  hope  you  will  accept  of  this,  my 
letter  of  excuse,  for  my  absence ;  yet  I  desire  to  be  present  with  you,  by  write  (by 
letter?)  in  some  things. 

I  think  I  may  say,  that  there  is  one  thing  which  layeth  much  upon  my  heart, — these 
woeful  divisions  which  are  among  ministers  and  people.  It  is  my  earnest  desire 
that  the  Lord  may  touch  your  hearts  now  when  met,  that  so  you  maj-  fall  on  some 
healing  methods  to  have  that  breach  made  up  which  is  betwixt  us  and  those  other 
ministers  which  were  once  members  of  our  church  judicatories.  A  division  in  a 
church  hath  many  evils  in  it.  First.  It  briugeth  ministers  of  both  sides  into  con- 
tempt. Secondly.  It  makes  some  people  of  the  one  side  hear  the  ministers  of  the 
Other  side  with  prejudice.  T/nrdly.  It  hinders  the  success  of  the  gospel  preached, 
and  the  edification  and  good  of  souls.  Fourthly.  It  makes  Satan  rejoice,  wicked 
and  profane  persons  scoflF  at  religion.  Fifthly.  It  leadeth  out  some  persons  to 
rejoice  in  one  another's  calamities  and  to  hold  evil  wishes  to  one  another.  We 
read  of  Chrysostom  and  Epiphanius :  though  both  godly,  Chrysostom  wished  that 
Epiphanius  might  die  and  never  see  Cyprus  when  sailing  unto  it,  his  charge  being 
there;  and  Epiphanius  wished  that  Chrysostom  might  not  die  Bishop  of  Constan- 
tinople. The  Lord  testified  his  displeasure  at  both  their  sinful  wishes,  for  both 
came  to  pass;  so  the  followers  of  both  were  silenced  in  their  sinful  joy.  Sixthly. 
It  puUeth  down  the  government  and  discipline  in  Christ's  house,  which  are  walls 
and  fences  which  God  hath  appointed  to  preserve  the  flowers  of  his  pi'ecious 
truths  in  the  garden  of  his  church  from  being  trampled  under  foot ;  and  they  put 
a  stop  to  delusions  and  errors.  I  want  words  to  express  the  hori-id  evil  of  the 
pulling  down  the  government  and  discipline  of  Christ's  hcruse ;  it  is  a  great  mother- 
evil.  By  this,  those  that  should  be  ruled  will  be  all  rulers  and  dictators  to  their 
rulers ;  and  some  on  one  side,  when  offended  in  the  least,  will  run  to  the  other 
side  to  evite  (escape)  church  censure;  others  cast  both  themselves  and  their 
families  from  under  the  care  of  any  minister.  It  leadeth  out  to  rash  judging  and 
evil-speaking  and  envy.  If  any  member,  of  either  side,  think  that  the  not  press- 
ing after  an  union  will  be  the  way  to  get  an  union  with  the  other  side,  then,  I 
think,  such  a  member  reasons  wrong,  because  the  greater  distance  one  side  keeps 


234  Webster's  history  of  the 

and,  at  first,  it  was  resolved  to  send  proposals  to  them ;  Ijut 
afterwards  it  Avas  judged  a  better  expedient  to  desire  a  eon- 

from  the  other,  tliis  -will  tend  to  miike  the  breach  the  wider.  It  is  observable,  tliat 
those  Avlio  have  pressed  much  after  peace  and  union  in  a  church,  and  have  been 
most  condescending  in  their  terms  in  the  time  of  divisions  in  a  church,  have  been 
most  commended,  and  afterwards  most  loved,  by  the  godly  of  both  sides ;  all 
which  appeareth  from  ecclesiastical  history. 

Beloved  brethren,  I  was  infoi-med  (but  whether  the  information  be  truth  or  not 
I  can't  tell)  of  two  conditions  of  peace  and  unity  which  the  other  side  requireth 
of  our  synod.  First.  That  the  presbyteries  of  both  sides  should  be  continued  as 
they  now  are,  and  meet  all  together  in  one  Synod  of  Philadelphia.  In  my  judg- 
ment, I  can't  agree  to  this  first  condition;  but  judge  it  most  reasonable  that  pres- 
byteries consist  of  ministers  and  elders  of  both  sides ;  as  the  congregations  lie  con- 
tiguous and  near  to  one  another,  this  will  make  for  the  conveniency  and  tend  to  the 
good  order  and  create  brotherly  love.  But  if  presbyteries  should  be  as  they  are 
now,  and  only  meet  in  the  synod,  this  will  give  Satan  a  great  handle  to  hinder 
brotherly  love  and  peace,  and  create  and  carry  on  a  division  in  our  synod  again. 

The  second  condition  is,  they  require  that  it  be  acknowledged  that  there  was  a 
great  and  glorious  work  of  God  and  reformation,  or  great  and  glorious  times  and 
days,  in  our  land  and  church  a  few  years  past.  My  thoughts  are,  that  the  days  or 
times  of  late  past  in  our  Presbyterian  church  or  land  are  not  to  be  called  properly 
glorious  days  or  times,  but  properly  the  days  or  times  of  the  Lord's  pleading  a 
controversy  with  our  Presbyterial  chui-ches  in  this  land  for  our  sins ;  yet  I  think 
that  God,  in  the  midst  of  his  anger,  hath  remembered  mercy,  and  hath  converted 
some  souls. 

It  is  evident  to  me  that  the  days  and  times  of  the  Reformation  from  Popery 
were  glorious  days  and  times,  though  then  many  delusions  and  errors  sprang  up; 
but  observe  and  notice,  the  great  in>itruments  of  the  Reformation  from  Popery,  or 
the  Reformers,  were  men  coming  from  darkness  to  light  more  and  more, — men 
coming  from  errors  to  Christ's  truths ;  but  they  were  not  men  falling  from  truths 
into  delusions  and  errors,  as  these  ministers  and  members,  the  great  instruments 
and  ringleaders  of  that  work  of  late  called  a  glorious  reformation,  were.  Surely 
those  are  not  glorious  days  and  times,  and  a  reformation  of  a  church,  when  these 
ministers  and  people,  who  are  the  chief  instruments,  are  falling  into  delusions  or 
errors,  pulling  down  the  walls  of  church  government  and  discipline,  falling  into  a 
spirit  of  rash  judging  and  false  zeal.  My  thoughts  are  that  the  days  of  late 
were  days  and  times  of  the  Lord's  pleading  a  controversy  with  our  church  for 
our  sins. 

I  earnestly  desire  that  both  sides  would  bury  in  oblivion  all  the  faults  which 
each  chargeth  upon  the  other,  and  that  no  mention  be  made  of  any  of  these ;  and 
to  unite  together  again  in  the  doctrine,  discipline,  and  government  of  Christ's 
house,  to  carry  on  the  interest  of  Christ  and  the  good  of  souls. 

Reverend  brethren,  our  Lord  and  Master,  Christ  Jesus,  the  Prince  of  peace, 
sayeth,  in  Matthew  v.  9,  "  Blessed  are  the  peace-makers,  for  they  shall  be  called 
the  children  of  God."  Let  us  follow  after  peace  as  much  as  is  possible.  If  peace 
with  truth  be  obtained,  and  church  union,  then  this  will  crush  Satan's  interest 
greatly,  create  brotherly  love,  advance  the  interest  of  glorious  Christ,  the  good  of 
souls,  and  tend  to  the  successfulness  of  the  gospel  in  our  parts. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  235 

ference  with  some  of  the  members  of  that  body  commis- 
sioued  for  this  purpose.  They  record  as  their  reason  that  a 
very  paciiic  temper  seems  to  prevail  on  both  sides.  Imme- 
diately following  stands  this  minute  : — "  Ordered,  that  Messrs. 
McDowell  and  Sampson  Smith  represent  briefly  some  of  the 
most  dangerous  opinions  and  practices  of  the  '  Seceders,' 
and  get  them  printed ;  and  that  the  books  be  divided  among 
the  ministers,  who  are  to  sell  them  where  these  gentlemen 
are  doing  most  damage.  Memorandum :  That  no  one  piece 
exceed  a  sheet." 

The  New  Tork  Synod  met  in  1754,  having  lost  Byram  by       '    / 
death,  Pemberton  by  removal,  and  gained  Henry  Martin  and  ' 

John  Brown.  In  compliance  with  the  desire  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Synod,  Burr,  Bostwick,  William  Tennent,  Treat,  John 
Blair,  and  Samuel  Finley,  were  appointed  to  atteiid  the  next 
session  of  that  body,  to  confer  about  the  union,  but  not  to 
conclude  any  thing  inconsistent  with  our  former  proposals. 
It  is  to  be  observed,  that  two  of  the  committee  were  per- 
sonally excluded  by  the  "Protest,"  and  two  others  were  their 
most  devoted  adherents. 

In  May,  1755,  the  Philadelphia  Synod  met;  Elmer  having 
died,  and  Gillespie  being  absent  through  indisposition.  The 
commissioners  from  New  York  were  present;  and  a  committee 
was  appointed  of  three  "  Protesters," — Cross,  Boyd,  and  F. 
Alison  ;  two,  who  adhered  to  them, — Cowell  and  McHenry ; 
with  two  ordained  since, — McDowell  and  Steel.  The  con- 
ference occupied  the  whole  of  the  afternoon  of  the  29th  of 
May.  The  New  York  brethren  proposed,  that  we  should 
mutually  forgive  and  forget,  and  wholly  bury  all  past  com- 
plaints and  grievances  in  oblivion,  and  endeavour,  in  the 
strength  of  God,  to  treat  each  other  hereafter  as  though 
these  things  had  never  been :   that,  as  the  synods  are  two 


That  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  sole  King  aud  Head  of  the  Church,  the  great 
Master  of  assemblies,  may  be  with  you  in  all  your  consultations  and  determina- 
tions, direct  and  aid  you  by  his  Holy  Spirit  in  every  thing  that  cometh  before 
you,  to  act  for  your  spiritual  comfort,  the  good  of  souls,  the  true  peace  of  His 
church,  and  God's  glory,  is  the  earnest  and  sincere  desire  of  your  affectionate 
servant  and  brother  in  the  work  of  the  Lord, 

George  Gillespie. 

At  the  Head  of  Christiana  Creek,  May  15,  1754. 


ni 


236  Webster's  history  of  the 

distinct  judicatures  not  accountable  to  each  other,  they  meet 
as  two  contiguous  bodies  of  Christians  agreed  in  principles, 
as  though  they  had  never  been  concerned  together  before 
or  had  any  difference,  which  is  true  of  a  great  part  of  both 
synods. 

That  we  should  join  the  synods  and  presbyteries  upon  such 
scriptural  and  rational  terms  as  may  secure  peace,  heal  our 
broken  churches,  and  advance  religion.  And  particularly, 
they  would  have  the  "Protest"  withdrawn,  or  declared  null, 
before  the  "Union." 

The  synod,  on  hearing  this  result  of  the  conference,  re- 
solved : — 

That  they  apprehend  peace  and  union  of  the  last  im- 
portance to  the  church  of  Christ,  and  do  adhere  to  their  pro- 
posals, and  can  offer  nothing  further. 

That,  if  it  be  asked  by  any,  how  we  can  join  those  who 
lately  had  such  differences,  we  think  every  well-disposed 
Christian  would  be  satisfied  with  being  told,  that  we 
mutually  forgive,  according  to  Christ's  command,  and  agree 
to  maintain  good  conduct,  through  grace,  for  the  time  to 
come. 

That,  as  to  the  "Protest,"  we  shall  on  the  "Union"  carry  it 
towards  our  brethren  as  though  it  had  never  been  made ;  and, 
as  those  who  are  aggrieved  and  obtain  no  satisfying  redress 
have  a  right  to  require  their  "  Protest"  to  be  recorded,  so, 
none  but  those  who  enter  a  protest  can  withdraw  it  or  dis- 
annul it. 

They  added,  that  they  thought  it  unbrotherly  for  the  Xew 
York  Synod  to  meet  in  Philadelphia. 

The  New  York  Synod  met  in  October;  having  ordained 
Knox,  Greeimian,  and.IIoge.  In  answer  to  the  Philadelphia 
proposals,  they  resolved,— 

That  they  were  lacking  in  distinctness  concerning  the  con- 
tinuance of  presb^^teries  and  congregations  as  they  are,  and 
concerning  ministerial  communion,  as  set  forth  in  the  para- 
graph concerning  essentials.  That  they  could,  with  no  pro- 
priety, insist  on  the  disannulling  of  the  "  Protest,"  if  they 
will  declare  that  they  do  not  in  a  synodical  capacity  adopt  it. 
That,  on  their  doing  this,  we  propose  to  unite  on  the  terms 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  237 

proposed  to  thera  in  1749  and  '50,  the  article  concerning  the 
"Protest"  being  accepted. 

That  the  synod,  thus  composed  of  both  bodies,  shall, 
immediately  after  being  constituted,  proceed  to  hear  and 
determine,  if  needful,  the  differences  between  the  "Protesters" 
and  the  "Excluded." 

They  gave  as  a  reason  for  meeting  in  Philadelphia,  that  it 
was  necessary  for  the  convenience  of  distant  brethren. 

The  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  in  1756,  was  very  thinly  at- 
tended :  they  had  lost  Hamilton  by  death,  received  Alexander 
Miller  from  Ireland,  and  ordained  Matthew  Wilson  and  Mc- 
Kennan.  " 

They  instructed  their  missionaries  to  the  Southern  colonies, 
to  study,  in  all  their  public  administrations  and  private  conver- 
sations, to  promote  peace  and  union  among  the  societies,  and 
avoid  whatever  may  foment  divisions  and  party  spirit ;  and  to 
treat  every  minister  from  the  Synod  of  New  York  of  like 
principles  and  peaceful  temper  in  a  brotherly  manner;  "for 
we  desire  to  promote  true  religion,  and  not  party  designs." 

They  sent  a  copy  of  these  instructions  to  the  New  York 
Synod,  and  answered  their  proposals  unanimously  as  follows : — 

"  We  are  heartily  desirous  that  the  synods  be  united,  and  all 
the  presbyteries  be  united,  as  the  members  lie  contiguous,  that 
the  union  be  in  name,  and  in  reality  in  love  and  true  affection. 
In  a  synodical  capacity,  we  declare  that  we  neither  do  nor  did 
adopt  the  Protest  as  a  term  of  ministerial  communion :  it  was 
never  mentioned  to  our  members,  any  more  than  any  of  the 
protests  delivered  on  the  occasion  of  those  differences.  We 
only  adopt  and  desire  to  adhere  to  our  standards  as  we  for- 
merly agreed  when  united  in  one  body. 

"We  are  in  earnest  for  peace  and  union;  and  we  appoint 
the  commission  of  our  synod,  on  timely  notice  given,  to  meet 
with  such  members  as  the  Synod  of  New  York  may  appoint 
for  this  purpose,  at  -Philadelphia,  or  some  other  convenient 
place,  to  adjust  matters  previous  to  a  union." 

There  was  a  full  attendance  at  the  New  York  Synod  in  the 
fall.  There  had  been  ordained  Whitaker,  Ilait,  and  Harris ; 
Cowell  sat  as  a  correspondent,  and  Leydt  also,  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  church  in  New  Brunswick.  After  much  debating,  they 
came  to  the  following  agreement  on  the  subject  of  the  union : — 


238  Webster's  history  of  the 

"Though  the  Philadelphia  Synod  have  not  given  a  satisfac- 
tory answer  to  the  particulars  which  w^ere  judged  necessary  to 
be  settled  previous  to  an  union,  the  synod,  from  an  earnest 
desire  of  a  hearty  and  lasting  union,  do  comply  with  their 
proposal  of  a  mutual  conference,  and  appoint  Gilbert  and 
AVilliam  Tennent,  Burr,  Davenport,  Treat,  Finley,  Blair,  Caleb 
Smith,  Prime,  and  James  Brown,  to  be  a  committee  to  meet 
with  their  commission  at  Trenton,  the  second  Wednesday  in 
Ma}^  next,  to  fix  upon  a  proper  plan  of  union,  to  be  laid  before 
both  synods  at  their  next  meeting." 

Their  next  meeting  was  on  the  18th  of  May,  there  having 
been  ordained  llamsey,  James  Finley,  Duffield,  McAden,  and 
Reeve. 

The  Committee  of  Conference  reported,  that  they  found  the 
Philadelphia  commissioners  well  disposed  for  union;  that  they 
declared  for  themselves,  and  doubted  not  but  their  synod  would 
readily  declare,  that  they  do  not  look  upon  the  Protest  as  the 
act  of  their  body,  nor  adopt  it  as  such;  and  that  there  ap- 
peared to  be  also  an  agreement  on  both  sides  concerning  the 
nature  and  right  of  protesting,  and  other  things  formerly  pro- 
posed as  necessary  to  a  union;  and  that  it  was  agreed  on 
both  sides,  to  propose  to  each  synod  to  have  their  next  meeting 
at  the  same  time  and  place,  to  unite  if  matters  shall  at  that 
time  appear  ripe  for  it.  Samuel  and  James  Finley,  John  Blair, 
Robert  Smith,  and  John  Rodgers  were  appointed  to  prepare  a 
plan  as  the  ground  of  the  union,  and  bring  it  in  to  the  com- 
mission at  their  meeting.  The  synod,  in  view  of  so  desirable 
a  prospect  of  union,  agreed  to  meet  at  Philadelphia  at  the 
time  of  the  other  synod's  meeting,  and  to  propose  that  the 
commissions  of  both  synods  meet  on  the  Monday  before  the 
synod,  to  prepare  matters  for  both  bodies  and  their  happy 
union. 

The  Synod  of  Philadelphia  met  in  the  spring  of  1757,  having 
lost  McHenry  by  death,  and  received  John  Miller.  Thirteen 
ministers  were  present,  and  nine  elders.  Boyd  was  chosen 
moderator.  Having  heard  the  report  of  their  committee  and 
received  the  minute  of  the  New  York  Synod,  they  instructed 
their  commission  to  meet  at  the  time  proposed. 

On  the  commission  of  the  Philadelphia  Synod  were  Cross, 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  239 

Francis  Alison,  Steel,  Cowell,  McDowell,  Tate,  AIcKennan, 
Smith,  and  Boyd,  the  moderator. 

On  the  New  York  commission  were  Pierson,  Burr,  Spencer, 
Prime,  James  Brown,  William  and  Gilbert  and  Charles  Teu- 
nent,  Davenport,  Treat,  Samuel  Finley,  Rodgers,  and  Bostwick, 
the  moderator. 

Before  the  meeting  Burr  and  Davenport  died.  Alison,  who 
had  recently  received  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  the  University 
of  Glasgow,  preached  before  the  two  commissions  from  Eph. 
iv.  1-8.  The  sermon  was  published  with  the  title,  "Peace  and 
Union  recommended."  Bostwick  preached  from  2  Cor.  iv.  5. 
His  sermon  was  published  also,  and  reprinted  in  Scotland  v/ith 
the  title,  "Self  disclaimed  and  Christ  exalted."  The  com- 
missions met.  Hector  Alison,  John  Miller,  Smith,  and  McDowell 
having  been  appointed,  with  the  committee  previously  named 
by  the  other  synod,  to  prepare  a  first  draft  of  the  plan. 
The  Synod  of  Philadelphia  on  the  afternoon  of  Friday  accepted 
the  plan,  with  a  few  alterations  they  desired  to  be  made  in  it, 
and  requested  the  Synod  of  New  York  that  the  committee 
may  meet  again  and  communicate  the  alterations  each  body 
might  desire  to  the  other.  This  was  readily  complied  with. 
On  Saturday,  the  New  York  Synod  maturely  considered  the 
plan  with  the  amendments,  and  ..unanimously  approved  of  it 
and  agreed  to  it,  and  judged  it  to  be  their  duty  to  unite  with 
the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  on  the  same.  Each  body  having 
agreed  to  the  amendments  proposed  by  the  other,  the  Synod 
of  Philadelphia  unanimously  approved  of  it  as  a  satisfactory 
plan.  They  then  sent  a  message,  desiring  that  the  time  and 
place  of  meeting  in  one  body  may  be  agreed  on. 

At  three  p.m.,  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  the  two 
synods  met,  Sampson  Smith  being  moderator  of  the  one,  and 
^muel  Davies  of  the  other.  The  plan  of  union  was  read  and 
umtnimously  agreed  to,  the  union  was  accomplished,  and  a 
new  book  opened  and  the  whale  plan  and  articles  of  agree- 
ment entered  May  29,  1758. 


^D  Webster's  history  of  the 


CHAPTER   IX. 

"WniTEFiELD  reached  Annapolis  September  27,  1745,  and 
preached  eight  times  before  the  Legislative  Council  and  As- 
sembly. He  proceeded  to  Hanover,  in  Virginia,  and  saw  there 
the  happy  etlects  produced  in  part  by  the  reading  of  his  ser- 
mons, which  had  been  published  from  notes  taken  at  Glasgow, 
while  he  preached  extempore.  Blair  and  Tennent  had  just 
been  there  and  administered  the  Lord's  Supper.  Whitefield 
preached  four  or  five  days,  which  was  a  fresh*  encouragement 
to  the  newly-gathered  flock,  for  others  were  engaged  to  serve 
the  Lord,  especially  of  the  church  people,  who  the  more  readily 
hearkened  to  the  gospel  from  him  "because  he  was  in  orders." 
In  North  Carolina  he  made  but  little  stay  and  accomplished 
but  little.  He  remained  some  time  in  Georgia,  and  then  sailed 
for  Maryland.  There,  "  thousands  had  never  heard  of  redeem- 
ing grace :  the  heat  tries  my  wasting  tabernacle ;  but,  through 
Christ  strengthening  me,  I  intend  to  persist  in  preaching  till  I 
drop." 

The  news  of  the  Rebellion  of  '45  seems  to  have  produced 
little  excitement  in  America.  "Whitefield  preached,  on  the 
occasion  of  its  suppression,  August  24,  1746,  a  sermon,  which 
he  printed  with  the  title,  "Britain's  Mercy  and  Duty."  From 
Annapolis,  he  wrote,  November  8,  "Lately  I  have  been  in 
seven  counties  in  Maryland,  and  preached  with  abundant  suc- 
cess. The  harvest  is  great  here.  I  have  preached  to  large 
congregations  and  with  great  power."  He  made  a  circuit  of 
three  hundred  miles  through  Maryland  and  into  Pennsylvania, 
up  the  Susquehanna  as  far  as  Berry.  "Thousands  and  thou- 
sands were  ready  to  hear,  but  nobody  goes  out  scarcely  but 
myself." 

At  this  very  period  Bavies  was  labouring  with  Robinson  in 

*  Morris's  Narrative. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  241 

that  region.  The  revival  was  great  in  Queen  Anne  county 
and  at  Buckingham,  but  especially  in  Somerset  county;  in 
Baltimore  county,  it  was  like  the  first  planting  of  the  gospel.* 

Whitefield  spent  the  winter  at  Bethesda.     In  March,  1747, 
Brainerd  published  his  journal  with  the  title,  "Mirabilia  Dei^ 
inter  Indicos." 

Whitefield  came  to  Bohemia  by  land,  making  a  journey  of 
six  weeks  from  Bethesda.  "  As  I  came  along,  I  saw  Mr.  Davis. 
He  is  licensed,  as  are  the  four  houses ;  but  there  is  a  proclama- 
tion issued  against  all  itinerants.  Jesus  has  been  very  gracious 
to  us  southward,  and,  as  we  came  along,  the  desert  seemed  to 
blossom  as  the  rose."  He  wrote,  April  26,  to  Mrs.  B.,  in 
Virginia,  from  Bohemia,  "After  two  days'  abode  here,  I  pur- 
pose, God  willing,  to  take  a  three  weeks'  circuit  in  hunting  for 
Maryland  sinners.  In  Virginia,  for  the  present,  the  door  is 
shut ;  but  I  believe  it  will  be  open  in  the  fall  to  more  advan- 
tage. I  have  no  thoughts  of  visiting  it  this  spring.  The  cloud  ^ 
moves  another  way.  However,  night  and  day  I  shall  remember 
you  in  your  little  hut."  He  was  at  Dover  in  Delaware  on  the 
8th  of  May:  "all  next  October,  God  willing,  I  have  devoted 
to  poor  North  Carolina."  Nor  was  he  unmindful  of  Dover;  | 
soon  after,  the  Boston  ministers  sent  thither  John  Miller,  who  I 
for  almost  half  a  century  was  a  burning  and  a  shining  light  to 
the  peninsula. 

He  was  at  "Wicomico  on  the  16th  of  May.  In  this  ancient 
seat  of  Presbyterianism,  Eobinson  and  Davies  had  laboured 
with  great  success.  "  Christ's  strength  is  in  some  degree  mag- 
nified in  my  weakness,  and  my  preaching  is  blessed  to  poor 
souls.  Amazing  love !  Maryland  is  yielding  converts  to  the 
blessed  gospel."  "Methinks  I  see  you  rejoice  and  ready  to 
say,  Have  the  Marylandera  also  received  the  grace  of  God? 
I  trust  some  have  indeed  received  his  grace  in  sincerity.  The 
harvest  is  promising.  You  and  the  other  dear  neighbouring 
ministers  are  always  on  my  heart."  Philadelphia,  June  6: 
"Mr.  B.  will  let  you  know  that  the  word  has  run  and  been 
glorified  in  Maryland.  Satan  has  attempted  to  stop  the  pro- 
gress of  the  everlasting  gospel  in  Virginia ;  but  I  believe  he 
has  overshot  himself."  June  23 :  "  To-morrow  I  set  out  for  New 

*  Davies's  printed  Letter  to  Bellamy. 
16 


242  Webster's  history  op  the 

York  to  gain  strength.  At  present  I  am  so  weak,  I  cannot 
preach."  July  4:  "I  have  been  in  New  York  eight  days,  and 
have  preached  twice  with  great  freedom:  once  to  a  very  large 
auditory,  and  did  not  feel  myself  much  worse  next  morning. 
A  pleasing  prospect  of  action  lies  before  me.  People  flock 
rather  more  than  ever,  and  the  Lord  vouchsafes  us  solemn 
meetings."  Early  in  September  he  went  to  New  England,  and 
then  proceeded  by  land  to  the  South.  He  preached  once  in 
Virginia:  the  smallpox  was  spreading,  and  the  Assembly  did 
not  sit. 

At  Bathtown,  a  port  of  entr}^  on  the  north  side  of  Tar  River, 
in  North  Carolina,  he  preached  three  times.  "  The  Lord  seems 
to  have  given  me  the  afliections  of  the  people,  and  I  am  deter- 
mined in  his  strength  to  see  what  can  be  done." 

He  reached  Charleston  as  early  as  October  25.  "  The  barren 
wilderness  was  made  to  smile  all  the  way.  I  trust  good  was 
done  in  North  Carolina.  The  poor  people  were  very  willing 
to  hear." 

He  remained  in  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  till  the  close  of 
March,  when  he  sailed  for  the  Bermudas. 

At  the  commencement  of  missionary  labours  in  the  Valley 
of  Virginia,  ^nderson  had  sent  thither,  with  recommendations, 
a  preacher  from  New  England  named  Dunlap.  Gelston,  An- 
derson, and  Thomson  visited  Opequhon,  Bullskin,  and  adjacent 
places.  Craig  was  settled  on  the  Triple  Forks  of  the  Shenan- 
doah. McDowell  and  Hyndman  were  ordained  as  evangelists, 
principally  with  a  view  to  Virginia;  but  the  former  made  only 
one  tour,  and  the  other  died  soon  after  being  called  to  Rock- 
fish  and  Mountain  Plain.  Lyon,  a  probationer,  and  Caven,  on 
being  released  from  Conecocheague,  visited  the  South  Branch 
of  Potomac,  and  the  Eastern  Branch  also.  In  1743,  Robinson 
had  gone  from  Frederick  county  in  Virginia,  through  Augusta, 
Campbell,  Prince  Edward,  Charlotte,  and  Hanover,  and  through 
North  Carolina,  even  to  the  Pedee  River.  In  1744,  supplica- 
tions from  North  Carolina  were  sent  to  Philadelphia  Synod, 
and  a  request  was  made  that  one  of  the  members  might  be 
appointed  to  correspond  with  them.  That  duty  was  assigned 
to  John  Thomson,  and  he  went  to  them,  as  he  would  have 
gone  to  a  presbytery  which  had  desired  the  synod  that  he 
might  correspond  with  them. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  243 

The  Synod  of  !Rew  York,  in  answer  to  pressing  supplica- 
tions in  1745,  desired  Eobinson  to  go  thither ;  but  his  failing 
health  forbade,  and  he  intrusted  that  important  work  to  Davies. 
Rodgers  followed  him,  but  could  not  obtain  permission  to  qua- 
lify himself  under  the  Toleration  Act. 

In  1747,  Byram,  of  Mendham,  New  Jersey,  and  Dean,  of 
Brandywine  Manor,  went  into  Augusta  and  the  neighbouring 
counties  of  Virginia.  An  extensive  awakening  followed,  which 
continued  till  1751.  They  were  followed  the  next  year  by 
Alexander  Gumming,  who  laboured  much  in  Augusta  and  in 
]!!s^orth  Carolina,  and  was  the  first  of  our  ministers  who  preached 
in  Tennessee.*  In  1749,  the  I^ew  York  Synod  represented  to 
the  Association  of  the  Eastern  District  of  Fairfield  the  neces- 
sitous condition  of  Virginia,  and  urged  them,  but  wholly  with- 
out success,  to  send  thither  a  minister  or  a  candidate.  In  1750, 
they  sent  Todd,  then  just  licensed,  and  Davenport,  who  pur- 
posed to  settle  there,  but  found  no  suitable  opening.  "He 
stayed  two  months  in  Hanover,  and  did  not  labour  in  vain :  some 
were  brought  under  concern,  and  many  of  the  Lord's  people 
much  revived,  who  can  never  forget  the  instrument  of  it."t 

Todd  was  installed  in  the  upper  part  of  Hanover,  in  1752, 
and  Greenman  went  thither  as  a  missionary,  and  Robert  Henry 
to  settle  at  Cub  Creek. 

In  1748,  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  resolved  to  send  a  mi- 
nister to  spend  eight  weeks  in  the  fall,  and  another  as  much 
time  in  the  spring,  in  the  back-parts  of  Virginia.  Steel,  of 
Nottingham,  and  Zanchy,  of  Hanover,  went  in  1748;  Tate, 
of  Donegal,  and  McHenry,  of  Deep  Run,  in  1749 ;  Griflith,  ^ 
of  Pencader,  in  1750 ;  Hector  Alison,  of  Drawyers,  and  Sam- 
son Smith,  of  Chestnut  Level,  in  1751 ;  McKennan,  of  Red 
Clay,  spent  sixteen  weeks  in  1752 ;  McMordie,  of  Marsh  Creek, 
and  "William  Donaldson,  a  probationer,  in  1753;  Tate  and 
Kinkead,  of  Norriton,  in  1754;  Donaldson,  Matthew  Wilson, 
a  probationer,  and  McKennan,  in  1755. 

The  Old  Side  had  not  settled  one  minister  in  Virginia  during  \ 
ten  years ;  they  had  lost  Thomson  by  death,  and  had  only  Craig  ! 
and  Black  left.     The  New  Side  had  Davies,  at  Hanover,  Todd, 


*  Rev.  Dr.  Foote,  of  Romney. 
f  Davies  to  Bellamy. 


244  Webster's  history  of  the 

in  Louisa,  Alexander  Creagliead,  on  Cowpasture  River  near 
Windj  Cove,  Robert  Henry,  at  Cub  Creek,  John  Wriglit,  iu 
Cumberland  and  in  the  valley,  John  Brown,  at  Timber-ridge, 
and  John  Iloge,  at  Opequhou.  These  ministers,  except  Hoge, 
■  were  formed  into  Hanover  Presbytery  in  October,  1755,  and 
all  ministers  who  might  settle  south  or  west  of  Hoge's  congre- 
gation had  leave  to  join  it. 

Whitefield  landed  at  Beaufort,  South  Carolina,  May  27, 1754. 
Having  better  health,  he  exclaimed,  "  Oh  that  I  may  at  last 
learn  to  begin  to  live  !"  He  sailed  for  New  York,  and  from 
the  close  of  June  to  the  middle  of  September,  he  travelled 
from  there  to  Philadelphia  and  back,  proceeding  occasionally 
as  far  as  White  Clay.  "Everywhere  prejudices  were  removed, 
a  more  eft'ectual  door  opened  for  preaching  the  gospel,  and  a 
divine  power  accompanied  the  word."  On  Wednesday,  July 
SI,  he  preached  in  the  morning  at  Newark,  at  New  Brunswick 
at  two  in  the  afternoon,  and  reached  Trenton  at  night.  His 
labours  were  blessed  at  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  and  "we 
had  good  seasons  at  the  places  between  them.  The  shout  of  a 
king  has  been  among  us.  In  Philadelphia,  in  New  Jersey,  and  at 
New  York,  the  Great  Redeemer  caused  his  word  to  be  glorified !" 
He  set  out  on  the  1st  of  October  for  Boston,  with  President 
Bnri',  and  travelled  as  far  as  Portsmouth  in  New  Hampshire. 
"  Souls  flew  as  doves  to  their  windows :  opposition  seemed  gene- 
rally to  have  subsided."  He  left  Boston,  November  7,  and, 
though  he  had  thought,  in  September,  that  Providence  pointed 
directly  to  Virginia  and  the  Orphan-house,  he  remained  in  Mary- 
land from  the  middle  of  December  till  the  close  of  the  year. 

People  came  in  great  numbers  to  hear  him,  some  as  far  as 
forty  and  fifty  miles:  prejudices  seemed  gone;  the  churches 
were  all  open  to  him,  and  a  happy  work  of  conviction  and 
consolation  visibly  appeared.  Many  declared  what  God  had 
done  for  them  during  his  former  visits.  He  had  just  entered 
on  his  fortieth  year  when  he  set  out  for  Virginia,  January 
17,  1755.  "Fresh  doors  of  usefulness,  I  trust,  are  opening 
in  Virginia.  The  prospect  is  promising  indeed.  People  have 
flocked  from  all  parts  to  hear  the  word  of  God ;  arrows  of  con- 
viction have  fled,  and  I  believe  stuck  fast.  Seed  sown  several 
~  years  ago  has  sprung  up  and  brought  forth  fruit."  He  reached 
J      Charleston  in  February,  and  sailed  in  May  for  England. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  245 

In  1754,  Beatty,  of  ISTeshaminy,  and  Thane,  of  Connecticut 
Farms,  went  tolJTorth  Carolina,  and  the  latter  penetrated  to  the 
thinly-scattered  tract  between  Broad  and  Saluda  Rivers.  The 
French  "War,  long  threatened,  broke  out,  and  the  Southern 
Indians  took  up  arms  against  the  English.  As  a  distressing 
drought  also  was  felt  severely  in  Pennsylvania  and  in  most  of 
the  colonies,  the  Provincial  Government  of  Virginia  appointed 
the  5th  of  March  for  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer. 

In  May,  it  was  represented  to  'New  Brunswick  Presbytery 
that  there  were  fourteen  congregations  in  ITorth  Carolina. 
Hugh  McAden,  a  probationer  of  Newcastle  Presbytery, 
visited  them  in  the  summer,  and  seems,  soon  after,  to  have 
been  ordained  and  sent  thither  as  an  evano-elist.  About  this 
period,  Creaghead  took  up  his  abode  on  Sugar  Creek,  in 
Mecklenburg  county.  Campbell,  of  Tehicken,  in  1756  or  '57, 
became  the  minister  of  the  Scottish  settlers  on  Blount's  and 
Cross's  Creeks  and  the  northwestern  branch  of  Cape  Fear 
River. 

The  settlers  in  "Western  Virginia  and  JSTorth  Carolina,  being 
chiefly  from  Pennsylvania,  carried  with  them  all  the  prepos- 
sessions and  antipathies  of  the  Old  and  oSTew  Side :  the  latter 
party  largely  preponderated  in  most  places,  and  all  traces  of 
missionaries  of  the  Philadelphia  Synod  were  gone,  Davies 
speaks  of  the  Old  Side  as  having  but  two  congregations  in 
Virginia  in  1751.  They  had,  besides  Craig's  and  Black's 
charges,  in  1750,  congregations  worshipping  at  Brown's 
meeting-house  in  1751,  at  Buffalo  settlement,  where  John 
Thomson  spent  part  of  his  days,  and  on  the  South  Branch 
of  Potomac  ;  in  1752,  at  ISTorth  Mountain,  six  miles  west  of 
Staunton,  South  Mountain,  Timber-grove  or  Timber-ridge, 
JSTorth  River,  embracing  Lexington  and  New  Monmouth, 
Cook's  Creek,  near  Harrisonburg,  in  Rockingham,  and  at 
John  Hinson's;  and  also  on  Peeked  Mountain  and  Calf- 
pasture  River.  Black  also  supplied  the  settlers  at  Hawfield's, 
Eno,  and  Hico,  and  on  Little  River  in  North  Carolina.  At  all 
the  settlements  between  Yadkin  and  Catawba,  and  at  Reedy 
Creek,  they  had  adherents,  and  the  missionaries  paid  especial 
attention  to  them ;  but  not  one  of  them  settled  an  Old-Side 
minister.  John  Alison,  a  probationer,  spent  much  time 
among  them,  but  he  returned  to  Ireland  in  1756.     Donaldson 


246  WEBSTER'S    HISTORY   OF   THE 

appears  to  have  settled  in  South  Carolina.  The  oiilj  congre- 
gations in  Virginia  which  received  a  minister  from  the  Phila- 
delphia Synod,  hefore  the  union,  were  the  two  in  Rockingham, 
Alexander  Miller  having  been  installed  at  Cook's  Creek  and 
Peeked  Mountain  in  1758. 

With  the  extension  of  territory,  came  a  new  depletion  to 
the  Irish  congregations.  Creaghead,  on  forsaking  the  Kew 
Side  in  August,  1741,  made  immediate  application  to  the 
Reformed  Presbytery  in  Scotland  for  assistants  in  the  minis- 
terial work ;  but  no  success  seems  to  have  attended  his 
request,  and,  before  Guthbertson  came,  he  had  opened  a 
correspondence  with  the  Associate  Synod  of  Edinburgh.  As 
early  as  1750,*  he  wrote  •  in  behalf  of  a  considerable  body  of 
Bober  people  who  could  not  comfortably  or  conscientiously 
unite  w^ith  either  branch  of  the  Presbyterians.  He  alleged 
that  with  neither  synod  would  adherence  to  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith  be  deemed  a  test  of  orthodoxy  ;  that  they 
were  lax  in  church  communion  and  did  not  preserve  the 
purity  of  religion.  He,  together  with  those  in  whose  name  he 
wrote,  regarded  themselves  as  bound  by  their  Baptismal  Cove- 
nant, and  by  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  to  contend  for 
the  whole  of  the  faith.  This  appeal  was  made  to  the  Burgher 
Synod ;  and  in  answer  to  it,  after  much  delay,  David  Telfair 
and  Kinloch  came  to  Pennsylvania,  and  Thomas  Clark,  from 
Ballybay,  in  Ireland,  with  a  number  of  families,  to  Salem,  in 
Washington  county,  J^ew  York.  A  church  was  formed  which 
worshipped  in  Shippen  Street,  Philadelphia,  and  others  in 
Orange  and  Washington  counties,  New  York.  Before  they 
came,  Creaghead  had  joined  ISTewcastle  Presbytery  and  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Synod  of  New  York;  in  1751  or  '52,  he 
settled  in  Virginia. 

Cuthbertson  had  been  ordained  by  McMillan  and  Nairne,! 
the  first  founders  of  the  Reformed  Presbytery  in  Scotland. 


*  McKerrow's  History  of  the  Secession  Chui-ch. 

f  Nairne  was  tho  minister  of  Abbotshall,  and  left  the  Establishment  and  joined 
the  Associate  Presbytery.  When  he  went  oyer  to  the  Covenanters,  the  Seceders 
called  him  to  account ;  but  the  Reformed  Presbytery,  with  Cuthbertson  for  mode- 
rator, served  them  with  a  solemn  interdict  to  proceed  no  further.  They,  however, 
deposed  Nairne,  who,  after  a  time,  returned  to  the  Establishment,  and,  on  a  public 
ackuowledgmeut,  was  restoi'ed  to  the  ministry.     When  asked  why,  having  left  the 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  247 

He  is  said  to  have  come  to  this  country  in  1751  or  '52.  He 
formed  praying-societies  after  the  model  of  the  Mountain. 
Men,  one  of  which  was  in  the  Wallkill  congregation,  in 
Orange  county,  ISTew  York.  He  laboured  in  Chester  and 
Lancaster  counties,  Pennsylvania ;  but  his  chief  success  waa 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Susquehanna.  He  had  a  discussion 
with  Evander  Morrison  at  Middle  Octorara.  His  assertion, 
that  the  oS^ew-Side  ministers  urged  their  hearers  to  prepare 
themselves  to  receive  the  free  grace  of  God,  was  vehemently 
denied.  Early  in  September,  1753,  Eoan  and  Smith  met  in 
committee  by  appointment  of  Newcastle  Presbytery,  and 
Finley  and  Davies,  in  conjunction  with  them,  revised  and 
corrected  a  draft  of  a  warning  or  testimony,  drawn  up  by 
John  Blair,  against  several  errors  and  evil  practices  of  Cuth- 
bertson.  Among  the  errors  they  animadverted  on  were  these : 
— That  God  has  made  over  Christ  and  his  benefits  by  a  deed 
of  gift  to  all  that  hear  the  gospel,  so  that  every  sinner  who 
hears  the  gospel  offer  ought  to  put  in  a  claim  to  him,  as  his 
Saviour  in  particular ;  that  saving  faith  consists  in  a  per- 
suasion that  Christ  is  mine ;  and  that  he  died  for  me  in 
particular. 

It  is  not  known  whether  "the  Scotch  bigot,"  as  Davies 
styles  Cuthbertson,  took  any  notice  of  this  paper ;  but  it  ap- 
peared just  at  the  time  when  the  missionaries  of  the  Anti- 
Burgher  S3'nod — Arnot  and  Gellatly — began  their  operations 
at  Middle  Octorara.  An  appendix  to  "The  Warning"  waa 
directed  against  them.  The  presbytery  seems  to  have  passed 
over  the  peculiarities  of  the  Covenanter  system,  and  to  have 
struck  at  the  doctrines*  for  which  the  Erskines  left  the  Kirk 


kii-k  on  account  of  her  defections,  he  had  returned,  he  said  he  saw  in  her  a  change 
for  the  better.  The  moderator  said,  "  The  only  change  in  the  kirk,  thus  far,  was 
for  the  worse." — McKerrotv. 

*  Nathaniel  Hazard,  of  New  York,  wrote  to  Dr.  Bellamy,  December  8,  1755: — 
*'  Gellatly  has  sense,  learning,  and  piety.  Mr.  Bostwick  and  Mr.  Hait  approve  his 
preaching."  November  17,  1758 :  "  The  Scots  people  have  got  up  a  new  meeting- 
house, about  twenty-seven  feet  wide  and  forty  feet  long.  Mr.  Gellatly  has  been 
preaching  in  it  four  weeks.  Some  insijDuations  of  his  and  his  brethren's  being 
unsound  in  the  article  of  Faith,  excited  him  to  declare  their  sentiments  on  it  to  a 
very  numerous  auditory.  In  vindication,  he  publicly  read  the  Dutch,  French, 
Geneva,  Church,  and  Presbj^terian  Confessions,  which  were  esteemed,  I  believe, 
by  all  that  heard  it,  as  being  substantially  the  same  with  theirs.    If  you  are  strong 


248  WEBSTER'S   HISTORY   OP   THE 

of  Scotland,  the  doctrines  which  were  zealously  upheld  by 
the  best  men  during  the  Marrow  Controversy,  and  which  con- 
stituted the  chief  charm  to  Toplady  and  Boston  in  that  an- 
cient and  excellent  treatise, — "  The  Marrow  of  Modern  Divi- 
nity;" and  its  fellow,  "The  Gospel  Mystery  of  Sanctifica- 
tion,"  by  the  mellifluous  Stephen  Marshall. 

The  Associate  Presbytery  and  the  Reformed  were  united  in 
their  testimony  on  these  points : — 1.  Christ  has  died  for  the 
elect.  2.  There  is  in  the  nature  of  saving  faith  an  appropria- 
tion of  Christ  and  his  benefits.  3.  The  gospel  is  indiscrimi- 
nately offered  to  all.  4.  The  righteousness  of  Christ  is  the 
only  proper  condition  of  the  covenant  of  grace. 

In  1754,  the  Old-Side  Synod  directed  McDowell  and  Samson 
Smith  to  represent  briefly  some  of  the  most  dangerous  prin- 
ciples and  practices  of  the  Seceders,  that  they  might  be  printed 
and  sold  where  those  gentlemen  are  doing  most  damage. 

Gellatly  prepared  a  severe  reply  to  the  IsTew-Side  brethren, 
entitled  the  "Detector."*  All  the  charges  made  by  Creag- 
head  of  laxity  he  assumed  to  be  true,  and  demanded  whether 
they,  who  had  set  the  example  of  forming  separate  presbyteries 
and  of  dividing  congregations,  had  any  right  to  blame  others 
for  ministering  to  those  at  whose  call  they  crossed  the  ocean, 
and  who  were  as  conscientiously  opposed  to  the  K"ew-Side 
methods  and  peculiarities,  as  the  New  Side  were  to  the  dege- 
neracy of  the  Old  Side.  He  warmly  assailed  the  paragraph 
about  essentials,  and  the  assumption  that  one  may  be  a  true 
follower  of  Christ  who  did  not  believe  all  that  Christ  had 
taught,  or  regard  all  that  he  had  commanded  as  necessary 
duty.  He  also  objected  to  the  orations  as  well  as  prayers  at 
funerals,  and  to  the  heterodoxy  of  some  who  impugned  the 
eternal  generation  of  the  Son  of  God.  At  firstf  the  Burghers 
and  Anti-Burghers  freely  united  in  one  presb^'tery ;  but  the 
Anti-Burgher  Synod  in  Scotland  refused  the  Associate  Pres- 
bytery of  Pennsylvania  any  countenance  or  aid,  until^  that  con- 
enough  to  set  your  shoulder  against  the  -whole  Protestant  world,  then  condemn 
the  Seceders  as  unsound  in  the  article  of  Faith,  and  enter  an  endless  controversy, 
■which,  I  imagine,  will  never  do  twopence-worth  of  good ;  ami,  whether  right  or 
wrong  at  present,  I  am  of  opinion  they  will  be  right  in  a  little  time  if  you  let 
them  alone." 

*  Philadelphia  Library.  f  Rev.  J.  P.  Miller's  Sketches. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  249 

nection  was  dissolved  witli  all  ministers  who  denied  the  sinful- 
ness of  the  Burgess  oath.  This  was  soon  effected,  and  the 
places  of  the  excluded  were  supplied  by  a  number  of  able  and 
eminent  preachers  of  righteousness. 

Samuel  Finley  and  Eobert  Smith  replied  to  the  pamphlet 
of  Gellatly  in  a  piece  entitled  the  "  Detector  Detected."*  They 
quoted  largely  from  Blair's  animadversions  on  Creaghead'3 
reasons  for  leaving  the  Presbyterian  connection,  in  disproof 
of  the  accusation  of  laxity  in  doctrine  and  decline  from  the 
"Westminster  Confession  in  doctrine  and  discipline.  They 
quoted  the  Irish  Burgher  ministers, — Samuel  Delap,  of  Letter- 
kenny,  and  Thomas  Clark,  of  Ballybay, — as  authority  for 
charging  the  Anti-Burghers  with  forsaking  not  only  the  com- 
munion of  bad  men  and  errorists,  but  the  constitution  of  the 
church  also,  and  with  excluding  from  communion  the  best  of 
men.  They  said  that  Clark  esteemed  the  treatment  of  the 
Erskines  as  a  great  impiety,  and  lamented  the  success  the 
Anti-Burghers  had  in  imposing  on  so  many  in  Philadelphia. 
The  Anti-Burghers  were  not  without  success  elsewhere :  they 
gathered  congregations  in  IS^ew  York  City,  and  in  several  other 
places  in  that  province,  at  Octorara,  Pequea,  Chestnut  Level, 
Forks  of  Brandy  wine,  Fagg's  Manor,  Oxford,  Deep  Run,  in 
the  Forks  of  Delaware,  in  York  and  Adams  county,  and 
indeed  in  almost  every  Presbyterian  settlement  west  of  Sus- 
quehanna. They  also  spread  to  the  southern  and  western 
limits  of  emigration,  and,  although  small  in  numbers,  they  re- 
mained separated  from  all  else,  honourably  distinguished,  for 
the  most  part,  by  knowledge  of  the  truth  and  steadfast  ad- 
herence to  every  jot  and  tittle  of  the  law  and  the  testimony. 

The  Covenanters  were  found  west  of  the  Susquehanna,  and 
it  is  believed  that  only  three  ministers  of  that  persuasion  came 
to  this  country  before  the  Revolution.  These  were  Cuthbert- 
son,  Lind,  of  Conecocheague,  and  Alexander  Dobbin,  of 
Adams  county;  and  these  all  lived  to  join  with  the  Anti- 
Burghers  and  the  Burghers  in  forming  the  Associate  Re- 
formed Synod  in  1782. 

The  congregations  in  New  Jersey  seem  to  have  escaped 
these  divisions,  and  to  have  had  uninterrupted  peace.     The 

*  Philadelphia  Library. 


250  Webster's  history  of  the 

only  two  exceptions  seems  to  have  been  iu  Amwell,  where, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  a  Church  missionary,  two  Imn- 
dred  Presbyterians,  in  1753,  conformed  to  the  Episcopal 
mode  ;*  and  on  Elack  River,  where  the  Separates  or  Strict 
Congregationalists  established  a  congregation,  still  existing  at 
Chester. 

At  the  union  of  the  synods  there  were  twenty  ministers  be- 
longing to  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  and  seventy-two  in  con- 
nection with  the  Synod  of  ISTew  York ;  yet  the  former,  with 
suicidal  zeal,  insisted  on  the  amalgamation  of  the  presbyte- 
ries ;  the  ministers  and  congregations  which  were  contiguous 
to  be  united  in  one  body.  To  this  the  New  Side  objected 
to  the  last,  though  they  had  nothing  to  lose  by  it,  and  though 
it  put  the  Old-Side  ministers,  with  their  congregations,  en- 
tirely under  their  control  and  uncovenanted  mercy. 

Upon  this  plan,  Suffolk  and  New  York  Presbyteries  re- 
mained unchanged.  ISTew  Brunswick  Presbytery  received 
Cowell  and  Guild  from  Philadelphia,  thus  leaving  Cross  and 
Dr.  Alison  to  be  joined  with  the  large  Presbytery  of  Abing- 
don, under  the  name  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  and  to  stand 
by  themselves  in  a  hopeless  minority.  The  like  discomfort 
awaited  Craig,  Black,  and  Alexander  Miller,  who  were  set  off 
from  Donegal  to  Hanover  Presbytery.  The  Presbyteiy  of 
Lewes  was  erected,  to  consist  of  two  Old-Side  members — 
"Wilson  and  John  Miller — and  three  New-Side  men, — Hugh 
Henry,  Harris,  and  Tuttle.  With  these  exceptions,  the  Pres- 
'^  byteries  of  Donegal,  and  first  and  second  Newcastle,  remained 
for  a  time  unchanged. 

At  the  rupture,  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  was  left  with 
twenty-two  ministers ;  before  the  union,  they  received  five  and 
ordained  seventeen,  and  at  the  union,  they  had  only  twenty. 

There  was  an  amazing  superiority  in  numbers  in  the  New 
York  Synod,  sixty-six  having  been  ordained  and  fifteen  re- 
ceived. The  latter  were  all  natives  of  New  England  except 
Morrison,  who  was  probably  born  and  ordained  in  Scotland. 
About  one-third  of  those  ordained  were  also  New  Englanders; 
there  were  two  Englishmen  and  one  Welshman ;  of  the  re- 


*  This   is  stated   in  Hawkins's    Missions    of   the   English   Church.     Is  it  not 
apocryphal  ? 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  251 

mainder,  half  were  born  in  Ireland,  and  the  rest  within  the 
bonnds  of  the  synod. 

To  acconnt  for  the  difference  of  ministerial  increase,  we 
must  consider  the  diflerence  of  territory.  The  New  York 
Synod  had  the  old  settled  provinces  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey  wholly  to  themselves,  presenting  eligible  settlements 
and  likely  to  attract  candidates  from  New  England.  The  Old 
Side  had  in  common  with  them  the  provinces  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland,  and  Delaware,  with  the  new  settlements  in  "^ 
Virginia  and  Carolina.  The  Old-Side  congregations  had  been 
rent,  and  afforded  barely  a  maintenance ;  while  the  New-Side 
congregations,  gathered  during  the  Revival,  were  vigorous, 
united,  and  growing,  and  they  furnished  a  very  considerable 
number  of  candidates,  as  Roan,  Dean,  Davies,  Rodgers,  Todd, 
Hugh  Henry,  Robert  Smith,  Harris,  Ramsey,  Duffield,  and 
McAden.  It  is  remarkable  that  Moses  Tuttle  was  the  only 
New  England  minister  who  settled  below  New  Jersey,  and 
Eleazer  Whittlesey  the  only  candidate  who  sought  to  labour 
among  the  Scotch  and  Irish ;  and  there  were  scarcely  any, 
besides  Spencer  and  Greenman,  who  found  a  home  in  New 
Brunswick  or  Abingdon  Presbyteries. 

The  difference  must  be  resolved  mainly  into  the  influence 
of  the  great  Revival ;  the  Spirit  was  poured  out  from  on  high 
on  the  young  men,  and  they  forsook  their  trades  and  gave 
themselves  to  the  ministry.  Roan,  Bay,  and  Todd  had  been 
weavers,  Chesnut  a  shoemaker,  Tuttle  a  sailor,  Laurence  a 
blacksmith,  and  C.  Tennent  a  saddler. 

To  use  the  language  of  Friends,  "  a  spring  of  ministry  was 
opened;"  and  on  beholding  the  rapid  filling  up  of  the  ranks 
in  that  period  with  pious,  zealous,  able,  and,  in  many  cases, 
distinguished  ministers,  "  who  knoweth  not  that  the  hand  of 
the  Lord  has  done  this?"  "He  gave  the  word:  great  was 
the  company  of  them  that  published  it." 

A  singular  circumstance  is  also  to  be  observed, — the  ceasing 
of  the  influx  from  Ireland  of  candidates  or  ministers.  Many 
young  men  from  that  country  began  to  prepare  for  the  sacred 
work  after  they  had  seen  the  grace  of  God  here ;  but  few  or 
no  graduates  of  Glasgow  or  Edinburgh  came  as  they  had 
formerly  done ;  none,  it  is  believed,  came  to  the  New  York 
Synod,  and  very  few,  if  any,  to  the  other  body.     Not  a  single 


252  Webster's  history  of  the 

instance  is  known  of  an  ordained  minister  from  Ireland  having 
come  over  to  unite  with  either  synod,  nor  from  Enghmd. 
The  Phihxdelphia  Synod  received  from  Scothmd,  Scougal,  wlio 
soon  died,  and  Brown,  who,  in  less  than  a  year,  sought  his 
native  soil.  The  New  Side  received  Evander  Morrison,  who 
may  have  been  ordained  in  Scothmd,  though  it  is  not  unlikely 
that  he  was  admitted  to  the  sacred  office  in  New  England, 
where  he  preached  in  1749.  The  application  of  the  church  in 
Philadelphia  for  an  assistant  and  successor  to  Robert  Cross 
was  presented  to  the  Presbytery  of  Edinburgh  and  to  the 
Independent  ministers  in  England,  and  \vas  disregarded. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe,  among  the  fruits  of  the  Revival, 
a  turning  from  man's  inventions  to  the  Scriptural  mode  of 
church  government.  Whitefield  told  Erskine*  that  if,  when  a 
candidate  for  the  ministry,  he  had  had  the  views  held  in  1740, 
he  would  not  have  sought  ordination  from  the  hands  of  a 
diocesan  prelate.  Edwards,  a  few  years  later,  wrote,  "I 
have  long  been  perfectly  out  of  conceit  of  our  unsettled,  inde- 
pendent, confused  way  of  church  government  in  the  land ; 
and  the  Presb^'terian  way  has  ever  appeared  to  me  most 
agreeable  to  the  word  of  God  and  the  reason  and  nature  of 
things." 

By  the  advice  of  Wliitefield,  the  friends  of  the  Revival  who 
separated  from  the  First  Church  in  Newbury,  Massachusetts, 
adopted  the  Presbyterian  form;  and  the  people  at  Milford, 
Connecticut,  in  like  circumstances,  declared  themselves  sober 
dissenters  from  the  standing  order,  worshipping  after  the 
model  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.  Horror  of  divisive  prac- 
tices kept  the  Synod  of  New  York  from  countenancing  or 
winking  at  any  movements  in  New  England  to  leave  the  set- 
tled ministry  and  gather  Presbyterian  congregations.  There 
appears  to  have  been  only  two  of  the  Irish  ministers  in  that 
region  who  warmly  espoused  the  side  of  Whitefield, — Moorhead 
and  McGregoire.  A  few  years  after,  Parsons,  with  his  church 
in  Newburyport,  united  with  them.  In  1758,  they  in  a  formal 
and  explicit  manner  adopted  the  Westminster  standards.  This 
presbytery  had  no  connection  with  the  Synod  of  New  York ; 

*  Philips's  Whitefield. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN    AMERICA.  253 

but  in  its  difficulties  witli  Abercrombie,*  who,  in  1753,  charged 
them  with  looseness  in  regard  to  subscribing  the  Confession, 
tliey  oflered  to  refer  the  matters  in  controversy  for  final  adju- 
dication to  the  synod  at  its  session  in  May,  1758. 

The  original  Presbytery  of  Boston  was  opened  in  1745,  by 
the  Rev.  William  McClenachan,  A.M.,  of  Blandford,  with  a 
sermon  in  the  French  meeting-house.  The  French  church 
disbanded  in  1748,  and  their  meeting-house  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Separates,  who,  with  tlie  Rev.  Andrew  Crosswell 
for  pastor,  formed  the  Eleventh  Congregational  Society.  The 
last  trace  of  this  judicatory  appears  in  the  Records  of  Dutchess 
Presbytery,  September  9, 1765,  when  the  Rev.  Samuel  Dunlap, 
of  Cherry  Valley,  was  received  as  a  member,  the  "  presbytery 
to  the  eastward  of  Boston,"  to  which  he  belonged,  "being  in- 
capable of  sitting  by  reason  of  the  dispersion  of  its  members." 

The  ministers  on  the  east  end  of  Long  Island  had  been 
favoured  with  great  success  during  the  Revival,  and  they  were 
called  to  endure  a  great  fight  of  aflliction.  For  Davenport  had 
been  the  chief  instrument  used  by  God  in  reviving  his  work, 
and  he  had  left  the  impress  of  his  Spirit  on  a  large  body  of 
pious  people.  They  separated  from  their  ministers,  being 
under  doubt  of  their  conversion,  or  from  some  like  weighty 
reason.  Many,  after  Davenport's  retraction,  laid  aside  their 
extravagances  of  opinion  and  practice;  but  a  greater  number 
had  drunk  so  largely  of  them  that  their  very  bones  were  dyed 
through  and  throughout.  They  organized  the  Strict  Congre- 
gational churches,  with  all  the  appendages  of  lay  exhorters  and 
females  praying  in  public. 

On  the  8th  of  April,  1747,  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  White,  of 
Bridgehampton,  JS'athaniel  Mather,  of  Acquebogue,  Ebenezer 
Prime,  of  Huntingdon,  Ebenezer  Gould,  of  Cutchogue,  Sylva- 
nus  White,  of  Southampton,  and  Samuel  Buell,  of  Easthamp- 
ton,  "ministers  on  the  island  of  ISTassau,"  met  at  Southampton, 
and,  in  view  of  the  "broken  state  of  the  churches,  the  preva- 
lency  of  separations  and  divisions',  and  the  growing  mischiefs 

*  Robert  Abercrombie,  on  being  licensefl,  came  from  Scotland  to  New  England  in 
the  fall  of  1740,  with  testimonials  from  the  Presbyteries  of  Edinburgh  and  Kirk- 
aldy,  and  recommendations  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wilson,  of  Perth :  he  was  ordained 
by  a  council  at  Pelham,  Massachusetts.  He  joined  with  Moorhead  and  McGregoire 
in  forming  Boston  Presbytery  at  Londonderry,  April  16,  1745. 


254  Webster's  history  of  the 

those  disorders  are  big  with,  did,  after  repeated  addresses  to 
the  throne  of  grace,  some  debate  and  serious  consultations, 
covenant  to  unite  in  a  presbytery.  They  were  satisliod  that 
the  disorders  were  much  owing  to  the  want  of  some  stated 
rules  of  ecclesiastical  government,  and  were  persuaded,  accord- 
ing to  light  received  from  the  word  of  God,  that  Presbyterian 
government  in  its  most  essential  articles  was  consonant  to  the 
mind  and  will  of  the  glorious  Head  and  King  of  the  Church, 
and  will  best  answer  the  ends  of  government  in  the  churches 
to  which  they  sustain  the  pastoral  relation.  They  regarded 
the  Westminster  Confession  as  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God 
and  a  suitable  test  of  orthodoxy.  They  covenanted  to  endea- 
vour to  engage  their  people  to  join  with  them,  and  to  seek  to 
draw  vacant  and  unsettled  congregations  to  place  themselves 
under  their  care."  At  this  meeting,  the  churches  of  Easthamp- 
ton,  Bridgehampton,  and  Southampton  were  represented  by 
delegates,  who  also  entered  into  the  covenant.  A  few  weeks 
after,  they  met,  and  there  were  favourable  appearances  in  the 
churches  of  concurrence ;  but  Southampton  embraced  the  pro- 
posal nem.  con.  Mr.  Mather  died  before  April,  1748,  some  of  his 
people  having  forsaken  him,  and  others  "having  a  list  that 
way."  Soon  after  the  formation  of  the  presbytery,  a  gracious 
reviving  cheered  the  pastors  and  united  their  people  firmly  to 
them. 

They  joined  the  Synod  of  New  York.  It  is  pleasant  to  reflect 
that  each  of  these  ministers  except  Gould,  who  through  the 
desertion  of  his  people  to  the  Separates  was  obliged  to  remove 
to  Connecticut,  lived  to  long  life,  in  vigour  to  the  last,  useful 
beyond  most  men,  and  closing  their  days  among  the  people 
who  welcomed  them  in  youth  and  reverenced  them  in  age. 

The  Ilev.  Eleazer  Wheelock,*  afterwards  President  of  Dart- 
mouth College,  wrote  from  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  March  13, 
1749,  to  Dr.  Bellamy : — "  There  are  many  things  that  have  a 
threatening  aspect  on  our  religious  interests  in  these  parts: — 
Antinomian  principles,  and  the  Korah-like  claims  which  are  the 
usual  concomitants  of  them ;  prevailing  worldllmss  and  coldness^ 
which  has  become  a  common  distemper  a«iong  us ;  growing 
immorality,  j  ustified  by  the  wildness  and  errors  of  many  high  pro- 

*  Bellamy  MSS. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN  AMERICA.  255 

fessors ;  a  want  of  promising  candidates  for  the  ministry,  and 
the  great  difficulty  that  commonl}'  attends  the  settling  of  any, 
chiefly  through  the  strait-hand edncss  of  parishes  toward  the 
support  of  the  gospel;  the  want  of  a  good  discipline  in  our 
churches,  and  the  difficulty  upon  many  accounts  of  reviving  it, 
&c.  &c.  I  am  fully  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  time  for  ministers 
to  wake  up  for  a  redress  of  these  evils ;  and  I  can  think  of  no 
way  more  likely,  than  for  those,  who  are  in  the  same  way  of 
thinking  ahout  the  most  important  things  in  religion,  to  join 
in  a  presbytery.  Don't  you  see  that  Arminian  candidates  can't 
settle  in  the  ministry?  Don't  you  see  how  much  those  want 
the  patronage  of  a  godly  presbytery,  who  do  settle  ?  For  want 
of  it,  they  get  broken  bones,  which  will  pain  them  all  their 
days.  Would  not  such  a  presbytery  soon  have  all  the  candi- 
dates of  worth  under  them,  and,  consequently,  presently  most 
of  the  vacant  churches  ?  Our  wild  people  are  not  half  so  much  | 
prejudiced  against  the  Scottish  constitution  as  against  our  j^ 
own.  Many  churches  in  these  parts  might  easily  be  brought  | 
into  it,  and  my  soul  longs  for  it.  .  .  .  For  my  part,  I  think  it 
high  time  that  men  who  have  been  treated  as  Mr.  Robbins  (of 
Branford)  was,  should  have  some  way  of  relief,  which  I  am 
informed  was  the  view  of  that  honest  Calvinist  who  first 
moved  in  that  proposal.  ...  Is  there  not  some  reason  to  hope 
that  hereby  there  -will  be  a  door  opened  for  bringing  things 
into  a  better  posture  among  the  Calvinist  party?  You  know 
how  God  has  overruled  things  in  the  Jerseys." 

Soon  after  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  had,  in  1739,  resolved 
that  all  persons,  before  being  received  as  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  should  be  examined  by  its  committee  and  approved, 
John  Thomson  proposed  to  Donegal  Presbytery  to  ask  the 
synod  to  establish  a  school  of  its  own.  The  synod,  in  the  May 
of  that  year,  unanimously  agreed  to  do  so ;  and  the  hope  was 
expressed,  that  either  Dickinson  and  Pemberton,  or  Anderson 
and  Robert  Cross,  might  be  prevailed  on  to  go  home  to  Europe 
to  prosecute  the  affair.  Arrangements  were  made  to  facilitate 
Pemberton's  going  to  Boston  to  prepare  preliminary  measures. 
The  commission,  with  correspondents  from  each  presbytery, 
was  ordered  to  meet  in  August,  and  draw  up  proper  directions 
for  the  persons  intrusted  with  this  important  mission.  This 
measure,  if  adopted  unanimously,  must  have   been   carried 


256  WEBSTER'S    HISTORY   OF   THE 

after  the  withtlrawal  of  tLo  protesting  brethren;  for  "Gilbert 
Tenncnt  was  hardy  enough  to  tell  our  synod  that  he  would 
oppose  their  design  of  getting  assistance  wherever  we  should 
make  application,  and  would  maintain  young  men  at  his 
father's  school  in  opposition  to  us." 

The  commission  met ;  but  no  persons  were  present,  either 
from  IS'ew  York  or  New  Brunswick  Presbyteries.  Andrew's, 
Anderson,  Thomson,  Boyd,  Cross,  Martin,  and  Treat  attended, 
with  the  correspondents,  Cathcart,  Alison,  Black,  Jamison, 
and  D.  Evans.  They  resolved  first  to  seek  divine  guidance, 
and  David  Evans  prayed ;  they  then  charged  Andrews  to  write 
to  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  Thomson  to  prepare  a  circular 
letter  to  the  congregations,  and  agreed  to  call  the  synod  to- 
gether in  September,  to  deliberate  further  on  the  matter, 

Andrews,  Cross,  and  Treat  were  appointed  to  prepare  ad- 
dresses, credentials,  and  letters,  to  be  laid  before  the  synod ; 
but,  the  war  between  England  and  Spain  breaking  out,  the 
calling  of  the  synod  was  omitted. 

By  private  agreement,  the  three  Presbyteries  of  Newcastle, 
Philadelphia,  and  Donegal  met  in  committee  at  the  Great 
Valley,  November  16,  1743,  to  consider  the  necessity  of  using 
speedy  measures  to  educate  youth  to  supply  our  vacancies. 
They  resolved  at  once  to  open  a  school,  and  the  synod  in  the 
spring  took  it  under  its  care.  The  plan  was  to  give  instruction 
in  languages,  philosophy,  and  divinity,  to  all  gratis ;  the  school 
to  be  supported  by  yearly  congregational  collections.  Alison 
was  placed  at  the  head,  and  eleven  ministers  were  appointed 
trustees  to  visit  the  school  and  examine  the  scholars.  No 
presbytery  was  allowed  to  "improve"  any  scholar  who  did  not 
produce  a  joint  testimonial  from  the  trustees  and  the  synod's 
committee.  The  synod  applied  to  the  Trustees  of  Yale,  to 
receive  their  scholars  at  such  advanced  stages  as  their  profi- 
ciency warranted,  and  to  admit  them  after  a  year's  residence 
to  a  degree.  Several  ministers  and  gentlemen  helped  them  to 
books  to  begin  a  library'.  They  received  a  favourable  response 
from  Yale ;  but  it  seems  none  of  their  scholars  availed  them- 
selves of  the  privilege. 

Professor  Hutcheson,  of  Glasgow,  had*  proposed  to  Alison 

*  Alison  to  President  Stiles,  in  MS.  at  Yale  College. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  257 

the  setting  on  foot  of  a  seminary ;  and  in  1746,  he  opened  a 
correspondence  with  him,  but  we  do  not  know  with  what  ad- 
vantage. In  1747,  the  synod  determined  to  endeavour  to  pay 
the  arrears  to  the  master,  and  to  get  the  congregations  more 
generally  to  contribute.  In  1748,  they  raised  his  salary  to 
£4:0,  intending  to  make  it  up  by  collections,  and  by  "  'sessing" 
each  scholar  twenty  shillings,  and  to  defray  any  deficiency  out 
of  the  yearly  interest  of  the  fund.  In  1749,  they  declined  to 
give  Alison  leave  to  remove  to  Philadelphia,  and  promised  him 
£S0,  reserving  liberty  to  exempt  as  many  scholars  from  tuition- 
fees  as  they  please  ;  and  giving  him  permission  to  charge  the 
rest  as  he  sees  fit.  Still,  the  point  was  not  arranged  to  his  satis- 
faction, and  they  agreed  to  exempt  only  four  of  their  own 
choosing ;  leaving  it  to  him  to  choose  four  others,  who  should 
enjoy  the  synod's  bounty.  He  removed,  in  1752,  to  Philadel- 
phia, as  master  of  the  Latin  school,  without  consulting  the 
presbytery  or  the  commission.  The  synod  overlooked  this,  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  "highly  probable  that  in  his  new  sta- 
tion he  might  be  serviceable  to  the  church  in  teaching  philo- 
sophy and  divinity  so  far  as  his  obligations  to  the  academy 
will  admit." 

The  school  was  removed  to  Elk,  and  placed  under  the  care 
of  McDowell,  immediately  on  Alison's  resignation.  He  had 
.£20  from  the  synod,  and  an  assistant.  In  1754,  he  declined 
the  whole  burden,  but  consented  without  charge  to  teach  logic, 
mathematics,  and  natural  and  moral  philosophy.  The  encou- 
ragement formerly  allowed  him  was  given  to  his  assistant, 
Matthew  Wilson.  It  is  said  that  many  able  ministers  were 
educated  during  Alison's  time  in  the^'Synod's  school,  and  that 
two  Dutch  Reformed  ministers,  born  in  this  country,  were 
educated  by  him.* 

The  synod  also  afforded  aid  to  Samson  Smith  for  his  school 
at  Chestnut  Level,  and  procured  him  a  yearly  donation  from 
the  British  Society  for  Educating  German  Children  in  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Thus,  their  efforts  resulted  in  no  great  permanent  institu- 
tion.    The  well-devised  scheme  of  making  Alison  a  subordi- 


*  One  of  these  was  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Dubois,  of  Southampton,  Bucks  county, 
Pennsylvania,  a  native  of  Pilesgrove,  New  Jersey. 

17 


258  Webster's  history  of  the 

nate  instructor  in  the  college  of  Philadelphia  enlisted  the  Old 
Side  in  the  support  of  that  institution,  and  drew  them  off  for 
many  years  from  attempting  to  erect  a  college  of  their  own. 

The  Presbytery  of  New  York  w^as  probably  mainly  induced 
to  press  the  forming  of  a  new  synod,  in  order  to  found  a  semi- 
nary of  learning  on  an  equal  scale  with  those  of  New  England. 
The  stand  in  regard  to  the  Revival  taken  b}^  Harvard  and 
Yale  seemed  to  render  this  necessary,  and  had  probably  led 
to  an  attempt  to  establish  a  school  at  New  London.*  Although 
this  effort  was  unsuccessful,  still,  the  causes  in  which  it  had  its 
origin  remained  in  full  force.  The  obstinate  refusalf  of  the 
authorities  of  Yale  to  admit  Brainerd  to  his  degree,  after  his 
humble  submission,  and  in  disregard  of  the  personal  repeated 
earnest  solicitation  of  Dickinson,  Pierson,  Burr,  and  Edwards, 
satisfied  them  that  it  was  time  to  arise  and  build  a  seminary, 
suited  to  the  times,  to  be  under  the  influence  of  those  who 
saw  a  glorious  work  of  God's  grace  in  the  appearances  con- 
temptuously designated  "  a  religious  stir."  A  charter,  to  incor- 
porate sundry  persons  to  found  a  college,  passed  the  great  seal 
of  the  province,  tested  by  James  Hamilton,  Esq.,  President 
of  his  Majesty's  Council  in  New  Jersey.  This  charter  the 
;trustee8  refused  to  accept,  Tcnnent  strenuously  objecting  to 
the  clause  constituting  the  governor  of  the  province,  ex-officio, 
a  trustee.  The  college,  however,  was  commenced  at  Elizabeth- 
town  :  the  newspapers,  in  April,  1747,  advertise  that,  on  the 
fourth  week  in  May,  all  persons  suitably  qualified  may  be  ad- 
mitted as  students.  On  the  death  of  Dickinson,  in  October 
of  that  year,  it  was  removed  to  Newark,  and  placed  under  the 
presidency  of  Burr.  Whitefield  wrote  to  Pemberton,  Novem- 
ber 21,  1748,  urging  him  to  come  to  England,  with  one  of  the 
converted  Indians,  in  behalf  of  the  college. 

Governor  BelcherJ  had  from  time  to  time,  by  letters,  intro- 


*  "That  thing  called  the  Shepherd's  Tent"  had  been  set  up  by  Rev.  Timothy 
Allen,  at  New  London,  to  educate  "gracious  youths;"  but  the  Connecticut  Legisla- 
ture, in  1742,  made  it  penal  for  private  or  unknown  persons  to  conduct  such  semi- 
naries, and  ordained  that  none  should  be  admitted  to  the  privileges  of  the  ministry 
of  the  standing  order,  without  a  diploma  from  Britain,  Yale,  or  Harvard.  The 
tent  was  shifted  to  the  Narragansetts,  and  soon  given  up. 

f  Dr.  Alexander's  Log  College. 

X  Life  and  Times  of  Lady  Huntingdon. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  259 

duced  the  college  to  the  notice  of  Lady  Huntingdon ;  White- 
field  had  drawn  her  attention  to  it  also.  In  the  early  part  of 
1750,  Mr.  Allen,  and  Colonel  Elisha  Williams,  of  Weathers- 
field,  formerly  Rector  of  Yale,  came  to  England,  with  letters 
from  Belcher  and  Burr.  Whitefield  introduced  them  to  the 
countess,  at  her  seat  at  Ashby.  A  statement  of  the  intended 
plan  and  enlargement  of  the  college  was  drawn ;  and  by  her 
advice  it  was  printed,  with  a  recommendation  signed  by  herself, 
Doddridge,  and  Whitefield.  Several  of  the  Dissenting  minis- 
ters promised  their  assistance.  She  was  active  in  collecting 
considerable  sums,  and  corresponded  with  many  persons  in  its 
behalf  in  England  and  Scotland.  Whitefield  lost  no  opportu- 
nity of  recommending  it  to  the  attention  of  those  who  could 
efiectually  further  the  object.  He  wrote,  in  Ma}',  1750,  to 
McCulloch,  of  Cambuslang,  "concerning  the  Presbyterian  col- 
lege in  the  Jerseys,  the  importance  and  extensive  influence  of 
which  you  liave  long  been  apprized  of.  Mr.  Allen,  a  friend  of 
Governor  Belcher's,  is  come  over  with  a  commission  to  nego- 
tiate this  matter ;  he  hath  brought  with  him  a  copy  of  the  letter 
which  Mr.  Pemberton  sent  you  some  months  past.  This  letter 
hath  been  shown  to  Dr.  Doddridge  and  several  of  the  London 
ministers,  who  all  approve  of  the  thing  and  promise  their  as- 
sistance. Last  week  I  preached  at  Northampton,  and  conversed 
with  Dr.  Doddridge  about  it.  The  scheme  that  was  then  judged 
most  practicable  was  this : — that  Mr.  Pemberton's  letter  should 
be  published,  and  a  recommendation  of  the  afiair,  subscribed 
by  Dr.  Doddridge  and  others,  should  be  annexed ;  that  a  sub- 
scription and  collections  should  be  set  on  foot  in  England,  and 
that  afterwards  Mr.  Allen  should  go  to  Scotland.  I  think  it 
an  afiair  that  requires  despatch.  Governor  Belcher  is  old,  but 
a  most  hearty  man  for  promoting  God's  glory  and  the  good  of 
mankind.  The  spreading  of  the  gospel  in  Maryland  and  Vir- 
ginia in  a  great  measure  depends  upon  it,  and  I  wish  them 
much  success  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  Allen  died  in  the 
summer  of  the  gaol-fever,  which  broke  out  in  London,  and 
carried  off  four  of  the  judges  at  the  Old  Bailey. 

In  1751,  the  synod  met  at  Newark,  at  commencement,  and, 
at  the  request  of  the  trustees,  sent  Burr,  Treat,  W.  Tennent, 
and  Davies,  to  New  York,  to  obtain  the  consent  of  his  congre- 
gation to  his  going.     Pemberton  had  at  the  time  no  family ; 


260  Webster's  history  of  the 

and  though  Gumming,  his  colleague,  was  to  remain,  and  the 
trustees  offered  to  supply  the  pulpit,  the  people  and  Gumming 
unaccountably  refused.  In  the  winter  of  1752,  the  trustees 
solicited  Davies  to  go  with  Gilbert  Tennent  to  Great  Britain 
on  this  embassy.  Whitefield  wrote,  June  8,  1753,  "I  am  glad 
Mr.  Tennent  is  coming  with  Mr.  Davies:  if  they  come  with 
their  old  fire,  I  trust  they  will  be  enabled  to  do  wonders." 
The  synod  unanimously  appointed  them  to  this  mission  in 
October,  and  they  arrived  in  London  on  Ghristmas  day.  The 
next  day  they  saw  "Whitefield,  and  he  gave  them  recommenda- 
tory letters  to  Scotland.  In  London  they  had  remarkable  suc- 
cess, and  collected  XllOO,  though  they  had  not  expected  <£300. 

Davies  said,*  April  7,  1754,  "We  have  had  most  surprising 
success  in  our  mission,  which  I  cannot  review  without  passion- 
ate emotions.  Our  friends  in  America  cannot  hear  the  news 
with  the  same  surprise,  as  they  do  not  know  the  diflicultiesf 
we  have  had  to  encounter;  to  me  it  appears  the  most  signal 
interposition  of  Providence  I  ever  saw."  September  2:  ^'I 
think  it  an  evidence  of  the  remarkable  interposition  of  Provi- 
dence in  favour  of  the  college,  that,  wherever  I  have  stayed  to 
make  a  collection,  it  has  doubled  what  was  ever  raised  before 
on  a  like  occasion." 

Mr.  Hogg,  an  eminent  Ghristian  merchant  in  Edinburgh, 
wrote  to  President  Burr,  August  28,  1755,  "I  have  the  satis- 
faction to  acquaint  you,  that  the  collection  ordered  by  the 
General  Assembly  amounts  to  above  £1000;  of  which  fifty 
pounds  is  from  the  Marquis  of  Lothian.  The  General  Assem- 
bly, in  May,  renewed  their  appointment  to  all  ministers  who 
have  not  collected,  to  do  so  with  all  speed.  The  surprising  ap- 
pearance of  Providence,  in  giving  Mr.  Tennent  and  Mr.  Davies 
such  success,  is  indeed  matter  of  great  thankfulness  and  praise. 
^  "We  would  fain  hope  that  it  is  a  token  for  good  that  the  Lord 
will  make  that  seminary  of  learning  eminently  useful  in  send- 
ing forth  labourers  into  his  vineyard." 

*  Diary,  printed  in  Dr.  Foote's  Sketches  of  Virginia. 

•f  Tlie  Rev.  Dr.  George  Benson  did  not  sign  the  recommendation  without  a  sneer 
at  subscription  to  creeds.  He  wrote  to  Dr.  Mayhew,  April  17,  1754,  "I  have 
endeavoured  to  enlarge  their  notions  of  liberty  and  charity,  which  appear  to  me 
greatly  confined.  They  are  diligent  and  dextrous  men,  and  have  had  great  success." 
— Bradford's  Life  of  Mayhew. 

r 


r-  I'    r   ,^      PRESBYTERIAN'   CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  261 

Tennent  obtained  £500  in  Ireland.  It  was  supposed  by  Hogg 
thaT~fEe  collections  in  Britain  and  Ireland  would  not  be  less 
than  X4000 ;  probably  this  did  not  embrace  the  whole  amount 
collected. 

The  moneys  collected  by  them  enabled  the  trustees  to 
erect  a  commodious  building  and  lay  a  foundation  for  a 
fund  for  the  support  of  the  necessary  instructors.  ISTew  Jersey 
and  Connecticut*  each  allowed  a  lottery  for  the  benefit  of  the 
college. 

Governor  Belcher  was  ever  ready  to  aid  in  the  good  work, 
and  his  patronage  was  needed  to  the  latest  moment  of  his 
life ;  for  Burrf  undoubtedly  hastened  his  own  end,  by  travel- 
ling when  sick  to  meet  the  legislature  and  to  urge  them  to 
repeal  or  not  enact  a  clause  requiring  military  duty  of  the 
students. 

The  growth  of  the  college  is  said  to  have  had  a  powerful 
influence  on  Yale,  and  to  have  hastened  the  appointment  of  a 
professor  of  divinity. 

The  ostensible  motive^  of  President  Clap,  in  urging  this  latter 
measure,  was  that  the  students  of  the  college  were  required  to 
attend  the  First  Church  in  New  Haven,  and  that  neither  the 
I  doctrines,  language,  nor  manner  of  the  pastor,  Mr.  ISToyes, 
were  in  any  degree  fitted  to  promote  their  orthodoxy  or 
I  spirituality,  or  to  fit  them  for  the  becoming  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  the  pulpit.  In  the  Stiles  Manuscripts  it  is  charged 
that  his  real  design  was  to  keep  up  the  character  of  the  insti- 
tution for  orthodoxy,  and  to  prevent  the  Jersey  College  from 
drawing  oif  students.  Clap  succeeded,  it  is  said,  by  these 
considerations,  in  gaining  a  majority  of  votes  and  carrying  his 
point.  Elliot,  of  Killingly,  Noyes,  of  ISTew  Haven,  and  Rug- 
gles,  of  Guilford,  protested  against  the  measure.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1755,  Naphtali  Dagget,  of  Smitht6wn,  Long  Island,  one 
of  the  youngest  members  of  the  synod,  was  nominated  to  that 


*  Newspaper  advertisements.  In  March,  1754,  George  Spafford^  Andrew  Reed, 
William  Grant,  John  Sayre,  A.  Hodge,  William  Henry,  Hugh  McCuUough,  and 
Samuel  Hazard,  managers  of  the  lottery  granted  by  Connecticut  for  the  college, 
state  that  there  are  eight  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-eight  tickets,  and 
three  thousand  and  eighty-eight  prizes. 

•j-  Caleb  Smith's  preface  to  Burr's  sermon  on  Belcher's  death. 

i  Stiles  MSS.— Yale  College. 


262  Webster's  history  of  the 

Ligli  post.  He  exlubited  to  the  trustees,  November  21,  a 
confession  of  his  fuith,  declared  his  full  and  explicit  consent 
to  all  the  doctrines  contained  in  our  Catechisms  and  Confes- 
sion, and  expressly  renounced  the  prevailing  errors  of  the 
times.     He  was  inaugurated  March  4,  1756. 

In  the  following  year  there  were  revivals  at  Yale  and  at 
Nassau  Hall :  the  latter  institution  experienced  the  largest 
refreshing.*  Davies  tells  us  that  it  began  with  the  son  of  a 
considerable  gentleman  in  New  York,  and  was  general  before 
the  president  knew  of  it. 

The  first  appearance  of  it  caused  much  opposition  and  mis- 
representation. "  This  religiousf  concern  was  not  begun  by 
the  ordinary  means  of  preaching,  or  promoted  by  any  alarm- 
ing methods ;  yet  some  were  ready  to  sink  under  its  weight. 
It  spread  like  the  increasing  light  of  the  morning.  A  wise 
and  gracious  Providence  had  brought  about  a  concurrence  of 
different  incidents,  which  tended  to  lead  the  students  to 
thoughtfulness  about  their  souls.  These  things,  viewed  in 
connection,  manifested  the  finger  of  God;  the  freeness  of 
whose  grace  appears  by  considering  that,  a  little  before  this 
merciful  visitation,  some  of  the  youth  had  given  a  looser  rein 
to  their  corruptions  than  was  common  among  them.  A  spirit 
of  pride  and  contention  prevailed,  to  the  great  grief  and  almost 
discouragement  of  the  worthy  president." 

Burr|  wrote  to  Edwards,  February  12,  1757  : — "  As  I  have 
had  more  fatigue,  so  I  have  had  more  comfort  in  my  little 
society  this  winter  than  ever.  There  has  been  more  of  a  reli- 
gious concern  than  I  have  ever  known :  some  of  the  most 
careless  and  thoughtless  are  considerably  reformed,  and  others 
solemnly  concerned."  February  14  :  "  Half  the  students  join 
in  the  ^ciety.  Much  old  experience  has  taught  me  to  judge 
of  these  things  more  by  their  fruits  than  by  any  accounts 
of  experience  for  a  short  season."  February  22 :  "I  never  saw 
any  thing  in  the  late  revival  that  more  evidently  discovered 
the  hand  of  God.     Mr.  Spencer  says  the  same.     Certainly  a 


*  Bacon's  Historical  Discourses. — Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine. 

•j-  Gilbert  Tennent's  preface  to  liis  Sermons  on  Important  Subjects. 

X  Gillies.      Obadiah   Wells,    of   New  York,    to    Bellamy,   March  19,    1757 :  — 

Fourteen  have  been  converted  in  the  senior  class." 


PKESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  263 

great  and  glorious  work  is  going  on.  For  nearly  a  month,  a 
religious  concern  has  been  universal,  not  one  student  ex- 
cepted. When  it  began,  I  called  such  as  were  hopefully 
pious,  and  laid  before  them  what  I  thought  had  obstructed 
The  work  of  God  heretofore.  Their  conduct  has  been  very 
prudent.  Mr.  VVilliam  Tennent  agreed  as  to  the  method 
pursued,  and  has  been  very  helpful  by  private  applications." 
March :  "  I  never  observed  conviction  of  sin  so  rational, 
solemn,  and  thorough." 

Thus  wrote  Tennent,  of  Freehold,*  to  Samuel  Finley,  and 
he  sent  the  glad  tidings  to  Davies : — "  I  went  to  the  college 
last  Monday,  and  saw  a  memorable  display  of  God's  power 
and  grace  in  the  conviction  of  sinners.  The  whole  house  was 
a  Bochim.  A  sense  of  God's  holiness  was  so  impressed  on 
the  hearts  of  its  inhabitants,  that  all  of  them,  excepting  two, 
(esteemed  religious,)  were  greatly  shaken  as  to  the  state  of 
their  souls.  This  gracious  ray  reached  the  Latin  School,  and 
much  affected  the  master  and  a  number  of  the  scholars.  Nor 
was  it  confined  to  the  students :  some  others  were  likewise 
awakened. 

"I  conversed  with  all  the  present  members  of  the  college, 
excepting  one,  who  generally  inquired,  with  solicitude,  what 
they  should  do  to  be  saved ;  nor  did  I  ever  see  any  in  that 
case,  who  had  more  clear  views  of  God  and  themselves,  or 
more  genuine  sorrow  for  sin  and  longing  for  Jesus.  This 
blessed  work  of  the  Most  High  so  far  exceeded  all  my  ex- 
pectations, that  I  was  lost  in  surprise  and  constrained  to  say. 
Is  it  so  ?  can  it  be  so  ?  Nfer  was  ray  being  eye  and  ear  wit- 
ness, from  Monday  till  Friday,  able  to  recover  me  from  my 
astonishment.  I  felt  as  the  apostles  when  it  was  told  them 
the  Lord  had  risen.  They  could  not  believe,  through  fear 
and  great  joy. 

"My  reverend  brethren  and  myself  were  'as  those  that 
dream.'  There  was  little  or  nothing  of  the  passions  in  the 
preachers  during  their  public  performances,  nor  any  public 
discourse*  during  the  hours  allotted  for  study;  only,  at  morn- 
ing and   evening  prayers,  some   plain   and  brief  directions 


*  Printed   in   the   Log  College,  from   the    original  in  the  hands  of  President 
Carnahan. 


26.4  Webster's  history  of  the 

suitable  for  persons  under  spiritual  trouble  were  delivered. 
Before  I  came  away,  several  persons  received  sometbing  like 
tbe  gift  of  tlie  spirit  of  adoption,  being  tenderly  aifected  with 
a  sense  of  redeeming  love,  and  thereby  determined  to  endear 
vour  after  universal  holiness. 

"  I  cannot  fully  represent  this  glorious  work.  It  will  bear 
your  most  enlarged  apprehensions  of  a  day  of  grace.  Let  God 
have  all  the  glory  !  It  was  indeed  as  a  tree  of  life  to  my  soul. 
Yea,  it  is  still  to  me  as  if  I  had  seen  the  face  of  God." 

In  March,  Gilbert  Tennent*  was  informed  of  an  extra- 
ordinary appearance  of  the  divine  power  and  presence  there, 
and  requested  to  come  and  see.  "With  this  kind  motion 
I  gladly  complied ;  and,  having  been  there  some  time,  had  all 
the  evidence  of  the  reality  of  the  aforesaid  report  that  could 
be  in  reason  desired." 

Daviesf  was  informed  by  some  of  the  students,  that  the 
son  of  a  very  considerable  gentleman  in  New  York,  being 
sick  at  the  college,  was  awakened  to  a  sense  of  his  guilt.  His 
discourse  made  an  impression  on  some,  and  they  on  others,  so 
that  it  was  general  before  the  worthy  president  knew  any 
thing  of  it.  Misrepresentations  were  sent  abroad,  and  some 
took  away  their  sons  ;  but  most  were  sent  back.  As  early  as 
June,  two  or  three  had  been  drawn  by  wicked  companions 
into  their  former  evil  habits.  He  learned  from  Mr.  Dutfield, 
a  young  minister,  that  there  was  a  pretty  generalawakening 
among  the  young  throughout  the  Jerseys. 

Of  the  four  classes  then  in  the  college,  twenty  students 
became  ministers  of  our  church. 

Two  days  before  the  commencement  in  that  year,  President 
Burr  died.  His  father-in-law,  Jonathan  Edwards,  was  imme- 
diately called  to  succeed  him;  but  he  died  of  smallpox, 
March  22,  1758. 

"An  earthquake|  spread  a  tremour  through  a  great  part 
of  our  continent  on  that  melancholy  day.  How  much  more 
did  Nassau  Hall  tremble  when  this  pillar  fell !"  His  cha- 
racter has  been  drawn  by  many  friends.  Dr.  Cutleri;§  Church 
missionary  at  Boston,  said  of  him,  "  I  have  known  the  man. 


*  Preface  to  Sei'mons  on  Impoi-tant  Subjects,  f  Gillies. 

X  Davies's  Diary.  g  Albany  Documents. 


/ 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  265 

Of  much  sobriety  and  gravity,  and  more  decent  in  his  lan- 
guage than  Mayhew  or  Prince;  but  odd  in  bis  principles, 
haughty,  stiif,  and  morose.  There  are  not  less  than  one 
hundred  subscribers  from  Scotland  to  his  book."  (August 
28,  1754.) 

Gilbert  Tennent,  in  the  Philadelphia  papers,  April  6,  1758, 
expressed  his  high  sense  of  Edwards's  excellencies: — "There 
was  a  great  calm  in  his  soul  at  his  exit."  After  leaving 
messages  with  Mrs.  Burr  for  his  wife  and  children,  who  were 
absent,  "he  looked  about,  and  said,  'Now  where  is  Jesus  of  'j 
Nazareth,  my  true  and  never-failing  Friend ;'  and  so  he  fell 
asleep  and  went  to  that  Lord  he  loved." 

In  1762,  "sixteen  popular  students,"  as  Whitefield  expresses 
it,  were  converted,  soon  after  the  induction  of  Samuel  Finley 
to  the  presidency.  The  revival*  began  in  the  freshman  class, 
spread  through  the  college,  and  widely  refreshed  the  sur- 
rounding country.  Of  the  four  classes,  twenty-hve  entered 
the  ministry  of  our  church ;  fifty  of  the  students  are  said  to 
have  united  with  the  church. 

Four  short  years  were  not  gone,  before  Finley  passed  from 
earth ;  but  God,  who  had  so  graciously  supplied  each  former 
loss,  again  displayed  his  kindness  in  sending  Witherspoon, 
and  preserving  him  to  be  its  venerated  head  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century. 

Before  noticing  any  of  the  results  which  flowed  from  the 
union  of  the  synods,  it  is  desirable  that  the  "plan"  or  basis 
on  which  these  bodies  eventually  were  incorporated  should  be 
given  in  full.  It  will  be  found  in  the  "Records"!  of  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  which 
assembled  at  Philadelphia,  May  22,  1758.  Observations  on 
the  consequences  of  its  adoption  will  follow  in  a  subsequent 
chapter. 

This  document  is  as  follows: — 

"  The  plan  of  union  agreed  upon  between  the  Synods  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  at  their  meeting  at  Philadelphia, 
May  29,  1758. 

"  The  Synods  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  taking  into 

*  Dr.  Woodhull,  of  Freehold :  printed  in  Schenck's  Historical  Discourse  at 
Princeton. 

+  Records  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America,  pp.  285-7 


266  weBvSter's  history  of  the 

serious  consideration  the  present  divided  state  of  the  Presby 
tcrirtii  church  in  this  land,  and  being  deeply  sensible,  that  the 
division  of  the  church  tends  to  weaken  its  interests,  to  dis- 
honour religion,  and  consequently  its  glorious  Author;  to 
render  government  and  discipline  ineffectual,  and,  finally,  to 
dissolve  its  very  frame;  and,  being  desirous  to  pursue  such 
measures  as  may  most  tend  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
establishment  and  edification  of  his  people,  do  judge  it  to  be 
our  indispensable  duty  to  study  the  things  that  make  for 
peace,  and  to  endeavour  the  healing  of  that  breach  which  has 
for  some  time  subsisted  amongst  us,  that  so  its  hurtful  conse- 
quences may  not  extend  to  posterity ;  that  all  occasion  of 
reproach  upon  our  society  may  be  removed,  and  that  we  may 
carry  on  the  great  designs  of  religion  to  better  advantage  than 
we  can  do  in  a  divided  state ;  and  since  both  synods  continue 
to  profess  the  same  principles  of  faith,  and  adhere  to  the  same 
form  of  worship,  government,  and  discipline,  there  is  the 
greater  reason  to  endeavour  the  compromising  those  difl:erences, 
which  were  agitated  many  years  ago  with  too  great  warmth 
and  animosity,  and  unite  in  one  body. 

"For  which  end,  and  that  no  jealousies  or  grounds  of 
alienation  may  remain,  and  also  to  prevent  future  breaches 
of  like  nature,  we  agree  to  unite  and  do  unite  in  one  body, 
under  the  name  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
on  the  following  plan. 

"I.  Both  sj-nods  having  always  approved  and  received  the 
"Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  and  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms,  as  an  orthodox  and  excellent  system  of  Christian 
doctrine,  founded  on  the  word  of  God,  we  do  still  receive  the 
same  as  the  confession  of  our  faith,  and  also  adhere  to  the 
plan  of  worship,  government,  and  discipline,  contained  in  the 
Westminster  Director}^,  strictly  enjoining  it  on  all  our  mem- 
bers and  probationers  for  the  ministr}^,  that  they  preach  and 
teach  according  to  the  form  of  sound  words  in  said  Confes- 
sion and  Catechisms,  and  avoid  and  oppose  all  errors  contrary 
thereto. 

"11.  That  when  any  matter  is  determined  by  a  major  vote, 
every  member  shall  either  actively  concur  with  or  passively 
submit  to  such  determination  ;  or,  if  his  conscience  permit 
him  to  do  neither,  he  shall,  after  sufficient  liberty  modestly 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  267 

to  reason  and  remonstrate,  peaceably  withdraw  from  our  com- 
munion, without  attempting  to  make  any  schism.  Provided 
always,  that  this  shall  be  understood  to  extend  only  to  such 
determinations  as  the  body  shall  judge  indispensable  in  doc- 
trine or  Presbyterian  government. 

"  III.  That  any  member  or  members,  for  the  exoneration 
of  his  or  their  conscience  before  God,  have  a  right  to  protest 
against  any  act  or  procedure  of  our  highest  judicature,  because 
there  is  no  further  appeal  to  another  for  redress ;  and  to  require 
that  such  protestation  be  recorded  in  their  minutes.  And,  as 
such  a  protest  is  a  solemn  appeal  from  the  bar  of  said  judi- 
cature, no  member  is  liable  to  prosecution  on  the  account 
of  his  protesting.  Provided  always,  that  it  shall  be  deemed 
irregular  and  unlawful,  to  enter  a  protestation  against  any 
member  or  members,  or  to  protest  facts  or  accusations  instead 
of  proving  them,  unless  a  fair  trial  be  refused,  even  by  the 
highest  judicature.  And  it  is  agreed,  that  protestations  are 
only  to  be  entered  against  the  public  acts,  judgments,  or 
determinations  of  the  judicature  with  which  the  protester's 
conscience  is  offended. 

"  IV.  As  the  protestation  entered  in  the  Synod  of  Phila- 
delphia, anno  Domino  1741,  has  been  apprehended  to  have 
been  approved  and  received  by  an  act  of  said  synod,  and  on 
that  account  was  judged  a  sufficient  obstacle  to  a  union ;  the 
said  synod  declare  that  they  never  judicially  adopted  the  said 
protestation,  nor  do  account  it  a  synodical  act,  but  that  it  is  to 
be  considered  as  the  act  of  those  only  who  subscribed  it ;  and 
therefore  cannot  in  its  nature  be  a  valid  objection  to  the  union 
of  the  two  synods,  especially  considering  that  a  very  great 
majority  of  both  synods  have  become  members  since  the  said 
protestation  was  entered. 

"V.  That  it  shall  be  esteemed  and  treated  as  a  censurable 
evil,  to  accuse  any  member  of  heterodoxy,  insufficiency,  or 
immorality,  in  a  calumniating  manner,  or  otherwise  than  by 
private  brotherly  admonition,  or  by  a  regular  process  accord- 
ing to  our  known  rules  of  judicial  trial  in  cases  of  scandal. 
And  it  shall  be  considered  in  the  same  view,  if  any  presbytery 
appoint  supplies  within  the  bounds  of  another  presbytery 
without  their  concurrence ;  or  if  any  member  officiate  in 
another's   congregation,   without   asking   and   obtaining  his 


268  Webster's  history  of  the 

consent,  or  the  session's  in  case  the  minister  be  absent;  jet 
it  shall  he  esteemed  unbrotherly  for  any  one,  in  ordinary 
circumstances,  to  refuse  his  consent  to  a  regular  member 
when  it  is  requested. 

"  YI.  That  no  presbytery  shall  license  or  ordain  to  the  work 
of  the  ministry  any  candidate,  until  he  give  them  competent 
satisfaction  as  to  his  learning,  and  experimental  acquaintance 
with  religion,  and  skill  in  divinity  and  cases  of  conscience ; 
and  declare  his  acceptance  of  the  Westminster  Confession 
and  Catechisms  as  the  confession  of  his  faith,  and  promise 
subjection  to  the  Presbyterian  plan  of  government  in  the 
Westminster  Directory. 

"  VII.  The  synods  declare  it  is  their  earnest  desire,  that  a 
complete  union  may  be  obtained  as  soon  as  possible,  and 
agree  that  the  united  synod  shall  ^nodel  the  several  presby- 
teries in  such  manner  as  shall  appear  to  them  most  expedient. 
Provided  nevertheless,  that  presbyteries,  where  an  alteration 
does  not  appear  to  be  for  edification,  continue  in  their  pre- 
sent form.  As  to  divided  congregations,  it  is  agreed  that 
such  as  have  settled  ministers  on  both  sides  be  allowed  to 
continue  as  they  are  ;  that  where  those  of  one  side  have  a 
settled  minister,  the  other,  being  vacant,  may  join  with  the 
settled  minister,  if  a  majority  choose  so  to  do ;  that,  when 
both  sides  are  vacant,  they  shall  be  at  liberty  to  unite 
together. 

"•  VIII.  As  the  late  religious  appearances  occasioned  much 
speculation  and  debate,  the  members  of  the  Xew  York  Synod, 
in  order  to  prevent  any  misapprehensions,  declare  their  ad- 
herence to  their  former  sentiments  in  favour  of  them, — that  a 
blessed  work  of  God's  holy  Spirit  in  the  conversion  of  numbers 
was  then  carried  on ;  and,  for  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned, 
this  united  synod  agree  in  declaring  that,  as  all  mankind  are 
naturally  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  an  entire  change  of  heart 
and  life  is  necessaiy  to  make  them  meet  for  the  service  and 
enjoyment  of  God ;  that  such  a  change  can  be  only  effected 
by  the  powerful  operations  of  the  Divine  Spirit ;  that  when 
sinners  are  made  sensible  of  their  lost  condition  and  abso- 
lute inability  to  recover  themselves,  are  enlightened  in  the 
knowledge  of  Christ  and  convinced  of  his  ability  and  willing- 
ness to  save,  and  upon  gospel  encouragements  do  choose  him 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  269 

for  their  Saviour,  and,  renouncing  their  own  righteousness 
in  point  of  merit,  depend  upon  his  imputed  righteousness 
for  their  justification  before  God,  and  on  his  wisdom  and 
strength  for  guidance  and  support.  When  upon  these  appre- 
hensions and  exercises  their  souls  are  comforted,  notwith- 
standing all  their  past  guilt,  and  rejoice  in  God  through 
Jesus  Christ, — when  they  hate  and  bewail  their  sins  of  heart 
and  life,  delight  in  the  laws  of  God,  without  exception,  reve- 
rently and  diligently  attend  his  ordinances,  become  humble 
and  self-denied,  and  make  it  the  business  of  their  liv^es  to 
please  and  glorify  God  and  to  do  good  to  their  fellow  men, — 
this  is  to  be  acknowledged  as  a  gracious  work  of  God,  even 
though  it  should  be  attended  with  unusual  bodily  commo- 
tions or  some  more  exceptionable  circumstances,  by  means 
of  infirmity,  temptations,  or  remaining  corruptions ;  and, 
wherever  religious  appearances  are  attended  with  the  good 
effects  above  mentioned,  we  desire  to  rejoice  in  and  thank 
God  for  them. 

"But,  on  the  other  hand,  when  persons  seeming  to  be 
under  a  religious  concern,  imagine  that  they  have  visions  of 
the  human  nature  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  hear  voices,  or  see  ex- 
ternal lights,  or  have  fainting  and  convulsion-like  fits,  and  on 
the  account  of  these  judge  themselves  to  be  truly  converted, 
though  they  have  not  the  scriptural  characters  of  a  work  of 
God  above  described,  we  believe  such  persons  are  under  a 
dangerous  delusion.  And  we  testify  our  utter  disapprobation 
of  such  a  delusion,  wherever  it  attends  any  religious  appear- 
ances, in  any  church  or  time. 

"  Now,  as  both  synods  are  agreed  in  their  sentiments  con- 
cerning the  nature  of  a  work  of  grace,  and  declare  their 
desire  and  purpose  to  promote  it,  difiterent  judgments  re- 
specting particular  matters  of  fact  ought  not  to  prevent  their 
union;  especially  as  many  of  the  present  members  have 
entered  into  the  ministry  since  the  time  of  the  aforesaid 
religious  appearances. 

"Upon  the  whole,  as  the  design  of  our  union  is  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  Mediator's  kingdom,  and  as  the  wise  and 
faithful  discharge  of  the  ministerial  function  is  the  principal 
appointed  mean  for  that  glorious  end,  we  judge  that  this  is  a 
proper  occasion  to  manifest  our  sincere  intention  unitedly  to 


270  Webster's  history  of  the 

exert  ourselves  to  fulfil  the  ministry'  we  have  received  of  the 
Lord  Jesus.  Accordingly,  we  urianimousl}''  declare  our  se- 
rious and  fixed  resolution,  by  divine  aid,  to  take  heed  to  our- 
selves, that  our  hearts  be  upright,  our  discourse  edifying,  and 
our  lives  exemplary  for  purity  and  godliness ;  to  take  heed  to 
our  doctrine,  that  it  be  not  only  orthodox,  but  evangelical  and 
spiritual,  tending  to  awaken  the  secure  to  a  suitable  concern 
for  their  salvation,  and  to  instruct  and  encourage  sincere 
Christians,  thus  commending  ourselves  to  every  man's  con- 
science in  the  sight  of  God ;  to  cultivate  peace  and  harmony 
among  ourselves,  and  strengthen  each  other's  hands  in  pro- 
moting the  knowledge  of  divine  truth  and  diffusing  the  savour 
of  piety  among  our  people. 

"  Finally,  we  earnestly  recommend  it  to  all  under  our  care, 
that,  instead  of  indulging  a  contentious  disposition,  they 
would  love  each  other  with  a  pure  heart,  fervently,  as  brethren 
who  profess  subjection  to  the  same  Lord,  adhere  to  the  same 
faith,  worship,  and  government,  and  entertain  the  same  hope 
of  glory.  And  we  desire  that  they  would  improve  the  present 
union  for  their  mutual  edification,  combine  to  strengthen  the 
common  interests  of  religion,  and  go  hand  in  hand  in  the  path 
of  life ;  which  we  pray  the  God  of  all  grace  would  please,  to 
effect,  for  Christ's  sake.     Amen. 

"  The  synod  agree,  that  all  former  differences  and  disputes 
are  laid  aside  and.  buried ;  and  that  no  future  inquiry  or  vote 
shall  be  proposed  in  this  synod  concerning  these  things ;  but 
if  any  member  seek  a  synodical  inquiry  or  declaration  about 
any  of  the  matters  of  our  past  dift'erences,  it  shall  be  deemed 
a  censurable  breach  of  this  agreement,  and  be  refused,  and  he 
be  rebuked  accordingly." 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  271 


CHAPTER     X. 

This  noble  declaration*  is  for  our  cliurcb,  what  tlie  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  is  for  our  country.  It  is  a  promul- 
gation of  first  principles, — a  setting  forth  of  our  faith,  order, 
and  religion,  as  an  answer  to  those  who  question  us.  It  is  the 
foundation  of  our  ecclesiastical  compact,  the  bond  of  our 
union.  It  is  with  grateful  exultation,  that  we  read,  that  this 
declaration  was  unanimously  adopted, —  that  every  member 
of  the  united  synod  set  his  hand  to  this  testimony  in  behalf 
of  truth,  order,  and  evangelical  religion. 

Every  occasion  of  contention  was  shut  out  but  two :  one  of 
them — the  remodelling  of  the  presbyteries — had  been  forced 
in  by  the  astonishing  pertinacity  of  the  Old  Side.  The  other 
—  the  examining  of  candidates  for  the  ministry,  touching  the 
saving  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  their  hearts — was 
regarded  by  both  sides  as  a  necessary  duty ;  but,  as  to  the  way 
in  which  the  examination  should  be  made,  they  differed 
totally. 

There  were  many  circumstances  steadily  concurring  to 
produce  on  these  points  alienation  of  feeling,  and  to  make  the 
union  merely  nominal.  Like  the  trickling  of  drop  on  drop  in 
the  slight  crevice  of  the  anvil  or  the  narrow  fissure  in  the  clifi", 
— of  little  moment  till  the  freezing  air  distends  them  and  the 
iron  is  burst  in  sunder,  and  the  mountain  shakes,  and  the 
forest  crashes  beneath  the  falling  fragments  of  the  rifted  rock, 
— so  what,  in  the  genial  atmosphere  of  Christian  aft'ection  and 
brotherly  kindness,  would  have  distilled  and  exhaled  unper- 
ceived  and  harmless,  became,  in  the  polar  temperature  of 
declining  piety,  mighty  to  shake  and  shiver  the  fabric  and 
foundation. 

*  Dr.  Hodge. 


272  Webster's  history  of  the 

The  Synod  of  jSTcvv  York  had  the  immense  advantage  in 
ahiiost  every  particular.  It  was  superior  in  numbers :  its 
members  were  in  the  flower  of  their  age,  largely  endowed 
with  talent,  occupying  all  the  conspicuous  places  and  com- 
manding posts;  they  were  of  high  character  for  public  spirit, 
worth,  and  piety.  Their  zeal  prompted  them  to  undertake 
important  enterprises,  and  to  sustain  them  vigorously  till 
crowned  with  success.  They  had  also  large  and  growing  con- 
gregations, and  they  were  seconded  in  their  labours  b}'  an 
able  band  of  elders,  and  a  goodly  company  of  prayerful 
parents.  There  was  a  vital  energy  in  their  ministrations. 
r  If  their  sermons  were  bare  of  ornament  as  skeletons,  they 
were  compacted  together  with  the  joints  and  bands  of  doc- 
trines, precepts,  and  promises.  Though  very  dry  to  the 
cursory  inspection  of  the  caviller  and  the  trifler,  yet,  like 
the  dead  bones  of  Elisha,  they  gave  life  even  to  the  dead. 
The  increase  of  candidates  of  an  excellent  spirit,  adorned 
with  appropriate  gifts  for  the  ministry,  was  a  cheering  token 
that  He  who  ascended  on  high  had  accepted  their  works. 

They  had  also  a  college,  with  a  liberal  charter,  in  a  degree 
endowed,  well  oificered,  with  a  high  and  increasing  repu- 
tation, under  pious  influence,  and  visited  with  times  of 
refreshing  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord. 

The  Sj-nod  of  Philadelphia,  stationary  for  seventeen  years 
in  numbers,  with  few  young  men  of  distinguished  promise, 
with  congregations  mostly  in  obscure  places  and  not  remark- 
able for  size,  liberality,  or  zeal,  with  no  charter  for  their 
school  at  Newark,  were  under  the  necessity  of  placing  their 
candidates*  in  an  institution  largely  under  the  benumbing 
influence  of  a  paralyzing  Armiuianism.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Old  Side  had  more  of  the  bearing  and  courtesy  of  the 
higher  circles,  and  were  too  ready  to  notice  the  deficien- 
cies of  men  whose  thoughts  had  not  been  turned  to  the 
ministry  till   they   had  been   disciplined   to   handicrafts  and 

*  Of  these,  several  went  to  England  for  orders,  as  William  Thompson,  son 
of  Rev.  Samuel  Thompson,  of  Pennsboro' ;  William  Edmeston,  Rector  of  St. 
Thomas,  in  Frederick  county,  Maryland ;  Samuel  Magaw,  Rector  of  St.  Taul's, 
Philadelphia  ;  and  Francis  Wilson,  from  the  Forks  of  Delaware,  and  brother-in- 
law  of  McHenry,  of  Deep  Run ;  and  Matthew  Tate,  son  of  Rev.  Joseph  Tate, 
of  Donegal,  who  also  conformed. 

\  .si 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  273 

tillage.  Their  hauglitiness  was  not  unnoticed  by  their 
hearers;  and  the  synod  and  the  presbyteries  had  cause  to 
lament  the  insulting  arrogance  they  used  in  bringing  appeals 
to  their  bar. 

The  New  Side  were  men  of  like  passions  with  others. 
They  were  not  blind  to  the  contrast  between  them  and 
their  old  antagonists.  They  repaid  slights  and  coolness,  by 
exercising,  as  a  majority,  their  power  over  their  brethren, 
after  the  manner  of  conquerors  towards  a  restive  but  helpless 
nation. 

At  the  union,  the  three  Old-Side  ministers  in  Virginia  were; 
not  present;  and,  without  being  consulted,  they  were  separated 
from  Donegal  Presbytery  and  annexed  to  Hanover  Presbytery. 
All  the  members  of  the  latter  body  lived  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge, 
except  Brown,  of  Timber-ridge.  They  all  three  attended  the 
synod  in  1759,  and  requested  to  be  erected  into  a  separate  pres- 
bytery, which  should  embrace  also  Brown  and  Hoge,  of  Ope- 
quhon.  It  was  a  most  reasonable  request ;  for,  even  in  our  day, 
most  ministers  would  think  it  a  requisition  equivalent  to 
debarment  from  presbyterial  privileges,  if  they  were  obliged 
to  go  from  Augusta,  or  Rockingham,  to  Hanover,  and  Louisa, 
twice  in  a  year.  The  brethren  on  the  peninsula  of  the  Chesa- 
peake had  been  favoured  with  a  separate  organization,  al- 
though they  were  only  five  in  number,  and  could  as  easily 
attend  presbytery  in  Chester  or  Newcastle  counties,  after  the 
union,  as  before.  The  territory  embraced  in  Lewes  Presbytery  ^ 
furnished  few  openings  for  new  congregations,  and  its  declin- 
ing vacancies  offered  small  inducement  to  probationers  to 
settle;  while  the  Valley  of  Virginia  was  rapidly  filling  up  with 
a  Presbyterian  population,  and  its  new  congregations  and  its 
older  vacancies  drew  all  the  neighbouring  eyes.  The  five 
brethren  in  the  Valley  had  pastoral  charges ;  two  of  those  in 
the  peninsula  were  only  sojourners  for  a  few  years.  The  others 
might  without  inconvenience  have  been  left  in  connection  with 
Newcastle  Presbytery ;  but  it  would  have  been  far  more  for 
the  accommodation  of  those  in  "Western  Virginia  to  have  re- 
mained with  Donegal  Presbytery,  than  to  have  been  unequally  / 
yoked  with  the  distant  ministers  east  of  the  mountains.  The  V 
majority  of  the  synod  refused  their  request.  There  were  three 
New-Side  men  in  Lewes  Presbytery  to  two  Old-Side;  but,    > 

18 


274  Webster's  history  op  the 

in  the  new  one  asked  for,  the  Old  Side  had  a  majority  of 
one. 

At  the  union,  no  attempt  was  made  to  remodel  the  Old-Side 
Presbyteries  of  Newcastle  and  Donegal  and  the  New-Side 
Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  which  embraced  ministers  and  con- 
gregations in  the  bounds  of  both.  They  were  left  as  they 
were  for  one  year.  In  1759,  Donegal  Presbytery  was  absent. 
If  they  hoped,  by  not  attending,  to  secure  a  continuance  of  the 
existing  state,  they  were  disappointed;  for  the  synod  directed 
the  two  presbyteries  of  Newcastle  to  confer,  and,  upon  their 
report,  it  was  ordered  that  three  New-Side  men,  Robert  Smith, 
Roan,  and  lloge,  with  one  Old-Side  man,  Samson  Smith,  should 
be  one  body.  The  Presbytery  of  Newcastle  then  consisted  of 
four  of  the  Old  Side,  Boyd,  McDowell,  Hector  Alison,  and 
McKennan  ;  and  of  eight  of  the  New  Side,  Blair,  Samuel  and 
James  Finley,  Charles  Tennent,  Rodgers,  Bay,  and  Sterling. 
In  no  instance  does  any  unkind  feeling  seem  to  have  arisen 
from  the  collision  of  the  two  parties.  Donegal  Presbytery 
stood  seven  of  the  Old  Side,  Thomson,  Elder,  Zanchy,  Steel, 
Tate,  McMordie,  and  S.  Smith,  to  three  New  Side,  R.  Smith, 
Roan,  and  Iloge.  The  last  rarely  attended  any  meetings,  and 
added  nothing  but  his  name  to  the  minority.  It  is  worthy  of 
notice  that  at  this  time  Dutiield  was  settled  in  Carlisle,  but  he 
was  left  in  Newcastle  Presbytery.  The  synod,  on  being  asked 
whether  the  congregations  of  Steel  and  Dufficld  should  build 
each  a  meeting-house  in  that  town,  were  grieved  that  there 
should  still  be  such  a  spirit  of  animosity,  and,  far  from  encou- 
raging any  steps  to  perpetuate  a  divided  state,  enjoined  both 
ministers  to  unite  their  counsels  and  use  their  influence  to 
bring  about  a  cordial  agreement  between  the  congregations, 
that  a  plan  may  be  laid  for  building  a  house  in  common. 
They  built  together  in  the  following  year.  Duffield,  soon  after 
the  new-modelling,  agreed  to  join  Donegal  Presb3'i:ery,  though 
not  without  apprehensions  of  unpleasant  consequences.  He 
wrote  a  letter  to  his  uncle,  Mr.  Blair,  in  which  he  expressed 
himself  freely,  and  censured  Steel  for  having  :iinderhandedly 
and  hastily  obtained  his  call  to  Carlisle.  This  letter  "tell  into 
Steel's  hands ;  whether  before  or  after  it  reached  its  destination, 
does  not  appear.  This  greatly  embittered  them,  and  came 
before  the  presbytery,  and  the  letter  was  put  upon  the  record. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN    AMERICA.  275 

The  presbytery,  in  1762,  difiered  seriously  in  tlie  trial  of 
Samson  Smith.  The  majority  rejected  the  evidence  of  several 
witnesses,  as  being  incompetent  to  give  legal  testimony:  by 
their  exclusion,  the  prosecution  could  not  be  sustained,  and  he 
was  cleared.  The  rejected-witnesses  appealed  to  the  synod,  as 
did  also  one  of  the  minority  of  the  presbytery ;  and  a  highly- 
respectable  committee,  embracing  a  fair  proportion  of  both 
parties,  was  appointed  to  go  on  the  ground  and  hear  the  whole 
case.  The}'  rejected  one  witness  which  the  presbytery  had 
refused,  and  admitted  another  rejected  witness  to  testify.  The 
synod  approved  of  the  admission  of  the  latter,  and  by  a  great 
majority  disapproved  of  the  rejection  of  the  other:  ten  mem- 
bers declared  themselves  not  clear  to  join  in  this  disapproval. 
Ewing  protested  very  learnedly  against  the  admission  of  the 
witnesses,  and  declared  that  it  would  be  criminal  for  him  to 
pay  any  regard  or  submission  to  any  sentence  passed  by  a  judi- 
cature on  such  evidence.  The  synod  replied,  that  they  had 
only  determined  that,  for  any  thing  the  presbytery  or  com- 
mittee had  offered,  both  the  witnesses  ought  to  be  admitted  to 
testify.  The  committee  was  reappointed,  to  meet  at  Little 
Britain,  with  full  powers  to  hear  and  determine. 

But  new  causes  of  difficulty  had  arisen.  The  presbytery  had 
licensed  William  Edmeston,  although  R.  Smith,  Roan,  and 
Duffield  declared  themselves  unsatisfied  with  the  declaration 
of  his  religious  experience.  Roan  appealed,  and  the  matter 
was  left  to  the  same  committee. 

There  was  a  third  appeal.  Duffield  had  objected  to  the 
right  of  Steel's  elder  to  sit  in  presbytery,  because  he  had  not 
been  ordained.  The  presbytery  overruled  the  objection,  and 
Roan  and  Duffield  appealed.  This  matter  was  deferred  by  the 
synod  for  several  years. 

The  Old-Side  congregation  of  West  Nottingham  petitioned 
to  be  transferred  from  Newcastle  to  Donegal  Presbytery,  and 
the  granting  of  this  request  gave  the  majority  an  opportunity 
to  strengthen  the  New-Side  interest  in  that  body.  They 
granted  the  petition,  and  annexed  also  the  New-Side  church 
of  West  Nottingham,  Strain  and  his  congregations,  Chanceford 
and  Slate  Ridge,  and  Hunt  and  his  congregation,  Little 
Britain. 

In  1764,  all  the  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  was  ab- 


276  Webster's  history  of  the 

Bent,  and  all  of  Donegal  Presbytery  but  Robert  Smith  and 
Hunt.  In  1765,  Robert  and  Samson  Smith,  and  Tate,  attended. 
The  appeal  was  decided  respecting  the  ordination  of  the  elders, 
and  the  judgment  of  the  presbytery  was  aflBrmed.  They  were 
to  be  received  as  elders,  because  they  had  been  elected  by  the 
people,  who  had  acquiesced  in  their  appointment,  though  they 
had  never  explicitly  consented  in  the  face  of  the  congregation 
to  undertake  the  office.  The  presbytery  and  the  synod  agreed 
in  judging  that  it  would  be  for  the  peace  and  edilication  of  the 
church  to  have  a  public  declaration  of  consent  made  in  every 
instance  of  accepting  the  eldership. 

The  Second  Congregation  of  West  Nottingham  (Xew  Side) 
made  a  representation  of  the  creeks  and  rivers  to  be  crossed 
in  order  to  meet  with  Donegal  Presbytery,  and  was  reannexed 
to  xTewcastle  Presbytery.  The  majority  of  Donegal  Presbytery 
asked  to  be  divided,  or  to  have  the  members  added  of  late 
years,  ordered  to  return  whence  they  had  been  taken.  This 
led  to  a  remodelling,  obviously  with  a  sole  view  to  the  prepon- 
derance of  the  New  Side.  They  dissolved  the  old  presbytery, 
and  added  Bay,  of  Deer  Creek,  to  those  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Susquehanna,  and  formed  them  into  Carlisle  Presbytery,  thus 
throwing  Samuel  Thomson  and  Steel  into  connection  with 
Duffield,  Bay,  Strain,  and  Hoge.  By  an  equally  arbitrary,  un- 
called-for, and  preposterous  measure,  all  the  members  east  of 
the  Susquehanna  were  formed,  with  Newcastle  Presbytery,  into 
a  body  called  Lancaster  Presbytery.  Beard,  wdio  had  been 
installed  over  the  First  Church  in  West  Nottingham,  joined  the 
six  others  of  the  Old  Side,  in  declaring  that  this  arrangement 
gave  them  no  relief,  while  their  rights  were  infringed  by  being 
distributed,  unconsulted  and  unwilling,  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
synod.  This  had  no  effisct ;  and  a  hope  was  expressed,  that  in 
new  connections,  the  prejudices  and  animosity  might  subside 
and  wear  off.  McDowell  and  Ewing  dissented,  and  entered 
their  reasons,  apprehending  that  the  act  was  contrary  to  the 
engagement  at  the  union,  that  the  remodelling  of  the  pres- 
byteries should  be  only  for  edification,  and  not  for  destruc- 
tion. 

In  1766,  the  great  majority  of  the  synod  refused  to  rescind 
the  minute  of  the  last  year,  except  so  far  as  continuing  Carlisle 
Presbytery.     The  eft'ect  of  this  would  have  been  to  restore 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA.  277 

[Newcastle  Presbytery  to  existence,  and  to  revive  Donegal  Pres- 
bytery, with  the  Susquehanna  for  its  western  bound. 

A  like  fate  awaited  the  proposal  to  revive  Donegal  Presby- 
tery and  leave  Carlisle  untouched,  and  also  the  plan  to  annex 
the  members  of  Donegal  Presbytery  to  the  Second  Philadelphia 
Presbytery  for  one  year.  Matthew  Wilson,  Ewing,  Patrick  and 
Francis  Alison  protested  against  these  refusals,  since  only  the 
exchanging  a  member  or  two  in  two  presbyteries  would  have 
prevented  the  breach.  Tate  and  Beard  then  declined  the  juris-  '  • 
diction  of  the  synod,  declaring  themselves  members  of  Done-  j 
gal  Presbytery  and  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  as  it  existed 
before  the  union.  The  venerable  Richard  Treat,  the  oldest 
member  of  the  synod  except  Pierson  and  Cross,  proposed — and 
the  synod  agreed^that  all  should  be  as  it  was  before  erecting 
Carlisle  and  Lancaster  Presbyteries.  This,  however,  was  no 
improvement  of  the  aifair;  for  the  New  Side  had  gained  Robert 
Cooper,  at  Middle  Spring,  and  Slemons,  at  Marsh  Creek,  and 
of  course  had  a  stronger  majority  than  before.  They  met  and 
constituted ;  but  the  seven  dissatisfied  brethren  formed  them- 
selves into  a  separate  Presbytery  of  Donegal,  and  ordained 
Lang,  at  West  Conococheague.  They  addressed  the  synod; 
but  no  notice  was  taken  of  their  letter  further  than  to  record, 
that,  having  adopted  the  declinature  of  Beard  and  Tate,  they 
are  no  longer  members  of  this  body.  On  hearing  the  paper  a 
second  time,  they  appointed  a  committee  to  converse  with 
them,  and  bring  in  an  overture.  They  proposed  to  erect  the 
members  of  Donegal  Presbytery,  east  of  Susquehanna,  together 
with  Steel,  with  the  old  name,  and  to  revive  Carlisle  Presby- 
tery, and  add  Roan,  Thomson,  and  Lang.  This  was  rejected, 
and  the  dissatisfied  brethren  were  assured  that  any  reasonable 
proposals  would  be  heard  ou  their  withdrawing  the  declinature.  t^ 
Robert  Smith  asked  and  obtained  leave  to  join  Newcastle 
Presbytery ;  and  Roan  dropped  his  appeal  in  the  case  of  Ed- 
meston,  on  condition  it  should  be  recorded,  that  he  did  not 
acquiesce  in  the  judgment.  In  1768,  Tate  proposed  to  with- 
draw the  declinature,  if  the  synod  would  annex  Samson  Smith 
and  Beard  to  Newcastle  Presbytery;  Samuel  Thomson  and 
Lang  to  Donegal;  and  Tate,  Steel,  Elder,  and  McMordie,  to 
the  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  The  synod  acceded 
to  this, — Strain  protesting  that  this  was  erecting  a  monument 


^ 


278  Webster's  history  of  the 

of  the  former  division,  and  would  liave  the  same  effect  as  a 
rupture  of  the  union,  and  would  obstruct  the  success  of  the 
gospel;  that  it  was  sacrificing  the  peace  of  the  church,  and  in  a 
measure  the  success  of  the  gospel,  to  appease  the  wrath  of  a  few, 
and  that  it  opened  the  door  for  unrestrained  passion  to  demand 
of  the  body  whatever  satisfaction  a  party  might  please.  Eoan, 
Duffield,  Cooper,  and  Slemons  protested  that  bad  temper  and 
want  of  brotherly  love  were  the  only  motives  the  dissatisfied 
brethren  had  to  urge;  that  they  had  made  heavy  charges 
against  their  co-presbyters  and  the  synod,  and  had  been  zeal- 
ously engaged  in  promoting  schism;  that  to  grant  their  request 
was  to  admit  their  charges  and  justify  their  practice,  and  espe- 
cially to  strengthen  a  presbytery*  which,  in  the  judgment  of 
many  of  the  synod,  ought  not  to  be  allowed  an  existence. 
They  protested  against  it  as  covering  oflenders  from  discipline, 
furnishing  ^  pernicious  pyecedent,  and  leading  to  a  waste  of 
precious  time, 'w'kicli. might  be  better  employed  than  in  a  jour- 
ney of  one  hundred  miles  to  attend  presbytery. 

The  Presbyteiy  of  Philadelphia  tested,  immediately  after 
the  union,  the  sense  in  which  Article  vLof  the  Plan  of  Union 
was  to  be  understood, — viz.:  "Every  candidate,  before  being 
licensed,  shall  give  competent  satisfaction  as  to  his  experimental 
acquaintance  with  religion."  John  Beard,  a  graduate  of  Nas- 
sau Hall,  had  been  before  Newcastle  Presbytery  as  a  candidate, 
and,  without  dismission  or  recommendation,  applied  to  Phila- 
delphia Presbytery,  October  23, 1759,  and  Was  directed  to  visit 
the  members  of  presbytery  at  their  houses,  and  give  them  op- 
portunity of  knowing  his  religious  views  and  spiritual  state. 
This  was  reviving  a  rule  that  had  been  adopted  in  1735,  enact- 
ing, "That  no  student  be  received  to  enter  on  trials  in  order  to 
his  licensing  to  preach,  until  he  shall  repair  unto  the  dwellings 
or  lodgings  of  at  least  most  of  the  ministers  of  the  presby- 
tery, and  thereby  give  them  an  opportunity  to  take  a  \iew  of 
his  parts  and  behaviour."  In  May,  they  examined  him,  and 
professed  themselves  satisfied  with  every  thing  except  what 
related  to  a  work  of  grace  on  the  soul.  They  proceeded  to 
license  him  in  August,  1760. 

In  May,  1760,  Magaw  offered  himself  to  the  presb}i;ery,  and 

*  The  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  279 

they  resolved,  that  they  were  bound  to  improve  no  candidate, 
until  he  had  visited  the  ministers,  that  they  might  personally 
inspect  into  his  experience.  The  presbytery  heard  his  declara- 
tion of  experience  at  a  subsequent  meeting,  and  deferred  a  judg- 
ment on  it.  In  August,  1761,  they  debated  the  question  whether 
his  former  declaration  of  experience  was  satisfactory.  Four 
ministers  were  satisfied, — Cross,  Alison,  Simonton,  and  Ewing; 
seven  were  not, — Tennent,  Treat,  Hunter,  Lawrence,Greenmau, 
Eamsey,  and  Chesnut.  Magaw,*  willing  to  give  them  all  the 
satisfaction  in  his  power,  offered  to  converse  with  them,  that 
they  might  further  inspect  into  his  state.  The  conversation  af- 
forded them  no  additional  light.  The  question  was  then  taken 
on  proceeding  to  license,  and  five  elders  and  four  ministers  gave 
their  voices  in  the  affirmative,  so  that,  by  a  majority  of  two,  the 
matter  was  settled.  The  elders  were  Philip  "Wynkoop,  of 
Abingdon,  George  Bryan,  of  the  First  Church,  and  Gunning 
Bedford,  of  the  Second  Church  in  Philadelphia,  M.  Dubois,  of 
Pittsgrove,  and  John  Cloyd,  of  Great  Valley.  The  seven 
ministers  protested,  but  did  not  wish  thereby  to  hinder  the 
majority  from  admitting  Magaw  to  preach  as  a  probationer. 
They  unanimously  approved  his  sermon. 

The  application  of  Beard  to  the  Presbytery  of  Phila- 
delphia, after  having  left  the  Newcastle  Presbytery  without  '^ 
being  dismissed  from  that  body,  led  to  the  proposal  to 
the  synod  in  1760  of  this  query, — viz. :  "Whether  our  stu-  \ 
dents,  bred  in  our  colleges,  have  not  a  right  to  apply  to 
any  of  our  presbyteries  for  improvement  for  the  sacred 
work  of  the  ministry?  and  whether  they  ought  not  to  be  re- 
ceived on  sufficient  recommendations  ?  It  was  not  answered 
till  176-4,  and  then  as  follows : — Any  student  of  divinity  has 
a  right  to  study  for  his  improvement  under  any  approved 
divine  in  the  synod ;  but  when  he  enters  on  trials,  he  shall 
come  under  the  care  of  the  presbyteiy  in  whose  bounds  he 
has  been  brought  up,  has  mostly  lived,  and  is  best  known ;  and 
if,  for  convenience,  he  desires  to  come  under  some  other  pres- 
bytery, nothing  less  shall  be  esteemed  a  sufficient  recom-  ],"[ 
mendation  but  a  testimonial  from  the  presbytery  to  which  he 
naturally  belongs,  or  from  several  ministers  of  it,  recommend- 

*  MS.  Records  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery. 


280  WEBSTER'S   HISTORY   OF  THE 

ing  him  as  a  candidate  of  exemplary  piety  and  holiness  of 
conversation.  Montgomery  and  Talmage  dissented  from  this 
judgment;  but  it  has  always  remained  as  a  law  in  the  church. 

The  debate  in  respect  to  Magaw's  experience  led  to  the 
introduction  of  this  query  in  1761 : — Whether,  since  holiness 
is  a  qualification  requisite  in  a  gospel  minister,  it  is  the  duty 
of  a  presbytery,  and  possible  for  them,  to  make  candidates 
give  a  narration  of  their  personal  exercises,  and  upon  this 
form  a  judgment  of  their  real  spiritual  state  towards  God,  as 
the  ground  of  admitting  or  rejecting  them  ?  The  answer  was 
deferred,  as  also  the  request  of  a  number  of  the  members  of 
Philadelphia  Presbytery  to  be  set  oft'  as  a  distinct  judicatory. 
In  1762,  the  query  was  withdrawn  as  not  clear.  Those  who 
apprehended  themselves  particularly  concerned  in  its  solution, 
declared  it  was  a  matter  of  conscience  with  them,  and  there- 
fore highly  desirable  to  ascertain  the  true  and  proper  meaning 
of  the  query,  the  precise  thing  to  be  considered.  It  was  stated 
as  follows: — Whether  a  candidate's  declaration  of  his  own 
exercises  and  experiences  in  religion,  given  in  the  way  of  nar- 
ration, or  of  answers  to  questions  put  to  him  concerning  them, 
should  be  required  by  a  judicature  as  one  appointed,  warrant- 
able, and  useful  mean  of  forming  a  judgment  of  his  experi- 
mental acquaintance  with  religion,  according  to  w^hich  judg- 
ment they  are  to  admit  or  reject  him  ?  It  was  ordered  that 
every  member  should  be  called  to  speak  what  he  thinks  proper 
to  the  question ;  after  which,  if  occasion  require,  the  question 
shall  be  debated  and  then  determined.  John  Brainerd  took 
the  chair,  and  the  roll  was  called :  two  days  and  a  half  were 
consumed  in  going  through  it.  The  vote  was  taken  on  the 
20th,  and  an  affirmative  answer  was  given,  thirteen  voting  in 
the  negative,  and  one  being  non  liquet. 

It  was  also  decided  in  the  affirmative  that  this  solution  of 
the  query  is  a  compliance  with  the  plain  sense  and  meaning 
of  the  sixth  article  of  the  Plan  of  Union,  and  with  the  order 
in  the  Westminster  Directory  to  examine  candidates  touching 
the  grace  of  God  in  their  hearts. 

The  dissatisfied  declared,  that  the  provision  in  the  eighth 
article  for  the  continuance  of  presbyteries  to  act  separately, 
till  it  should  be  for  edification  to  unite  them,  w^as  a  confirma- 
tion of  the  method  used  by  the  presbyteries  of  Philadelphia 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  281 

Synod  in  licensing  candidates.  The  Presbytery  of  New  York, 
fearing  a  rupture,  had  chosen  to  be  absent,  and  had  sent,  by 
two  of  their  members,  the  following  proposals : — 

1.  Presbyteries    may  continue   to   use   the   methods   they 
choose  without  blame  or  censure.     2.  The  mode  in  any  pres- 
bytery shall  be  adopted  by  a  vote  of  the  majority.     3.  They 
may  ask,  in  thesi,  what  the  candidate  believes  to  be  the  expe-  | 
riences  of  a  real  convert,  and  whether  he  believes  he  has  ex- 
perienced this  saving  change.     4.  Ministers  may  be  joined 
together  in  presbyteries,  so  that  they  may  peaceably  act  accord-  '|  ^^-^ 
ing  to  judgment  and  conscience  in  the  discharge  of  this  im-        '' 
portant  duty. 

These  were  not  acted  on ;  but  Treat,  S.  Finley,  and  Blair, 
with  Dr.  Alison,  Ewing,  and  McDowell,  and  A.  Horton,  were 
appointed  to  attempt  an  amicable  accommodation.  The  synod, 
after  solemn  prayer  to  God  for  direction,  agreed  that  every 
member  of  a  presbytery  may  use  that  wa}^  which  he  in  con- 
science looks  upon  as  proper  to  obtain  a  competent  satisfaction 
of  a  candidate's  experimental  acquaintance  with  religion,  and 
that  then  the  presbytery,  as  a  presbytery,  shall  determine  whe- 
ther to  take  him  on  further  trials.  This  agreement  did  not 
satisfy  a  number  of  the  synod. 

Immediately  on  this  vote,  and  just  before  adjournment,  the 
Second  Philadelphia  Presbytery  was  erected,  for  one  year 
at  least,  to  consist  of  Cross,  Alison,  Ewing,  Simonton,  and 
Latta. 

The  vehemence  on  both  sides  is  to  be  traced  to  two  circum- 
stances : — the  New  Side  assumed  that  this  declaration  of  expe- 
rience was  the  only  method  by  which  the  piety  of  a  candidate 
could  be  ascertained,  and  that  the  dislike  to  it  grew  out  of  the 
opposition  of  the  unconverted,  and  of  their  readiness  to  admit 
others  like  themselves  into  the  ministry.  Hence,  John  Blair, 
in  his  "Animadversions  on  a  Pamphlet  styled,  Remarks  on  a 
late  Decision,  and  Thoughts  on  the  Examination  and  Trials  of 
Candidates,"  labours  to  show  the  necessity  of  holiness  in 
those  that  bear  the  vessels  of  the  Lord.  The  Old  Side  de-  \ 
nounced  this  "inspection  into  the  state  towards  God,"  as  an 
invasion  of  God's  rights,  an  ascription  to  one's  self  of  Christ's 
heart-searching  power,  and  an  imitation  of  the  lamentable 
excesses  of  Davenport  and  his  compeers.     They  claimed  that 


282  Webster's  history  of  the 

there  were  other  methods  of  compl3'ing  with  the  Directory, — 
even  those  alwa3's  in  use  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  and 
among  ourselves  from  the  beginning. 

Besides  the  cases  of  Magaw  and  Beard,  there  seems  to  have 
been  only  one  other  in  which  there  was  difficulty  about  the 
declaration  of  experiences, — that  of  AVilliam  Edmeston,  who 
was  licensed  by  Donegal  Presbytery  •  although  Roan,  Robert 
Smith,  and  Duffield,  protested  that  they  were  not  satisfied 
concerning  his  spiritual  state.     By  a  remarkable  coincidence,  f| 
none  of  these  men  continued  in  the  work  of  the  ministry./ ) 
(  Beard  was  deposed ;  Magaw  never  had  a  pastoral  charge,  and 
I  took  holy  orders;    Edmeston   gave  up  his  license  and  went 
1  to  lEugland,   and,  having    been    made   a  priest,    settled    in 
Maryland. 

Hugh  Williamson  had  been  taken  on  trials  by  IS'ewcastle 
Presbytery,  and,  without  being  dismissed,  went  oft'  to  Connec- 
ticut, and  was  "  approbated"  by  some  association.  In  May, 
1760,  he  asked  to  be  received  by  Philadelphia  Presbytery  as  a 
probationer :  there  was  a  tie  in  the  vote,  and  the  matter  was 
carried  to  the  synod  in  the  form  of  two  c^ueries: — "^Yliether 
it  is  regular  for  our  students  of  divinity,  who  intend  to  return 
and  officiate  in  the  bounds  of  the  synod,  to  go  into  l^ew  Eng- 
land or  elsewhere  to  be  licensed?"  and,  further,  "Wliethcr 
an}"  minister  or  probationer,  ordained  or  licensed  in  Scotland, 
England,  Ireland,  Connecticut,  or  in  any  of  the  Reformed 
churches,  ought  not  to  be  admitted  as  a  minister  or  proba- 
tioner if  he  produced  sufficient  certificates  that  he  was  orderly 
ordained  or  licensed,  and  has  behaved  according  to  his  cha- 
racter, provided  he  adopts  our  Confession  and  promises  sub- 
jection in  the  Lord  ?" 

The  queries  were  deferred ;  but  it  was  voted  that  Mr.  Hugh 
Williamson,  a  probationer,  who  was  licensed  in  Connecticut, 
be  received  under  the  synod's  care.  He  resigned  his  license 
in  a  few  3'ears,  and  served  as  a  ruling  elder  in  the  First  Church 
in  Philadelphia.  He  became  a  practitioner  of  medicine,  and 
rose  to  eminence  in  political  life.  It  was  he  who  obtained  the 
letters  of  Governor  Hutchinson  of  Massachusetts,  through  the 
inadvertence  of  a  clerk  in  the  office  in  London,  and,  handing 
them  to  Franklin,  he  passed  over  to  France.  He  represented 
!N'orth  Carolina  in  the  convention  which  formed  our  Federal 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  283 

Constitution,  and  wrote  a  history  of  that  State.     He  spent  his 
last  years  in  the  city  of  New  York.* 

The  queries,  "so  often  repeated,"  were  not  answered  till 
1764:— 

"Though  entertaining  a  high  regard  for  the  Associated 
Churches  of  New  England,  yet  we  cannot  but  judge  that  stu- 
dents who  go  to  them,  or  any  other  than  our  own  presbyteries, 
to  obtain  license,  in  order  to  return  and  officiate  among  us, 
act  very  irregularly ;  and  are  not  to  be  approved  or  employed 
by  any  of  our  presbyteries,  as  hereby  we  are  deprived  of  the 
right  of  trying  and  approving  the  qualifications  of  our  own 
candidates :  but  if,  in  some  circumstances,  it  be  thought  ne- 
cessary for  the  greater  good  of  a  congregation  for  a  student  to 
do  so,  it  shall  be  laid  before  the  presbytery  to  which  the  con- 
gregation belongs,  and  be  approved  by  them. 

"  Though  ever}^  Christian  society  should  maintain  communion 
with  others  so  far  as  they  can  with  a  good  conscience,  yet  no 
society  is  obliged  to  adopt  or  imitate  the  irregularities  or  defi- 
ciencies of  another,  contrary  to  its  own  established  and  approved 
rules  of  procedure.  K  any  society  or  body  of  men  is  known  to 
be  of  erroneous  principles,  or  to  be  lax  and  negligent  as  to  the 
orthodoxy  and  piety  of  those  they  admit  to  the  ministry,  aj^e 
apprehend  to  be  the  case  of  the  New  Light  in  Ireland,  and  of 
some  other  particular  judicatures  and  individual  ministers 
who  may,  and,  on  this  continent,  sonietimes  do,  convene  toge- 
ther as  a  temporary  judicature,  for  the  single  purpose  of  licens- 
ing and  ordaining  a  candidate ;  in  such  cases,  none  of  our 
presbyteries  are  obliged  to  receive  and  employ  in  their  bounds, 
as  ministers  or  probationers,  such  persons,  though  producing 
fair  certificates  and  professing  to  adopt  our  Confession.  But 
if  any  minister  or  candidate  comes  well  recommended  by 
those  on  whose  testimony  we  can  depend,  they  are  to  'be  gladly 
received,  on  their  adopting  our  Confession  and  promising  sub- 
jection in  the  Lord." 

,In  1765,  an  explanation  was  added  to  the  answer,  affirming 
the  undoubted  right  of  presbyteries  to  converse  with  persons 
from  foreign  parts,  so  far  as  they  may  find  it  necessary  for  their 
own  satisfaction,  and  not  to  receive  them  implicitly  on  his  cer- 

*  Hosack's  Memoirs  of  Williamson. 


284  Webster's  history  of  the 

tificate,  and  a  general  profession  of  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion; and  it  is  liiglil}''  necessary  to  be  more  particular  and 
exact  in  examining  the  principles  of  those  who  come  from  a 
church  or  judicature  generally  suspected  or  known  to  be  erro- 
neous, or  lax  and  negligent  respecting  the  moral  conduct  or 
piety  of  their  candidates  and  ministers,  or  who  come  from 
any  number  of  ministers  convened  without  any  regular  con- 
stitution, merely  for  the  purpose  of  licensing  or  ordaining 
particular  persons.  » 

This  decision  gave  no  small  oiFence  to  the  Old-Side  men, 
who  resented  highly  the  insult  offered  to  the  l^ew  England 
A  churches.  The  rule,  however,  was  not  stringent  enough,  in 
the  judgment  of  the  other  side ;  and,  the  emigration  from 
Ireland  having  greatly  increased  during  the  ten  years  preced- 
ing the  Revolution,  the  number  of  ministers  from  that  quarter 
increased.  In  1773,  Roan  proposed  that  no  foreign  minister 
or  candidate  should  be  received  until  their  wjiole  testimonials 
and  credentials  had  been  laid  before  the  synod,  for  the  very 
good  reason  that  we  had  cause  to  distrust  the  faithfulness  of 
many  foreign  judicatories  in  licensing,  ordaining,  and  recom- 
mending men  who  held  not  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Re- 
formation. This  overture  was  admitted  by  a  very  small 
majority. 

The  whole  Second  Philadelphia  Presbytery  unamiuously 
dissented,  because  it  takes  away  the  essential  rights  of  pres- 
byteries ;  insinuates  that  they  are  unsound,  or  not  trust- 
worthy, and  is  uncharitable  and  inconsistent  with  the  love, 
respect,  and  fellowship  we  owe  to  the  Protestant  churches 
abroad ;  will  prevent  foreign  ministers  from  uniting  with 
us,  and  induce  them  to  erect  separate  presbyteries:  it  will 
furnish  a  pretext  for  the  synod  to  engross  all  power,  and  is  as 
much  an  insult  to  the  northern  provinces  as  to  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland.  Rodgers,  Caldwell,  McT^Tiorter,  Montgomery, 
John  Miller,  Anderson,  Read,  and  McDowell  dissented,  but 
entered  no  reasons.  Matthew  Wilson,  Latta,  King,  and  Lang 
dissented  for  substantially  the  same  reasons  as  those  given 
by  the  Second  Philadelphia  Presbytery.  They  asked,  "  May 
not  ministers  who  are  pious  and  sound  in  the  faith  come  from 
Great  Britain  or  Ireland?" 

The  synod  replied  that  none  of  these  brethren  denied  that 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH  IN   AMERICA.  285 

there  was  so  great  a  degeneracy  in  the  churches  of  the  mother- 
country  as  rendered  it  peculiarly  necessary  that  much  care 
should  be  taken  in  admitting  ministers  and  candidates  from 
thence ;  and  that  the  presh^^teries  could  not  have  the  same 
means  as  the  synod  of  information  concerning  their  character, 
nor  indeed  such  as  was  necessary  to  judge  with  any  sufficient 
degree  of  certainty  concerning  them.  It  was,  however,  agreed 
that  the  overture  be  expressly  declared  not  to  extend  to  per- 
son's coming  from  any  part  of  this  continent. 

Rodgers  moved  that  the  operation  of  the  overture  be  sus- 
pended for  a  year.  He  afterwards  withdrew  this  proposal, 
and,  in  the  place  of  Roan's  plan,  it  was  ordered  that  presby- 
teries may,  if  they  see  their  way  clear,  employ  foreign  minis- 
ters, but  not  receive  them  to  full  membership,  until  their  full 
testimonials  and  recommendations  be  laid  before  the  synod. 

In  1774,  Tate  requested  a  review  of  the  act,  and  a  consi- 
deration of  the  power  by  which  the  synod  restrains  presby- 
teries from  acting  according  to  the  best  of  their  judgment, 
in  things  which,  before  the  synod's  act,  were  allowed  to  be 
lawful,  and  not  forbidden  by  the  word  of  Grod.  Thus,  Tate 
and  his  Old-Side  coadjutors  actually  took  the  ground  they 
had  condemned  in  the  ISTew  Brunswick  Apology  as  anarchical, 
and  which  the  New  Light  in  Ireland  had  always  so  stre- 
nuously maintained  as  the  stronghold  of  their  heresy. 

The  synod  rescinded  the  act.  Witherspoon,  Spencer,  Hun- 
ter, Siemens,  Mitchell,  Duffield,  and  Hezekiah  James  Balch 
dissented.  Rodgers,  Treat,  and  McWhorter  brought  in  a 
substitute,  which  was  unanimously  approved,  and  which  was 
as  follows : — 

"It  being  of  the  highest  importance  to  the  interest  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom  that  church  judicatories  should  maintain 
with  the  greatest  care  orthodoxy  in  doctrine  and  purity  in 
practice  in  all  their  members,  the  synod,  in  addition  to  the 
agreement  of  1764  and  '65,  do  most  earnestly  recommend  to 
the  presbyteries,  to  be  very  strict  and  careful  in  examining 
the  certificates  and  testimonials  of  those  who  come  from 
foreign  churches,  and  be  very  cautious  not  to  receive  them, 
unless  they  are  authenticated  by  private  letters,  or  other  cre- 
dible and  sufficient  evidence ;  and  the  presbyteries  shall  lay 
before  the  synod  the  testimonials  and  all  other  certificates  on 


286  Webster's  history  of  the 

which  they  have  received  any  foreign  minister  or  probationer ; 
and,  if  the  synod  shall  find  them  false  or  insufficient,  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  presbytery,  in  receiving  him,  shall  be  null,  and 
he  shall  not  be  owned  as  in  ministerial  communion  with  us. 
But  whoever  shall  come  duly  recommended  from  abroad,  we 
will  receive  them  as  brethren  and  give  them  every  encourage- 
ment in  our  power." 

An  important  minute  appears  on  the  Records  of  1784  : — 
"  The  synod,  having  reason,  by  information  given  since  this 
meeting,  to  apprehend  the  churches  under  their  care  in  immi- 
nent danger  from  ministers  and  licentiates  of  unsound  princi- 
ples from  abroad,  do  hereby  renew  their  former  injunctions, 
and  strictly  enjoin  on  every  member  of  this  body,  under  pain 
of  censure,  to  be  particularly  careful  in  this  respect."  An 
attested  copy  of  the  injunctions  and  of  this  minute  was  sent 
to  each  presbyter3^  In  1785,  John  Hiddleson,  a  young  minis- 
ter of  Belfast  Presbytery,  produced  his  credentials  to  the 
synod,  and  asked  to  be  received  as  a  member  of  Newcastle 
Presbytery.  Witherspoon,  Robert  Smith,  Miller,  McFarquhar, 
Cooper,  and  Woodhull,  having  examined  his  papers  and  con- 
versed with  him,  reported  that  he  ought  not,  in  their  opinion, 
to  be  annexed  to  any  of  the  presbyteries,  but  may,  if  he 
choose,  be  committed  to  any  of  them,  to  deal  with  him  as 
they  think  best,  and  report  what  they  do  to  the  next  synod. 
He  is  not  mentioned  again.  It  is  curious  that  William 
McKee,  of  the  same  presbytery,  presented  his  credentials  on 
the  same  day  with  Hiddleson,  and  was  at  once  received.  It 
does  not  appear  that,  up  to  the  formation  of  the  General 
Assembly,  any  heretical  or  unsound  teacher,  if  we  except 
Jlempliill,  was  received  into  membership  from  any  foreign 
body. 

The  desponding,  complaining  tone  of  the  Church  ministers, 
in  their  letters  to  the  Venerable  Society  and  the  bishops,  is  so 
uniform  as  to  be  amusing.  In  New  York,  not  a  governor  had  \ 
been  at  church  from  Sir  Charles  Hardy's  day,  in  1743,  to  1760. 
The  growth  of  their  churches  was  hindered  by  sad,  tintoward 
circumstances.  Punderson,  of  New  Haven,  lacked  the  polite- 
ness requisite  for  that  post;  Standard,  of  Bedford,  was  never 

*  Albany  Documents. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  287 

agreeable  to  the  people ;  Lyon,  of  Setauket,  was  p_erfunctoiy, 
and  so  covetous  that  his  clothes  were  ragged.  Only  one  was 
destitute  of  moral  character, — Nathaniel  Whitaker,  of  Mary- 
land, who  is  denounced  as  the  worst  of  men.  Their  gain 
from  the  Dissenters  occasioned  them  no  small  uneasiness. 
"William  McClenachan,  from  Ireland,  had  been  the  minister 
of  the  Presbyterian  churches  in  Brunswick  and  Georgetown, 
Maine,  from  1734  to  1744,  and,  after  a  short  stay  at  Blandford, 
Mass.,  he  was  installed  colleague  j^it^_  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Cheever,  of  Chelsea,  near  Boston,  in  1748.  He  remained 
tliere  six  years;  and,  having  taken  holy  orders,  he  was  sta- 
tioned as  a  missionary  of  the  Venerable  Society  at  Frankfort 
and  Georgetown,  Maine,  "  being  a  man*  of  uncommon  forti- 
tude, and  cheerfully  disposed  to  undergo  hardships."  He  left 
this  frontier-missionf  with  no  credit  to  himself,  and  went  to 
Virginia.  He  engaged  himself  to  a  parish,  and  received 
such  marks  of  their  favour  that  he  ought  to  think  himself 
under  obligation  to  serve  them.  He  gave  encouragement  to 
the  expectation  that  if  he  could  obtain  the  Society's  consent 
he  would  settle  with  them.  He  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1759, 
and  produced  a  great  impression  at  Christ  Church.  The 
commissary,  Dr.  Jenney,  was  aged,  asthmatic,  and  feeble. 
"William  Sturgeon  was  the  assistant  minister,  and  another 
minister  was  needed.  In  May,  seventy-four  persons  peti- 
tioned the  vestry  for  McClenachan,  and  they  granted  him  the 
use  of  the  pulpit  as  a  lecturer,  provided  the  subscribers  would 
maintain  him.  In  June,  he  was  elected  assistant  minister. 
Provost  Smith  and  the  commissary,  though  no  very  good 
friends,  united  in  opposition  to  his  settlement.  Smith  was 
shocked  at  an  extemporaneous  prayer  in  Christ  Church,  in 
which,  after  many  complimentary  titles  addressed  to  the  Most 
High,  he  said,  "  We  thank  thee  that  we  are  not  in  hell." 
Dr.  Johnson,  of  New  York,  wrote  to  the  archbishop,  "I  wish 
he  does  not  occasion  much  disturbance  at  Philadelphia.  I 
doubt  he  is  enthusiastical.  He  affects  to  act  a  part,  like 
Whitefield." 

The  Bishop  of  London  wrote,  March  25,  1760,  and  declined 


*  Hawkins's  Missions  of  the  English  Church. 

•)•  Dorr's  History  of  Christ  Church,  Philadelphia. — Albany  Documents. 


288  Webster's  history  of  the 

to  license  him,  and  directed  the  vestry  not  to  countenance 
him,  but  to  assist  him  to  remove  to  Virginia.  They  waited 
on  him  with  a  copy  of  the  letter. 

Seeing  that,  having  been  elected  assistant,  he  was  likely 
to  be  kept  out  of  the  post,  the  New-Side  brethren  took  up 
the  matter  warmly.  He  was  an  Irishman,  as  most  of  them 
were.  He  was  introducing  evangelical  doctrines  into  a  pulpit 
where,  from  the  beginning,  an  historical  faith  and  a  lifeless 
routine  had  superseded  the  preaching  of  the  cross.  Eighteen 
of  them,  in  May,  1760,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  stating  their  view  of  the  case,  and  soliciting 
his  Grace  to  use  his  influence,  to  constrain  the  commissaiy 
to  induct  him,  in  obedience  to  the  call  of  the  people.  The 
signers  were  Gilbert  and  William  and  Charles  Tennent, 
Davies,  John  Blair,  Moses  Tuttle,  Charles  McKnight,  Ches- 
nut,  Ramsey,  Rodgers,  James  Finley,  Kittletas,  Roan,  Brush, 
Mofliet,  McWhorter,  Robert  Smith,  and  Kennedy.  This  was 
not  without  a  precedent ;  for  the  Presbytery  of  New  Bruns- 
wick, by  a  formal  vote,  had  prepared  an  address  to  the  Earl 
of  Holderness,  secretar}^  of  state,  in  behalf  of  Governor  Bel- 
cher, who  had  been  assailed.  The  archbishop  took  no  further 
notice  of  the  letter,  than  to  send  a  copy  of  it  to  this  country. 
The  Venerable  Society  declared  that  McClenachan  would 
meet  with  no  countenance  on  that  side  of  the  water.  It 
created  a  great  outcry,  when  it  was  blazed  about,  that  the  Pres- 
byterians had  moved  the  Primate  of  England  to  compel  the 
Episcopalians  of  Philadelphia  to  receive  a  minister  they  had 
refused  to  have.  A  pamphlet,  professedly  from  a  Covenant- 
ing Presbyterian,  appeared,  giving  an  exact  copy  of  the  letter 
of  the  eighteen,  and  seeking  to  alarm  the  flocks  by  this 
amazing  defection  of  their  shepherds  from  the  simplicity  and 
well-known  principles  of  the  Covenanted  Reformation ;  for 
they  had  used  the  official  style,  and,  from  their  mode  of 
addressing  "his  Grace,"  one  might  have  fancied  they  intended, 
like  McClenachan,  to  apply  for  orders. 

In  May,  1761,  there  was  an  Episcopal  Convention  in  Phila- 
delphia. There  were  present  Provost  Smith,  Campbell,  of 
New  Jersey;  Craig,  of  Chester;  Reading,  of  Apoquinimy; 
Sturgeon,  of  Philadelphia ;  Neill,  of  Oxford ;  Barton,  of  Lan- 
caster;    Thomson,   of   Carlisle;     Duche,    of    Philadelphia; 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  289 

Cliandler,  of  Elizabethtown  ;  and  Keene,  of  Maryland.  They 
applied  to  the  governor  for  his  approbation  and  protec- 
tion during  the  sitting.  He  replied  he  had  no  objection, 
and  would  give  all  needful  protection.  On  the  23d,  they 
attended  the  commencement  of  the  College  of  Philadelphia, 
and,  on  the  25th,  sent  to  the  synod  the  letter  of  the  eighteen 
brethren  to  the  archbishop,  with  a  complaint  of  such  an  inter- 
ference. The  matter  was  committed  to  McDowell,  Caleb 
Smith,  Samuel  Finley,  Matthew  "Wilson,  and  Hector  Alison. 
Their  minute  was  adopted,  declaring  that  the  brethren  had 
acted  improperly  and  without  due  consideration  in  the  atiair, 
particularly  in  asking  for  the  mduction  of  McClenachan. 
The  members  complained  of  declared,  that  they,  like  the  rest 
of  the  synod,  are  opposed  to  induction,  if  by  induction  is 
meant  the  forcible  obtrusion  of  a  minister  on  a  people  against 
their  will,  and  that  they  only  desired  the  archbishop  to  nse 
his  influence  in  settling  one  whom  they  understood  was  the 
choice  of  the  congregation.  The  synod  declined  to  notice 
the  doubtful  insinuations  made  by  McClenachan,  and  would 
not  put  the  eighteen  on  the  unusual  task  of  clearing  them- 
selves, when  there  is  no  evidence  against  them. 

The  Old  Side  are  said  to  have  enjoyed  greatly  the  awkward 
position  of  their  brethren,  particularly  when  the  pamphlet 
containing  their  letter  was  hawked  and  cried  in  the  synod's 
hearing: — "Here's  your  eighteen  Presbyterian  ministers  for  a 
groat.     Who'll  buy?"* 

The  pamphlet  was  answered  by  a  layman,  who  shows  that  no 
Covenanter,  but  some  Episcopalian,  had  issued  it,  and  that  the 
squib  had  so  pleased  the  clergj^  that  they  had  departed  from 
the  convention  with  their  sa-ddle-bags  stutfed  with  it.  He 
added  that  the  application  of  the  eighteen  for  holy  orders 
would  be  exceedingly  acceptable  to  the  dignitaries  of  the 
Church,  who,  for  want  of  better  candidates,  gave  the  gown  to 
drunkards,  dupes,  and  debauchees.  The  retort  was  bitter  and 
insulting  in  the  extreme.  It  sneers  at  the  defender  of  the 
eighteen  as  being  well  known  as  '-the  cursing  prophet,"  and 
says  the  Presbyterians  were  sadly  to  be  pitied  if  the  eighteen 
were  the  best  part  of  their  ministers.     He  then  pictures  them 


*  Miller's  Life  of  Rodgers. 
19 


6 
\ 


290  "Webster's  history  of  the 

with  some  of  their  younger  associates  as  having  reached 
the  Bishop  of  London's  palace,  seeking  admission  into  the 
ministry  of  the  English  Church.  John  Blair  is  put  forward 
as  mistaking  the  bishop's  porter  for  the  bishop  and  opening 
in  homely  phrase  the  object  of  their  visit.  The  porter  intro- 
duces them  to  his  lordship,  who  courteously  asks,  "  Good 
people,  to  what  do  I  owe  this  visit?"  There  being  some  hesi- 
tation, Charles  Tennent  says,  haughtily,  "We've  come  to  get 
the  gown.  We  hear  you  give  it  to  drunkards,  dupes,  and 
debauchees ;  and  we  want  it."  The  bishop,  in  amazement, 
scarcely  believes  his  ears ;  when  Roan  obsequiously  suggests 
that,  if  his  worship  wants  linen  to  his  skirts,  "  sax  huuder 
reeds  fine,  he  is  the  man  in  the  face  of  day  to  weave  it." 
This  leads  the  others  to  declare  their  proficiency  in  their 
respective  trades,  and  into  a  dispute  about  their  comparative 
skill ;  and  the  bishop  dismisses  them  with  the  advice  to  stick 
to  the  last  and  not  look  for  the  gown. 

McClenachan  is  not  named  subsequently  anywhere,  to  our 
knowledge.  The  letter  of  Provost  Smith  to  the  archbishop,  on 
the  case,  is  transcribed  into  the  Albany  Documents,  under  the 
impression  that  it  was  from  William  Smith,  the  prominent 
opponent  of  the  Episcopal  movement  in  New  York. 

The  Episcopal  clergy  in  the  colonies  had  little  ground  to 
complain  of  the  eighteen,  for  they  were  continually  moving 
the  primate,  and  all  in  authority,  to  act  against  the  Dissenters. 
Their  persevering  resistance  of  the  Incorporation  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  ISTew  York  was  not  a  solitary  instance. 
Chandler,  of  Elizabethtown,  admits  that  the  couihsel  refused 
the  Incorporation,  because  William  Smith,  Esq.  was  a  member 
of  the  congregation,  and  he  had"  been  active  against  encroach- 
ments on  our  civil  and  relisrious  ris-hts.  Dr.  Johnson  told  his 
Grace  that  Smith's  book  was  the  principal  cause  of  the  com- 
plaints against  the  Church  missionaries.  The  primate  had 
serious  thoughts  of  attempting  to  prevent  the  Society  in  New 
England  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  from  being  incorporated; 
and  by  his  interference  the  charter  was  disallowed.  Nor  was 
it  any  new  thing  for  the  New  England  divines  to  bring  before 
archiepiscopal  eyes  the  misdemeanours  of  colonial  Churchmen. 
His  Grace  learned,  through  the  Dissenters,  that  Beach,  of  New- 
town, had  vented  certain  errors ;  and  he  called  the  attention  of 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  291 

the  clergy  to  the  matter.  The  "Independent  Wliig  and  Re- 
flector" reached  Lambeth;  and  pamphlets,  which  Dr.  Johnson 
had  not  heard  of  in  New  York,  crossed  the  water  and  were 
even  in  bishops'  palaces.  His  Grace  was  amazed  at  the  viru- 
lence of  an  anonymous  writer  on  the  "Benefits  of  Conformity," 
and  wondered  how  the  Dissenters  could  fail  to  see  that  such 
things  must  rebound  and  injure  them. 

•'  As  the  cliurch  doth  hither  westward  fly, 
So  sin  doth  dog  her  instantly." 

"There  is  nothing,"  said  Dr.  Johnson,  "they  will  stick  at: 
they  patronize  monstrous  enthusiasm,  strolling  teachers,  and 
wild  notions." 

Doddridge,  in  1751,  possessed  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
with  the  character  of  Davies,  and  the  candour  of  his  attempt: — 
"If  the  afl:air  should  ever  come  before  the  King,  his  Grace's 
designs  are  so  pacific,  that  neither  you  nor  any  of  the  Dis- 
senters will  suifer  any  injustice  he  can  prevent." 

In  November,  1757,  Alison  proposed  to  establish  a  maga- 
zine. He  wrote  against  the  Episcopal  projectors  in  the  "Phila- 
delphia Sentinel." 

In  Ma}",  1766,  the  synod  resolved  to  have  some  correspond- 
ence with  the  Consociated  Churches  of  Connecticut,  and  pre- 
pared a  letter  to  be  presented  to  them  by  Ewing,  Patrick 
Alison,  aiid  Spencer,  the  moderator.  They  were  charged  to 
propose  that  each  body  should  appoint  certain  ministers  to 
meet  together  yearly,  at  such  place  as  the  General  Associaticm 
should  select.  The  letter  was  transmitted  at  once.  Whittle- 
sey, of  the  First  Church  in  New  Haven,  sajs,  "the  first  he 
heard  of  the  proposed  convention  was  from  Mr.  Bill  Smith  of 
New  York." 

The  convention  met  at  Elizabethtown,  November  5,  1766. 

Peter  Van  Scliaak,  afterwards  an  eminent  counsellor,  then 
a  youth,  wrote,  January  27,  1769,  "  Our  election  in  New  York 
City  is  ended,  and  the  Church  is  triumphant,  in  spite  of  all  the 
eflibrts  of  the  Presbyterians.  The  Churchmen  regard  it  as  a 
complete  victory:  it  is  a  lasting  monument  of  the  power  of 
the  mercantile  interest.  The  Presbyterians  think  they  have, 
as  a  religious  body,  every  thing  to  dread  from  the  growing 
power  of  the  Church."     In  August,  1769,  Zubly,  of  Savannah, 


292  Webster's  history  op  the 

sent  to  Dr.  Stiles  a  copy  of  Makemie's  trial,  as  being  important 
at  this  crisis;  it  had  been  reprinted  in  the  "AVatchtower,"  in 
New  York,  in  1755. 

The  counties  east  of  the  Hudson  received  the  English  part  of 
their  population  from  the  adjoining  townships  of  Connecticut, 
They  looked  to  the  Association  of  Fairfield  county  for  candi- 
dates and  for  assistance  in  all  spiritual  and  secular  aflairs  of 
their  churches.  Bedford,  Cronpond,  (Yorktown,)  Hanover,  in 
Cortland  Manor,  (Peekskill)  and  Salem,  put  themselves  under 
iTew  Brunswick  Presbytery  in  1743.  Kumbout  and  Fishkill 
were  received  by  New  York  Presbytery  in  1751.  Salem  invited 
the  Fairfield  ministers  to  ordain  Mead  as  their  pastor,  in  1752 ; 
about  that  time,  John  Smith,  of  Eye,  joined  New^  York  Pres- 
bytery. Ten  years  after,*  Kent,  of  the  First  Church  in 
Philipse's  patent,  and  Peck,  of  the  Second,  met  with  Mead,  of 
Saleift',  and,  considering  that  they  and  their  churches  had  no 
connection  with  any  ecclesiastical  body,  did  accept  the  plan  of 
government  used  in  North  Britain,  and  adopted  the  Westmin- 
ster Confession,  and  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  as 
the  confession  of  their  faith,  and  the  Directory  and  Discipline 
to  be  their  rule  of  worship  and  discipline.  They  resolved,  in 
the  most  amicable  manner,  to  form  themselves  into  a  presby- 
tery, and,  October  27,  1762,  chose  Kent  moderator,  and  Peck 
clerk:  at  a  subsequent  meeting  they  appointed,' Mead  to  attend 
the  synod  in  Philadelphia,  and  desire  their  incorporation  with 
it.  "The  smallpox  was  so  thick  in  the  city,"  that  he  sent  the 
request  by  letter.  Full  satisfaction  was  given  by  several  mi- 
nisters of  the  good  character  of  the  applicants,  and  of  their 
standing  in  the  churches,  "and  that  no  unfriendly  views  or  dis- 
afi:ection  to  the  neighbouring  Connecticut  churches  led  them 
to  desire  to  unite  with  us."  The  request  was  granted,  and 
Smith  and  Graham,  of  New  York  Presbyteiy,  and  Ball  and 
Sackett,  of  Suffolk,  were  joined  with  them,  under  the  name  of 
Dutchess  County  Presbytery.  The  new  presbytery,  hearing 
that  the  only  condition  of  union  was  the  adoption  of  the  Con- 
fession and  the  observance  of  the  Directory,  did  heartily, 
cheerfully,  and  renewedly   declare   their  adoption  of  them. 


*  MS.  Records  of  Dutchess  County  Presbytery  :  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Johnston,  of 
New  Burgh. 


PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   AMERICA.  293 

They  soon  after  received  the  church  in  Albany  under  their 
care,  with  its  minister,  William  Ilanna,  and,  in  1765,  Samuel 
Dunlop, — from  a  presbytery  to  the  eastward  of  Boston, — the 
minister  of  Cherry  Valley.  Much  of  the  territory  covered  by 
their  congregations  was  neutral  ground  during  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  was  wasted  by  both  parties :  the  ministers  retired,  the 
meeting-houses  were  burned,  and  the  people  greatly  broken 
in  their  circumstances.  The  presbytery  was  much  weakened 
j  from  this  cause,  and,  being  reduced  in  numbers  by  death,  re- 
/  ceived  from  New  York  Presbytery  the  ministers  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river,  and  took  the  style  of  Hudson  Presbytery. 
■\^^  Thus  passed  the  iirst  half-century  of  the  existence  of  our 
|[^favoured  church  in  America.  Who,  on  the  survey  of  these 
years,  does  not  hear  the  angel- voice  saying  to  her,  "Hail, 
^^^hou  that  art  highly  favoured!"  Onward  was  her  progress, 
P^lhrough  poverty,  through  neglect  of  the  British  churches, 
through  the  cramping,  crippling  subserviency  of  royal  gover- 
nors to  the  monopolizing  measures  of  the  Establishment. 
What  church,  since  the  days  of  the  apostle,  has  been  adorned 
with  such  a  retinue,  headed  by  Makemie,  and  spreading, 
through  many  of  equal  worth,  to  Bostwick,  Rodgers,  and 
Davies?  Each  presbytery  was  a  constellation  of  pastors,  "the 
glory  of  Christ."  See,  in  SuiFolk,  Buel,  Brown,  and  Prime ;  in 
New  York,  Pemberton,  Cumming,  and  Bostwick;  in  East 
Jersey,  the  Dickinsons,  Burr,  Pierson,  the  Tennents  and  the 
Brainerds,  Cowell,  Spencer,  and  Rowland.  What  an  array 
the  New-Side  Presb^'tery  of  Newcastle  presented ! — the  Blairs, 
the  Finleys,  Robert  Smith,  Hugh  Henry,  Dean,  Rodgers,  and 
Davies.  And,  though  less  celebrated,  yet  widely  useful,  the 
men  of  the  Old  Side, — Gillespie,  Alison,  Thomson,  Creaghead, 
Boyd,  and  McDowell. 

How  steady,  how  rapid,  how  permanent  her  enlargement! 
From  Connecticut  to  North  Carolina,  at  every  frontier-post, 
she  set  up  her  banners.  Her  standard-bearers  in  the  extremest 
points  were  men  who  might  have  adorned  the  chief  cities  of 
any  land.  Craig,  and  Davies,  and  Brown,  and  Todd,  in  Vir- 
ginia; and  Craighead,  Campbell,  Patillo,  and  McAden,  in 
North  Carolina, — and,  before  all,  Robinson. 

They  who  served  in  the  ministry  were  allured  by  no  splendid 


294     Webster's  history  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 

prizes;  they  endured  hardship  as  good  soldiers  of  Jesus,  for 
from  him  had  they  received  their  ministry. 

Ko  new  theory,  no  philosophy  of  rehgion,  gave  them  promi- 
nence and  bewitched  the  people  with  the  belief  that  they  were 
the  great  power  of  God.  "  That  which  ye  have  heard  from  the 
beginning,"  "the  word  which  began  to  be  spoken  by  the 
Lord,"  was  the  message  they  brought;  and  they  delivered  it  in 
goodly  and  time-honoured  words. 

Sound  in  the  faith,  lovers  of  learning,  steadfast  in  duty,  they 
toiled  silently,  unitedly.  He  who  hastens  his  work  in  his  own 
time  commanded  the  blessing  like  the  daily  dew,  even  life  for 
evermore.  A  little  one  became  a  thousand.  "The  Break^^^ 
is  come  up  before  them;  they  have  broken  up  and  passeol^ 
through  the  gate;"  and  of  them  he  said,  "O  satisfied  wilh 
favour  and  full  with  the  blessing  of  the  Lord,  possess  thou  the 
south  and  the  west."  '<  4!|^ 


^P^  PART  II. 


mi 
4» 


i00r;ip|ies. 


'fT 


FRANCIS   MAKEMIE. 


A  NATIVE  of  the  county  Donegal,  he  had  pp^hably  studied  at 
^  one  of  the  Scottish  universities.  In  January,  1681,  he  was  intro- 
»^*duced  to  Laggan  Presbytery  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Drummond,  of 
Rathmelton,* — the  brother,  we  presume,  of  William  Drummond,  the 
first  governor  of  North  Carolina,  aiid  who  afterwards,  in  Bacon's 
War,  suffered  death  as  a  rebel  under  Sir  William  Berkeley,  Gover- 
nor of  Virginia,  t 

The  record  of  his  ordination  is  lost.  Two  of  his  letters  to  In- 
crease Mather,  of  Boston,  are  preserved  in  the  library  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

Elizabeth  River,  Va.,  22  July,  1684. 

Reverend  and  Dear  Brother: — 

I  wrote  to  you,  though  unacquainted,  by  Mr.  Lamb,  from  North 
Carolina,  of  my  designe  for  Ashley  River,  South  Carolina,  which 
I  was  forward  in  attempting  that  I  engaged  in  a  voyage,  and  went 
to  sea  in  the  month  of  May ;  but  God  in  his  providence  saw  fit  I 
should  not  see  it  at  the  time,  for  we  were  tosst  upon  the  coast  by 
contrary  winds,  and  to  the  north  as  far  as  Delaware  Bay,  so  that, 
falling  short  in  our  provisions,  we  were  necessitated,  after  several 
essays  to  the  south,  to  Virginia ;  and,  in  the  mean  while.  Colonel 
Anthony  Lawson,  and  other  inhabitants  of  the  parish  of  Lynn- 
haven,  in  Lower  Norfolk  county,  (who  had  a  Dissenting  minister 
from  Ireland,  until  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  remove  him  by  death 
in  August  last;  among  whom  I  preached  before  I  went  to  the 
South,  in  coming  from  Maryland,  against  their  earnest  importu- 
nity,) coming  so  pertinently  in  the  place  of  our  landing  for  water, 
prevailed  with  me  to  stay  this  season;  which  the  more  easily  over- 
came me,  considering  the  season  of  the  year  and  the  little  en- 

*  Reid's  Irish  Presb.  Church,  •}■  Bancroft's  Hist.  U.  S. 

297 


H\ 


298  FRANCIS   MAKEMIE. 

couragement  from  Carolina,  from  the  sure  information  I  have  had. 
But  for  the  satisfaction  of  my  friends  in  Ireland,  whom  I  design 
to  be  very  cautious  in  inviting  to  any  place  in  America  I  have  yet 
seen,  I  have  sent  one  of  our  number  to  acquaint  me  further  con- 
cerning the  place.  I  am  here  assured  of  liberty  and  other  en- 
couragements, resolving  to  submit  myself  to  the  sovereign  provi- 
dence of  God,  who  has  been  pleased  so  unexpectedly  to  drive 
me  back  to  this  poor,  desolate  people,  among  whom  1  designe  to 
continue  till  God  in  his  providence  determine  otherwise  concern- 
ing me. 

I  have  presumed  a  second  before  I  can  hear  how  acceptable  my 
first  has  been.  I  hope  this  will  prevent  your  writing  to  Ashley 
River,  and  determine  your  resolution  to  direct  your  letters  to 
Colonel  Anthony  Lawson,  att  the  Eastern  Branch  of  Elizabeth 
River.  I  expect,  if  you  have  an  opportunity  of  writing  to  Mr. 
John  Hart,*  you  will  acquaint  him  concerning  me;  which,  with 
your  prayers,  will  oblige  him  who  is  your  dear  and  affectionate 
brother  in  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus, 

Ffrancis  Makemie. 

It  is  probable  that  Makemie  came  over  to  the  people  in  "  Mary- 
land beside  Virginia,"  who  had  applied  to  his  presbytery  for  a 
minister  by  Colonel  Stevens  in  December,  1680.  In  the  fall  of 
1683,  he  travelled  by  land  as  far  as  Norfolk,  and  proceeded  to 
Carolina. 

Elizabeth  Rivee,  28  July,  1685. 

Honoured  Sir:— 

Yours  I  received  by  Mr.  Hallet  with  three  books,  and  am  not  a 
little  concerned  that  those  sent  to  Ashley  River  were  miscarried, 
for  which  I  hope  it  will  give  no  offence  to  declare  my  willingness 
to  satisfy ;  for  there  is  no  reason  they  should  be  lost  to  you,  and 
far  less  that  the  gift  should  be  ...  f  for  which  I  own  myself  your 
debtor.  And  assure  yourself  if  you  have  any  friend  in  Virginia, 
to  find  me  ready  to  receive  your  commands.  I  have  wrote  to  Mr. 
Wardrope,!  and  beg  you  would  be  pleased  to  order  the  safe  con- 
veyance thereof  unto  his  hands.  I  have  also  wrote  to  Mr.  Thomas 
Barret,  a  minister  who  lived  in  South  Carolina,  who,  when  he 
wrote  to  me  from  Ashley  River,  was  to  take  shipping  for  New 
England.  So  that  I  conclude  that  he  is  with  you.  But,  if  there 
be  no  such  man  in  the  country,  let  me  letter  be  returned. 
I  am  yours  in  the  Lord  Jesus, 

Ffrancis  Makemie. 


*  The  minister  of  Londonderry.  f  Illegible. 

\  Mentioned   in   Mncdonald's  History  of  Jamaica,   as  having  been  there  as   a 
minister  and  removed  to  Pennsylvania. 


Lcr 


PRANCIS   MAKEMIE.  299 


■/ 


In  1690,  Makemie  was  residing  in  Accomac  county,  Virginia, 
and  was  engaged  in  the  West  India  trade.  The  next  year  he 
visited  London,  and  conversed,  among  others,  with  Mr.  John 
Faldo,  an  aged  Congregational  minister.*  / 

In  1692,  four  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land  were  granted  him 
by  certificate  of  Accomac  Court. 

George  Keith,  having  been  expelled  by  the  Society  of  Friends, 
denounced  them  as  erroneous,  and  travelled  in  the  Southern  pro- 
vinces to  establish  his  peculiar  views.  He  saw  a  catechism  which 
Makemie  had  prepared  and  published,  and  sent  him  word  he  would 
make  him  a  visit.  He  did  so  in  July,  1692 ;  and  Makemie  "  scorned 
with  sharp  retorsion"  the  charges  of  error,  and  his  misconstruction 
of  "my  compassion  of  the  tender  souls  in  an  American  desart." 
He  declined  a  public  dispute  with  him,  knowing  that  Keith  would 
parade  his  learning  before  the  people,  who  were  incompetent  to 
judge  of  the  genuineness,  accuracy,  or  relevancy  of  his  quotations 
from  ancient  authors.  Keith  then  wrote  an  examination  of  the 
catechism,  and  left  it  with  Mr.  George  Layfield,f  to  be  placed  in 
Makemie's  hands.  On  his  way  north  he  made,  to  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Davis,  in  Delaware,  a  statement  to  Makemie's  discredit,  similar  to 
one  he  made  to  Makemie  concerning  the  London  ministers.  He 
charged  him,  in  his  paper,  with  denying  or  wholly  overlooking  our 
need  of  the  influences  of  the  Spirit,  and  with  "running  to  the  Pope 
and  Church  of  Rome,  by  that  dirty  conduit  to  have  his  call  to  the 
ministry  conveyed  to  him." 

Makemie,  in  August,  1692,  "satisfied  his  desire,"  and  visited 
Pennsylvania,  and  witnessed  the  ferment  growing  out  of  the  rup- 
ture with  Keith.  He  soon  after  issued  from  the  press,  at  Boston, 
"An  answer  to  George  Keith's  libel  on  a  catechism  published  by 
F.  Makemie."!     This  bears,  in  black-letter, 

IMPRIMATUR, 

Increase  Mather; 

and  is  recommended  by  Increase  Mather,  James  Allen,  S.  Willard, 
J.  Bailey,  and  Cotton  Mather,  as  the  work  of  a  "reverend  and 
judicious  minister." 

"  I  am  constrained  to  justify  my  office  from  these  uncharitable 
calumnies,  and  that  grace  might  be  magnified  by  giving  this  rela- 

*  Matthew  Henry  wrote  to  his  father  in  February,  1686-7,  that  Mr.  Faldo,  on 
King  James's  dispensing  with  penal  laws  against  Dissenters,  was  among  the  first  to 
preach  publicly,  to  many  hundreds  of  people.  He  published  several  books  against 
the  Quakers. 

j-  In  a  paper  in  the  British  State-Paper  Ofi&ce,  the  names  of  those  inhabitants  of 
Maryland  known  to  be  honest  men  (attached  to  the  Government)  are  pricked ; 
among  them  is  George  Layfield,  of  Somerset.  His  descendants  still  reside  there. 
MSS.  of  Maryland  Hist.  See. 

J  Iq  Library  of  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  and  in  Old  South  Church  Library,  Boston. 


SQO  FRANCIS   MAKEMIE. 

tion  in  the  sight  of  an  all-seeing  and  omnipresent  God,  that  ere  I 
received  the  imposition  of  hands  in  that  scriptural  and  orderly  way 
of  separation  unto  my  holy  and  ministerial  calling,  I  gave  re- 
quiring satisfaction  to  godly,  learned,  and  judicious  discerning  men 
of  a  work  of  grace  and  conversion  wrought  in  my  heart  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  my  fourteenth  year,  by  and  from  the  pains  of  a 
godly  schoolmaster,  who  used  no  small  diligence  in  gaining  tender 
i?ouls  to  God's  service  and  fear ;  since  which  time,  to  the  glory  of 
God's  free  grace  be  it  spoke,  I  have  had  the  sure  experiences  of 
God's  various  dealings  with  me,  according  to  his  infinite  and  un- 
erring wisdom,  for  my  unspeakable  comfort." 

Makemie  complains  that  Keith  had  published  "no  form  of  sound 
words,"  to  which  reference  might  be  made  for  his  true  sentiments; 
and  that  he  had,  "at  the  house  of  Thomas  Fooks,  in  Onancock, 
and  at  Nuswuddux,"  and  in  London,  taught  that  the  Scriptures 
"were  like  a  letter  ifrom  an  absent  husband  to  his  wife,  which  is 
needful  for  her  guidance  and  precious  during  his  absence,  but  is 
superseded  by  the  words  of  his  lips  when  he  returns.  If  Christ 
•were  not  present  with  his  people,  they  would  need  the  Scriptures. 

This  pamphlet  is  remarkable  for  printing  Calume  and  Calumists, 
for  the  name  of  the  Great  Reformer  of  Geneva.  .   ', 

He  had  married*  Naomi,  the  daughter  of  William  Anderson,  of 
Accomac.  His  father-in-law  left  him  by  will  a  thousand  acres  on 
Matchatank  Creek,  besides  a  release  of  the  moneys  lent  him. 

About  this  period,  he  qualified  himself,  under  the  Toleration 
Act  in  Barbadoes,  as  a  Dissenting  minister,  and  in  1699  published 
in  Edinburgh  "  Truths  in  a  new  light ;  or,  a  Pastoral  Letter  to  the 
Reformed  Protestants  in  Barbadoes, f  vindicating  the  Non-conform- 
ists and  showing  that  they  are  the  truest  and  soundest  part  of 
the  Church  of  England."  He  rejects  the  Liturgy,  because  of  its 
"  stinted  composed  and  imposed  forms  of  prayer,  its  use  of  a  corrupt 
version  of  the  Psalms,  and  its  rejection  of  their  Scripture  titles, 
prefixed  by  the  Divine  Author."  After  some  objections  to  the 
burial-service,  he  asks,  "  Why  it  was  denied  to  the  living  at  the  fune- 
ral of  the  Rev.  H.  Vaughan,  Dec.  28,  1G97  ?"  He  laments  that  the 
vitals  of  religion  are  wounded  and  the  doctrine  of  election  assailed 
by  church  ministers  as  contrary  to  the  Bible  and  discouraging  to 
piety ;  and  pointedly  asks,  whether  a  sinner,  without  the  special 
and  entire  grace  of  God,  can  repent,  believe,  regenerate,  and  save 
himself?  He  prays  that  the  God  of  all  grace  would  bless  the 
world  with  a  better  spirit,  and  adds,  that  it  is  a  paradox  in  Barba- 
does to  hear  of  a  Presbyterian  minister  taking  up  the  cudgels  in 
defence  of  a  fundamental  Established  Church  doctrine  against  a  son, 
member,  and  minister  of  the  English  Church. 

*  Spence's  Early  History  of  Presbyterianism. 
I  Library  of  Harvard  University. 


FRANCIS   MAKEMIE.  301 

Before  this  pubHc<ation,  he  returned  to  Accomac ;  and  tradition 
says*  that  his  preaching  far  and  wide  drew  on  him  the  anger  of  the 
Virginia  clergy,  and  that  he  was  seized  and  carried  to  the  gover- 
nor at  Williamsburg;  and  that  his  noble  vindication  obtained  for 
him  the  governor's  license  to  preach  throughout  the  Old  Dominion. 
As  a  result,  it  is  thought,  of  his  argument,  the  Virginia  Legisla- 
ture entered,  April  15,  1699,  the  Act  of  Toleration  on  their  Sta- 
tute-book. On  the  15th  of  October,t  "he  did  produce  to  Accomac 
court  certificates  from  Barbadoes  of  his  qualification  there,"  and 
was  licensed  to  preach  in  his  own  dwelling-house  on  Pocomoke,  ^ 

near  the  Maryland,  and  at  Qnancock,  five  miles  from  Drummond-    ,    .  -'t 
ton,  in  the  house  next  to  Captain  Jonathan  Livesey's. 

He  sailed  for  England  in  the  summer  of  1704.  He  published  in 
London,  in  hancfsome  style,|  "  A  Plain  and  Loving  Persuasion  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  for  promoting  towns  and 
co-habitation."  It  was  dedicated  to  Edward  Nott,  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  Virginia,  who  is  characterized  as  "  having  so  large  a 
stock  of  temper  and  unbiassed  interest."  He  notes  as  "an  un- 
accountable humour,  and  singular  to  most  rationale,  that  in  those 
provinces  no  attempt  was  made  to  build  tip  towns."  As  induce- 
ments to  do  so,  he  urges  that  it  would  increase  the  worth  of  the 
whole  country,  fill  the  land  with  people,  make  trade  easier  and  less 
expensive,  would  prevent  many  frauds,  give  employment  to  the 
poor,  and  be  of  great  advantage  to  religion,  education,  and  general 
welfare.  He  reminds  them  that  planting  is  overdone,  the  fields 
stripped  and  drained ;  while  the  other  course  would  bring  artists 
and  tradesmen,  and,  instead  of  depending  on  one  staple,  they 
might  carry  on  foreign  and  home  trade.  He  mentions  and  refutes 
the  objections :  it  would  cause  a  falling  off  from  the  cultivation  of 
tobacco,  and  that  there  could  not  be  much  trade  in  time  of  peace. 
The  growth  of  large  towns  would  lead,  say  some,  to  cast  off  de- 
pendence and  allegience  to  the  mother-country ;  but  why,  he  asks, 
should  this  thought  be  improved  against  us,  and  not  against  Bos- 
ton, New  York,  and  other  rising  places  ?  The  closing  objection 
he  supposes  to  be  that  the  inhabitants  are  against  towns ;  for,  if 
there  were  towns,  there  would  be  ordinaries ;  and  that  would  lead 
to  drunkenness.  He  answers,  the  giving  away  of  liquor  makes 
drunkards ;  if  there  were  ordinaries,  liquor  could  only  be  ob- 
tained by  purchase  ;  if  there  were  towns,  there  would  be  stocks,  and 
sots  would  be  placed  in  them. 

In  the  summer  of  1705,  he  sailed  for  America,  bringing  with 

*  Miller's  Life  of  Rodgerg.  j-  Spence. 

J  Libr.  of  Harv.  Coll.  This  was  probably  prepared  at  the  suggestion  of  friends 
of  those  colonies  in  Great  Britain ;  for  the  British  Government  was  at  this  time 
earnestly  pressing  on  the  Council  iu  Maryland  to  "erect  quays  and  towns." — MSS. 
of  Maryland  Historical  Society. 


302  FRANCIS   MAKEMIE. 

him  John  Hampton  and  George  McNish.  In  the  next  summer, 
they  succccJed,  through  the  interposition  of  Governor  Seymour, 
in  obtaining  license  of  Somerset  County  Court  to  officiate  as  Dis- 
senting ministers  at  four  places  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland. 
In  December,  170G,  he  was  Moderator  of  the  Presbytery  of  Phila- 
delphia, at  a  meeting  held  probably  in  Freehold  to  ordain  Boyd  as 
an  evangelist. 

In  company  with  Hampton,  he  immediately  set  out  for  Boston, 
and,  having  paid  his  respects  to  his  excellency  the  governor  at 
New  York,  he  was  unexpectedly  invited  to  preach.  He  left  it  to 
them  to  find  a  place  for  the  meeting.  Neither  the  Dutch  minister 
nor  the  elders  of  the  French  Church  dared  to  invite  him  to  their 
pulpits  without  Lord  Cornbury's  consent.  Anthony  Young  waited 
on  him  to  obtain  permission;  but  it  was  refused.  William  Jackson 
opened  his  house  at  the  lower  end  of  Pearl  Street ;  and  there  Ma- 
kemie  preached  on  the  Sabbath,  January  19,  1707,  and  baptized  a 
child ;  there  being  five  present,  and  five  above  that,  at  the  least. 
His  text  was  Psalm  1.  23: — "And  to  him  that  ordereth  his  con- 
versation aright  will  I  show  the  salvation  of  God."  It  was  the 
substance  of  two  sermons. 

After  unfolding  the  text,  he  announced  this  doctrine  : — A  well- 
ordered  conversation  is  the  only  way  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  It 
f\_  is  not  cau8y)  regnandi,  sed  via  regni.  It  is  not  the  meritorious  cause 
of  salvation,  but  the  way  in  which  we  must  go,  to  enter  into  life. 

I.  What  is  presupposed  in  a  conversation  ordered  aright  ? 

II.  What  is  a  well-ordered  conversation  ? 

III.  Why  is  it  necessary  as  the  way  ? 

IV.  What  is  necessary  to  advance  it? 

V.  What  usually  hinders  it  ? 

It  closed  with  a  practical  application. 

There  was  at  this  time  a  small  Presbyterian  congregation  in  the 
city,  which  assembled  in  a  private  house  to  read  the  Scriptures,  and 
to  unite  in  prayer  and  praise.  At  what  period  they  commenced 
these  meetings  is  unknown.  Some  of  their  number  had  long  been 
residents  of  New  York.  The  names  preserved  by  Dr.  Miller,  are 
David  Jamison,  Esq.,  Capt.  John  Theobalds,  Mr.  John  Vanhorn, 
Mr.  William  Jackson,  and  Mr.  Anthony  Young. 

Jamison,*  having  been  classically  educated,  had  been  taken  up  as 
a  "sweet  singer"  in  company  with  Gib,  in  1681,  and  imprisoned. 
He  was,  by  leave  of  the  Council,  carried  off  by  Captain  Lock- 
hart,  "voluntarily,"  and,  being  offered  for  sale  in  New  York,  was 
bought  by  Mr.  Clark,  the  minister  in  the  fort,  and  permitted  to 
teach  school.  Entering  the  office  of  Mr.  Clarkson,  Secretary  of 
the  Province,  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of  law  and  was  admitted 
to  practice;   he  was  an  attorney  in  Lord  Bellamont's   time,  and 

*  Wodrow. — Albany  Documents. 


FRANCIS   MAKEMIE.  303 

afterwards  Clerk  of  the  Council,  Governor  f  letcher  was  his  bene- 
factor. Bj  his  zeal  in  religion,  art,  and  management,  he  rose  to 
eminence.  To  him  the  Church  of  England  owed  its  legal  establish- 
ment  in  the  province.  Governor  Hunter  describes  him  as  the 
greatest  man  he  ever  knew,  and  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Mompessom 
made  him  Chief-Justice  of  New  Jersey.  John  and  Garret  Van- 
horn  were  merchants  in  the  city  in  1705.* 

On  Tuesday,  Makemie  went  to  Newton,  L.L,  having  appointed 
to  preach  there  the  next  day.  He  was  arrested  by  Cornbury's 
order,  and  with  Hampton  was  carried  to  Jamaica  by  the  sheriff 
and  lodged  in  the  meeting-house.  In  the  evening  of  Thursday, 
being  brought  before  Cornbury,  he  demanded  "  How  dare  you  take 
it  upon  you  to  preach  in  my  government  without  my  license  ? 
None  shall  preach  in  my  government  without  it.  The  Act  of 
Toleration  does  not  extend  to  the  American  Plantations,  but 
only  to  England.  I  know  it  is  local  and  limited,  for  I  was  at  the 
making  of  it.  It  extends  to  New  York  only  by  her  Majesty's 
instructions  signified  unto  me,  and  is  from  her  prerogative  and 
clemency." 

Makemie  was  satisfied  that  "the  law  for  liberty"  had  no  limit- 
ing clause;  but  he  said,  "If  extended  to  the  plantations  by  the 
Queen's  clemency,  our  certificates  are  demonstration  that  we  have 
complied  therewith." 

Cornbury  said,  "The  certificates  are  only  for  Virginia  and 
Maryland.  The  law  was  made  against  strolling  preachers,  and 
you  are  such.  You  shall  not  spread  your  pernicious  doctrines 
here." 

Noble  was  the  reply  : — "  As  to  our  doctrines,  we  have  our  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  which  is  known  to  the  Christian  world;  and  I 
challenge  all  the  clergy  of  York  to  show  us  any  false  or  pernicious 
doctrines  therein ;  yea,  with  those  exceptions  specified  in  the  law, 
(the  articles  not  doctrinal,)  Ave  are  able  to  make  it  appear  that  they 
are,  in  all  doctrinal  articles  of  faith,  agreeable  to  the  established 
doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England." 

The  attorney-general  said,  the  certificates  were  written  under  a 
hedge.  Cornbury  caught  at  the  clerk's  omission  in  their  certificates 
to  state  that  they  had  signed  the  Articles  of  Religion,  and  at  his 
having  preached  in  a  private  house.  "You  must  give  bond  and 
security  for  your  good  behaviour,  and  also  bond  and  security  to 
preach  no  more  in  my  government." 

"  If  your  lordship  requires  it,  we  will  give  security  for  our  be- 
haviour ;  but  to  give  bond  and  security  to  preach  no  more  in  your 
excellency's  government,  if  invited  and  desired  by  any  people,  we 
neither  can  nor  dare  do." 

*  William  Jackson  and  John  Young  were  also  shipped  to  the  Plantations  by  the 
Council  from  Scotland. 


804  FRANCIS  MAKEMIE. 

"Then,"  said  Cornbury,  "you  must  go  to  gaol." 

While  he  was  writing  an  order  for  their  commitment,  Makemie 
oflFered  to  pay  the  attorney-general,  who  was  present,  for  a  copy 
of  that  paragraph  which  contained  the  limiting  clause  of  the  Toler- 
ation Act. 

Cornbury  said,  "You,  sir,  know  law?" 

Makemie  replied,  "I  do  not  pretend  to  know  law;  but  I  do 
pretend  to  know^is-law,  having  had  divers  disputes  thereon." 

The  mistake  made  in  his  name — Mackennan — in  the  first  order 
was  rectified,  and  they  were  carried  by  the  high-sheriff  of  the 
city  and  county  to  his  dwelling,  "to  be  safely  kept  till  further 
orders." 

Cornbury  disregarded  their  petition  to  state  for  what  they  were 
imprisoned ;  no  habeas  corpus  could  issue  till  Chief-Justice  Mom- 
pessom  came  from  New  Jersey.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Quarter 
Sessions,  they  applied  for  his  lordship's  leave  to  take  the  oaths  and 
be  qualified;  "for  we  are  resolved  to  reside  in  your  lordship's  go- 
vernment." He  refused ;  and  when,  by  their  attorney,  they  applied 
to  the  justices,  the  attorney-general  put  their  application  in  his 
pocket,  not  suffering  it  to  be  read.  The  justices  declined  to 
license  Jackson's  house  as  a  place  of  worship  for  Dissenters. 

The  habeas  was  issued  the  8th  day  of  March,  and  my  lord  issued 
a  new  order  of  commitment  in  due  form,  admitting  the  illegality 
of  the  other.  The  sheriff  refused  to  execute  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  till  they  had  paid  "twelve  pieces-of-eight"  for  their  com- 
mitment, and  as  many  more  for  the  execution  of  the  writ.  They 
now  gave  security,  Dr.  John  Johnstone,  of  the  Jerseys,  and  Wil- 
liam Jackson,  being  their  bail. 

The  Supreme  Court  met  on  Tuesday,  March  11,  and  they  were 
present;  but  the  attorney  moved,  and  it  was  ordered,  that  they 
appear  on  the  last  day  of  term.  While  the  grand  jury  were  con- 
sidering the  case,  Cornbury  ordered  Major  Sandford,  of  Newark, 
to  examine  Jasper  Crane,  of  Newark,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Melyen, 
of  Elizabethtown,  concerning  the  discourse  Makemie  had  with 
them.  The  grand  jury  examined  four  witnesses,  who  testified  that 
Makemie  preached  no  false  doctrine.  They  brought  in  on  the  last 
day  a  bill  charging  hhn  with  preaching  without  being  qualified  or 
permitted,  and  using  other  rites  and  ceremonies  than  those  of  the 
Common  Prayer.  The  trial  was  set  down  for  the  June  term ;  and 
Makemie,  on  his  own  bonds  and  those  previously  given,  was  allowed 
to  depart. 

The  Presbytery  met  on  Saturday,  March  22,  and  adjourned  till 
Tuesday  at  4  p.  M.  At  that  time  Makemie  and  Hampton  ap- 
peared ;  and  Makemie,  "by  way  of  ^exercise,"  and  Wilson,  "  by  way 
of  addition,"  preached  on  Hebrews  i.  1,  2.  The  discourses  were 
anproved. 

In  June,  he  returned  to  New  York  with  his  man,  and,  pleading 


FRANCIS    MAKEMIE.  305 

not  guilty,  the  petit  jury  was  called  on  the  6th.  Not  having  the 
right  of  peremptory  challenge,  he  objected  against  Elias  Neau, 
who  had  justified  Cornbury's  course.  Makemie  expressed  sur- 
prise at  such  language  from  a  Huguenot,  so  lately  dragooned  out 
of  France.  He  was  employed  as  a  catechist  by  the  Venerable 
Society:  "a  good  man,*  but  not  in  favour  with  the  rector,  Vesey." 
He  was  strongly  attached  to  the  Church;  "he  would  not  condemn 
the  Dissenters,  leaving  that  judgment  to  God;"  which,  considering 
how  much  the  Church  had  invaded  the  divine  prerogatives,  was 
remarkably  moderate.     Neau  was  set  aside. 

The  jury  being  impanelled,  Makemie  admitted  having  preached 
at  the  time  and  place  signified.  The  attorney-general,  Mr.  Bickley,"]' 
read  the  Queen's  instructions  to  the  governor: — "You  are  not  to 
permit  any  minister,  without  certificate  from  the  Bishop  of  London, 
to  preach  without  obtaining  your  leave."  The  attorney-general 
asserted  the  Queen's  supremacy  as  head  of  the  Church;  cited  the 
Act  of  Uniformity,  and  the  Queen's  instructions.  "I  doubt  not 
the  jury  will  find  for  the  Queen." 

Mr.  Regniere|  replied,  showing  that  the  preaching  was  not  pri- 
vate nor  unla-wful,  for  the  law  of  the  province  was,  that  all  per- 
sons professing  faith  in  God  by  Jesus  Christ  his  only  Son,  may 
freely  meet  at  convenient  places  and  worship  according  to  their 
respective  persuasions.  The  Act  of  Uniformity  does  not  extend 
to  New  England,  nor  to  this  province ;  we  have  no  more  need  of 
the  Toleration  Act  than  they. 

Mr.  William  Nicoll  made  merry  with  the  attorney-general's 
argument ;  he  asserted  the  constitutions  of  the  Plantations  to  have 
been  settled,  as  by  national  consent,  for  those  whose  thoughts  in 
religious  matters  could  not  square  with  the  national  establish- 
ment. 

Mr.  David  Jamison  said,  "  We  have  no  Established  Church  here ; 
we  have  liberty  of  conscience  by  act  of  Assembly  made  in  the  be- 
ginning of  William  and  Mary's  reign.  This  province  is  made  up 
chiefly  of  Dissenters  and  persons  not  of  English  birth." 

Makemie,  having  leave,  said,  "  He  agreed  with  what  the  attor- 
ney-general had  asserted  before  Lord  Cornbury, — that  the  penal 
statutes  and  the  Act  of  Toleration  were  local,  not  reaching  to  the 
Plantations.  He  showed  that  the  Queen's  instructions  related 
solely  to  ministers  of  the  Establishment.  Why  are  we  denied  what 
is  freely  given  to  Lutherans,  Quakers,  and  Jews  ?" 

The  attorney-general  moved  that  the  jury  be  directed  to  bring 
in  a  special  verdict,  and  the  chief-justice  directed  them  to  do  so. 


*  Albany  Documents ;    Hawkins  ;    Weiss's  French  Refugees, 
f  May  Bickley,  Esq.,  died   in  April,  1724.      "He  was  not  a  barrister-at-law." 
— New  York  Documents. 

J  A  son-in-law  of  Colonel  Markham,  Deputy-Governor  of  Pennsylvania. 

20 


306  FRANCIS   MAKEMIE. 

The  jury  in  a  sliort  time  returned,  bringing  in  a  verdict  of  not 
guilty.  This  was  the  more  remarkable,  for  the  governors  Avero 
careful,  when  appointing  sheriffs,  to  select  such  that  the  Church* 
''might  be  safe  as  to  the  juries;"  even  Governor  Hunter  claimed 
credit  for  having  displaced  gentlemen  from  the  Commission  of  the 
Peace,  on  Staten  Island,  because  they  were  not  as  friendly  to  the 
church  as  the  missionary  at  that  post  desired.  Four  of  the  jury 
were  Huguenots, — Bartholcmew  LaroiLx,  Andrew  Lauron,  Thomas 
^ayeux,  and  Charles  Cromline.  One,  William  Ilorsewell,  was  pro- 
bably a  Presbyterian,  named  Horsefield,  whose  descendant  was 
afterwards  an  elder. 

Mr.  Regniere  moved  that  the  defendant  be  discharged,  but  the 
chief-justicef  declined ;  the  next  day  his  discharge  was  ordered,  he 
paying  the  fees.  These  amounted  to  eighty-three  pounds.  The 
legislature  soon  after  denounced  the  inicpiity  of  requiring  a  man, 
proved  innocent,  to  pay  the  costs  of  an  unjust  prosecution. 

Makemie  preached  in  the  French  Church,  and  proceeded  to  New 
Jersey.  Cornbury  issued  new  processes  to  arrest  him  there,  as 
concerned  in  the  authorship  of  the  Jersey  paper  entitled  "  Forget 
and  Forgive."  A  whole  Sabbath  was  spent  in  vain  search  for  him, 
and  he  was  put  to  a  fresh  expense  of  twelve  pounds  to  escape  into 
Connecticut.  He  wrote  from  Boston  to  Cornbury,  July  28,  1707, 
that  the  authors  of  the  paper  smiled  at  hi.s  lordship's  mistake,  and 
that  he  waited  a  time  to  confront  his  sworn  accusers  in  court  and 
convict  them  of  perjury : — 

"My  universal  known  reputation  makes  me  easy  under  the  in- 
vidious imputation  of  being  a  Jesuit.  I  have  been  represented 
to  your  lordship  as  being  factious  both  in  Virginia  and  Maryland. 
I  have  lived  peaceably  in  Virginia ;  I  have  brought  from  Mary- 
land a  certificate  of  my  past  reputation,  signed  by  some  of  the 
best  men  in  Somerset  county." 

He  printed,  at  Boston,  the  sermon;}:  which  occasioned  his  impri- 
sonment, with  the  motto,  (Matthew  v.  11 ;  Acts  v.  29 :) — "  Preces  et 
lachrymai  sunt  arma  ecclesife."  It  is  dedicated  to  the  small  con- 
gregation Avhich  heard  it.  "  Had  I  been  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  New  York,  and  the  irregularities  thereof,  which  afterwards  I 
was  an  eye  and  ear  witness  of,  I  could  not  have  selected  a  more 
suitable  doctrine."  This  he  ascribes  to  Divine  Providence,  and 
hopes  it  may  be  an  inducement  to  awaken  sinners.  The  dedication 
is  dated  March  3,  1706-7. 


*  Governor  Hunter:  in  Albany  Documents. 

f  "  Mompessom  was  sent  over  as  chief-justice  to  Pennsylvania,  by  William  Penn, 
■with  high  commendations,  but,  receiving  no  encouragement,  went  to  New  York.'' — 
Janney's  Life  of  I'cnu.  Governor  Huuter  says,  "Ilis  poverty  exposed  him  to  temp- 
tations."— New  York  Documents. 

X  In  the  Library  of  Colonel  Force,  at  Washington. 


FRANCIS   MAKEMIE.  307 

Cornbury,  "that  noble  patron  of  the  Church  here,  '*  was  rebuked 
by  the  Rev.  Thorogood  Moor,  a  Church  minister,  for  debauchery 
and  swearing?  He  refused  to  administer  the  Lord's  Supper  to  a 
man  of  so  evil  a  life  as  Lieutenant-Governor  Ingoldsby.  Corn- 
bury  threw  him  into  prison :  he  escaped  on  ship-board,  and  was 
lost  on  his  voyage  to  England. 

Cornbury  was  displaced  soon  after.  Colonel  Quarry f  wrote,  June 
28, 1707, — "  Colonel  Morris  and  Jennings,  with  two  or  three  others, 
had  been  very  hard  at  work  in  hatching  the  most  scandalous  paper 
I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  It  was  false,  malicious,  unjust,  and  most  bar- 
barously rude ;  they  treated  his  excellency  most  inhumanly ;  they 
got  printed  a  scandalous  libel  and  dispersed  a  vast  number.  They 
had  got  an  Assembly  in  the  Jerseys  to  their  mind."  This  libel  was 
probably  the  Jersey  paper,  which  came  out  in  February,  while 
Makemie  was  in  durance,  and  which  so  exasperated  Cornbury. 

Dr.  Jolm  Johnstone,  of  the  Jerseys,  a  druggist  in  Edinlurgh, 
married  Eupham,  daughter  of  George  Scot,  of  Pitlochie,  and  ac- 
companied his  father-in-law  in  his  ill-fated  voyage  to  New  Jei'sey. 
His  sister,  with  her  husband,  Mr.  Hume,  dying  at  sea,  he  showed 
all  kindness  to  his  niece,  who  became  the  wife  of  William  Hoge. 
Dr.  Johnstone  resided  at  Amboy,  and  died  there,  September  6, 
1732,  aged  seventy-three.  His  son  Lewis  married  a  daughter  of 
Colonel  Heathcote,  of  Scarsdale  Manor;  and  his  son  Andrew 
married  Catharine  Van  Cortland. 

Makemie  published  "A  Narrative  of  a  New  and  Unusual  Ame- 
rican Imprisonment  of  two  Presbyterian  Ministers,  and  Prosecution 
of  Mr.  Francis  Makemie,  one  of  them  for  preaching  one  sermon 
in  the  city  of  New  York.  By  a  learner  of  Law  and  a  lover  of 
Liberty." 

This  tract  was  reprinted,  in  1755,  by  Hugh  Gaine  in  New  York, 
under  the  direction  of  Livingston,  Smith,  and  other  gentlemen, 
concerned  in  conducting  the  "Watch  Tower."  In  August,  1769, 
Dr.  Zubly,  of  Savannah,  sent  a  fragment  of  it  to  President  Stiles, 
as  likely  to  be  of  great  service  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  if  brought 
before  the  public. 

The  representations  made  to  the  British  Government  drew  from 
Cornbury  the  following  letterj  to  the  Right  Honourable  the  Lords 
Commissioners  for  Trades  and  Plantations  : — 

"My  Lords: — 

"  I  trouble  your  lordships  with  these  lines,  to  acquaint  you  that, 
on  the  17th  of  January,  1705—6,  a  man  of  this  town,  one  Jack- 


*'  *  Rev.  Dr.  Carmichael,  formerly  of  Hempstead,  Long  Island. 

f  Albany  Documents. 

X  Transcribed  for  me  from  the  Albany  Documents  by  Mr.  Joel  Munsell,  and 
printed,  with  my  consent,  in  Dr.  Foote's  Sketches  of  Virginia. 


808  FRANCIS    MAKEMIE. 

son,  came  to  acquaint  me  that  two  ministers  were  come  to  town, — 
one  from  Virginia  and  one  from  Maryland, — and  that  they  de- 
sired to  know  when  they  might  speak  with  me.  I,  being  willing 
to  show  what  civility  I  could  to  men  of  that  character,  ordered 
my  man  to  tell  Jackson,  they  should  be  welcome  to  come  and  time 
with  me.  They  came;  and  then  I  found,  by  the  answers  they 
gave  to  the  questions  I  asked  them,  that  one,  whose  name  is 
Francis  Mackensie,  is  a  Presbyterian  preacher  settled  in  A'^ir- 
ginia ;  the  other,  whose  name  is  John  Hampton,  a  young  Presby- 
terian minister,  lately  come  to  settle  in  Maryland.  They  dined 
with  me,  and  talked  of  indifferent  matters.  They  pretended  they 
were  going  towards  Boston.  They  did  not  say  one  syllable  to  me 
of  preaching  here,  ^or  did  not  ask  leave  to  do  it.  They  applied 
themselves  to  the  Dutch  minister  for  leave  to  preach  in  the  Dutch 
Church  in  this  town;  who  told  them  he  was  very  willing,  provided 
they  could  get  my  consent.  .They  never  came  to  me  for  it.  They 
went  likcAvise  to  the  elders  of  the  French  Church :  they  gave  them 
the  same  answer  the  Dutch  had.  All  this  while  they  never  ap- 
plied themselves  to  me  for  leave,  nor  did  they  offer  to  qualify 
themselves  as  the  law  directs.  But  on  the  Monday  following  I  was 
informed  that  Mackensie  had  preached  on  the  day  before  at  the 
house  of  one  Jackson,  a  shoemaker  in  this  town  ;  and  that  Hamp- 
ton had  preached  on  Long  Island;  and  that  Mackensie  was  gone 
over  thither,  with  intent  to  preach  in  all  the  towns  in  that  island, 
having  spread  a  report  thereto  that  they  had  a  commission  from 
the  Queen  to  preach  all  along  this  continent.  I  was  informed  on 
the  same  day  from  New  Jersey,  that  the  same  men  had  preached 
in  several  places  in  that  province,  and  had  ordained,  after  their 
manner,  some  young  men,  who  had  preached  without  it  among 
the  Dissenters ;  and  that,  when  asked  if  they  had  leave  from  the 
Government,  they  said  they  had  no  need  of  leave  from  any  go- 
vernor ;  that  they  had  the  Queen's  authority  for  what  they  did. 
These  reports,  and  the  information  I  had  from  Long  Island  of 
their  behaviour  there,  induced  me  to  send  an  order  to  the  sheriff 
of  Queen's  county  to  bring  them  to  this  place ;  which  he  did  on 
the  23d  day  of  January,  in  the  evening.  The  attorney-general 
was  with  me.  I  asked  Mackensie  how  he  came  to  preach  in  this 
government  without  acquainting  me  with  it,  and  without  qualify- 
ing himself  as  the  law  requires?  He  told  me  he  had  qualified 
himself  according  to  law  in  Virginia  ;  and  that,  having  done  so,  he 
would  preach  in  any  part  of  the  Queen's  dominions  where  he 
pleased ;  that  this  province  is  part  of  the  Queen's  dominions  as 
well  as  Virginia,  and  that  the  license  he  had  obtained  there  was 
as  good  as  any  he  could  obtain  here. 

"  I  told  him,  that  Virginia  was  part  of  the  Queen's  dominions 
as  well  as  this  province,  but  that  they  are  two  different  govern- 
ments, and  that  no  law  or  order  of  that  province  can  take  place 


FRANCIS    MAKEMIE.  309 

in  this,  any  more  than  any  order  or  law  of  this  province  can  take 
place  in  that ;  which  no  reasonable  man  would  imagine  could  be 
allowed.  He  told  me  he  understood  the  law  as  well  as  any  man, 
and  was  satisfied  he  had  not  offended  against  the  law;  that  the 
penal  laws  did  not  extend  to,  and  were  not  enforced  in,  America. 
To  which  the  attorney-general  replied,  that  if  the  penal  laws  did 
not  take  place  in  America,  neither  did  the  Act  of  Toleration ;  '  nor 
is  it  proper,'  said  he,  '  that  it  should,  since  the  latter  is  no  more 
than  a  suspension  of  the  former.'  Mackensie  said,  that  the  Queen 
granted  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  her  subjects  without  reserve. 
1  told  him  he  was  so  far  in  the  right;  that  the  Queen  Avas  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  grant  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  her  subjects 
except  Papists ;  that  he  might  be  a  Papist  for  all  I  knew,  under 
pretence  of  being  of  another  persuasion;  and  that,  therefore, 
it  was  necessary  that  he  should  have  satisfied  the  Government 
what  he  was,  before  he  ventured  to  preach.  He  said  he  would 
qualify  himself  in  any  manner  and  Avould  settle  in  this  province. 
1  told  him  that,  whenever  any  of  the  people  in  either  of  the  pro- 
vinces under  my  government  had  desired  leave  to  call  a  minister 
of  their  own  persuasion,  they  had  never  been  denied;  but  that  I 
should  be  very  cautious  how  I  allowed  a  man  so  prone  to  bid  defi- 
ance to  Government  as  I  found  he  was.  He  said,  he  had  done 
nothing  he  could  not  answer.  So  I  ordered  the  high-sheriff  of 
this  city  to  take  them  into  custody,  and  I  directed  the  attorney- 
general  to  proceed  against  them  as  the  law  directs ;  which  he  has 
done,  by  preferring  an  indictment  against  Mackensie  for  preach- 
ing in  this  city  without  qualifying  himself  as  the  Act  of  Toleration 
directs.  The  grand  jury  found  the  bill ;  but  the  petty  jury  ac- 
quitted him.  So  he  has  gone  towards  New  England,  uttering 
many  severe  threats  against  me.  As  I  hope  I  have  done  nothing 
in  this  matter  but  what  I  was  obliged  in  duty  to  do,  especially 
since  I  think  it  is  very  plain  by  the  Act  of  Toleration  it  was  not 
intended  to  tolerate  or  allow  strolling  preachers ;  but  only  those 
persons  who  dissent  from  the  Church  of  England  should  be  at 
liberty  to  serve  God  after  their  own  way  in  the  several  places  of 
their  abode,  without  being  liable  to  the  penalties  of  certain  laws. 
So  I  entreat  your  lordships'  protection  against  this  malicious  man, 
who  is  well  known  in  Vii'ginia  and  Maryland  to  be  a  disturber  of 
the  peace  and  quiet  of  all  the  places  he  comes  into.  He  is  Jack- 
of-all-trades ;  he  is  a  preacher,  a  doctor  of  physic,  a  merchant,  an 
attorney,  a  counsellor-at-law,  and,  which  is  worst  of  all,  a  dis- 
turber of  governments.  I  should  have  sent  your  lordships  this 
account  sooner,  but  I  was  willing  to  see  the  issue  of  the  trial. 
"  I  am,  my  lords, 

"Your  lordships'  most  faithful,  humble  servant, 

"  CORNBUllY. 
"  New  York,  October  14,  1706," 


310  SAMUEL    DAVIS. 

The  result  of  his  visit  to  Boston  is  not  kno\vn.  He  died  in  the 
summer  of  1708,  leaving  a  ■widow  and  two  daughters.  Elizabeth 
survived  him  less  than  a  year ;  and  his  widow  soon  followed  her  to 
the  grave.  Anne  married  Mr.  Holden,  of  Accomac,  and  died  in 
1787,  childless,  leaving  a  large  property.* 

Makemie  left  one  hundred  and  twenty  English  books  to  his 
fiimily;  his  law-books  to  Andrew  Hamilton,  Esq.,t  and  the  rest 
of  his  library  to  Andrews  and  his  successors  in  Philadelphia.  He 
left  four  lots,  with  the  buildings,  to  the  Presbyterian  congregation 
of  Rehoboth,  on  Pocomoke,  and  to  their  successors ;  but  "  to 
none  else  but  to  such  as  are  of  the  same  persuasion  in  matters  of 
religion." 

His  portrait  was  destroyed  in  the  burning  of  Dr.  Balch's  house ; 
but  his  course  of  life  portrays  a  man  of  learning,  energy,  talent, 
and  public  spirit.  -Dr.  Miller,  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Rodgers 
and  of  Pr.  Read,  of  Wilmington,  speaks  of  him  as  a  man  of  emi- 
nent piety  and  strong  intellectual  powers,  adding  to  force  of 
talents  a  fascinating  address,  conspicuous  for  his  natural  endow- 
ments and  his  dignity  and  faithfulness  as  a  minister  of  the 
gospel.  His  Catechism  has  escaped  the  researches  of  American 
collectors. 

He  had  two  brothers  in  county  Donegal  (Ireland)  alive  at  his 
decease.  Andrews  baptized  Elizabeth,  a  child  of  Francis  Ma- 
kemie, February  2,  1730.  It  was  he,  probably,  who  appeared  as 
a  commissioner  from  Warrington  before  Philadelphia  Presbytery 
in  May,  1739. 

In  the  Bishop  of  London's  palace,  at  Lambeth,  are  letters  from 
the  Episcopal  clergy  in  Maryland,  stating  that  many  fell  away 
from  them,  by  reason  of  the  Dissenters  in  Makemie's  day. 


SAMUEL  DAVIS. 


He  was  next  to  Makemie  in  point  of  years,  and,  like  him,  en- 
gaged in  trade.     He  was    residing   in    Delaware  in  July,  1692, 


*  "She  gave  by  lier  will  £100,  to  be  disposed  of  yearly,  for  the  support  of  a 
minister  bj'  the  Session  of  Pitt's  Creek,  Maryland ;  and  £50,  for  the  poor  of  that 
nei  ghbourhood. ' ' — S^ence. 

t  Was  this  Andrew  Hamilton  the  father  of  James  Hamilton,  Governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania? Andrew  w;;s  a  distinguished  lawyer  of  Phil.adelphia,  whose  argument 
in  behalf  of  Zenger  the  printer,  prosecuted  by  Governor  Cosby,  of  New  York,  was 
published  in  England  as  a  most  valuable  assertion  of  the  rights  of  persons  charged 
with  libel.  He  died  at  his  seat  at  Bush  Hill,  Philadelphia,  August  4,  1741,  at  an 
advanced  age. 


JOHN  WILSOX.  311 

when  George  Keith  visited  him.  At  the  formation  of  the  presby- 
tery he  was  prevented  by  business  from  performing  the  duties  of 
a  pastor ;  and,  on  the  failure  of  the  people  of  Lewes  to  obtain 
Mr.  Golden  from  Scotland,  he  continued  to  supply  them  as  much 
as  the  condition  and  posture  of  his  affairs  allowed.  In  1715, 
he  joined  with  them  in  their  request  to  presbytery  to  have  a 
minister  settled  over  them.  On  Hampton's  resignation  of  his  ,  S. 
charge,  he  removed  to  Snow  Hill,  and  preached  there  probably  till 
his  death,  in  the  summer  of  1725. 

He  was  present  in  presbytery  only  in  1709,  when  he  was  chosen 
moderator.  On  the  formation  of  the  synod,  he  Avas  appointed  a 
member  of  Snow  Hill  Presbytery.  Through  the  death  of  Henry, 
of  Rehoboth,  and  the  declining  health  of  Hampton,  it  was  not 
organized.  He  and  Plampton  were  not  afterwards  joined  to  any 
presbytery,  because  through  sickness,  business,  and  age,  they  could  "Y 
not  attend  at  so  great  distance  as  the  ordinary  places  at  which 
Newcastle  Presbytery  met. 

Spence,  though  residing  at  Snow  Hill,  seems   never  to  have 
heard  of  him  or  his  successor,  Hugh  Stevenson. 


JOHN  WILSON. 


One  of  the  correspondents  of  Increase  Mather,  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  mentions  the  arrival  of  a  Mr.  Wilson  in  Con- 
necticut, and  expresses  a  desire  that  so  acceptable  a  minister 
might  settle  in  the  colony.  Whether  this  person  was  the  one  who 
for  many  years  was  the  minister  of  Newcastle  is  unknown. 

Among  the  "Colonial  Documents"*  at  Harrisburg  is  one 
signed  by  John  Murray,  in  1686,  stating  that  William  Huston, 
by  his  last  Avill,  gave  three  hundred  acres  on  Christiana  Creek, 
four  or  five  miles  from  Newcastle,  to  John  Wilson  and  his  suc- 
cessor. He  asks  the  interposition  of  the  Government,  the  land 
being  withheld  by  Anthony  Howston. 

As  early  as  1702,  he  preached  in  the  court-housef  at  Newcastle, 
and,  not  being  contented,  removed.  He  returned  in  1703 ;  which 
dissatisfied  some,  and  made  them  anxious  for  the  services  of  a 
Churchman. 

He  had  no  pastoral  relation  to  that  congregation;  and  they 
were  very  anxious  to  secure  McNish,  and  gave  him  a  call.  The 
meeting-house  at  White  Clay  Creek  was  considered  as  a  chapel- 

*  Colonial  Documents,  edited  by  Samuel  Hazard,  Esq. 

f  Talbot,  iu  Protestant  Episcopal  Historical  Society's  Collections. 


X 


312  JEDEDIAH  ANDREWS. 

of-ea8e,  the  people  in  that  neighbourhood  being  regarded  as  part 
of  Newcastle  congregation. 

In  1708,  the  presbytery  directed  Wilson  to  preach  alternately 
on  the  Sabbath  at  Newcastle  and  White  Clay,  and  monthly  on  a 
week-day,  and  qirarterly  on  a  Sabbath,  at  Apoquinimy. 

In  1710,  he  was  succeeded  by  Anderson  at  Newcastle,  and 
y  probably  devoted  all  his  time  to  White  Clay  till  his  death,  in 
1712.  He  conducted  the  presbytery's  correspondence  with  divided 
or  uneasy  congregations,  with  Scotland,  and  with  Sir  Edmund  Har- 
rison in  London. 

His  widow  was  recommended  by  the  committee  for  the  fund, 
in  1719,  "  as  a  person  worthy  of  regard  as  to  her  present  circum- 
stances;" £4:  were  given  her;  and  a  discretionary  power  was 
lodged  with  Andrews  to  give,  if  necessity  required,  <£3  more.  She 
received  £5  yearly  till  1725. 


JEDEDIAH  ANDREWS, 

The  son  of  Captain  Thomas  Andrews,  was  born  at  Hingham, 
Massachusetts,  July  7,  1674,  and  baptized  by  the  Rev.  Peter  Ho- 
bart  five  days  after.  He  was  the  youngest  but  one  of  ten  chil- 
dren.    He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1695. 

The  disturbance  caused  by  Keith,  in  Philadelphia,  prepared  the 
way  for  the  commencement  of  religious  services  by  Baptists,  Pres- 
byterians, and  Churchmen.  There  were  nine  Baptists,  and  a  few 
Independents,  in  the  town.  After  the  "  Barbadoes  Company"' 
gave  up  their  store,  the  building  was  used  by  the  two  denomina- 
tions in  common  whenever  the  service  of  a  minister  could  be  pro- 
cured. 

The  Rev.  John  Watts,  of  the  Baptist  Church*  in  Pennepek, 
began,  (on  the  second  Sunday  in  December,  1697,)  by  request,  to 
officiate  at  regular  intervals.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Clayton,  a  Church 
minister,  entered  into  an  amicable  correspondence  with  him,  to 
effect  a  union  with  the  national  Establishment.  In  1698,  in  the 
summer,  Andrews  came  to  Philadelphia ;  and  Watts  and  his 
friends,  feeling  uneasy  at  what  seemed  to  them  coldness,  wrote  to 
him,  proposing  that  each  congregation  should  unite  in  worship, 
whenever  conducted  by  ministers  of  either  body,  acknowledged  to 
be  sound  in  the  faith  and  of  good  repute : — 


*    Morgan  Edwards's    History  of    Peunsylvania  Baptists.      There  were    nine 
Baptists  in  the  town. 


JEDEDIAH   ANDREWS.  313 

"  We  do  freely  confess  and  promise  for  ourselves  that  we  can 
and  do  own  and  allow  of  your  approved  ministers,  who  are  fully 
qualified  and  sound  in  the  faith  and  of  holy  lives,  to  pray  and 
preach  in  our  assemblies." 

This  letter,  dated  30th  of  Eighth  month,  1698,  was  addressed 
to  Andrews,  John  Green,  Joshua  Story,  and  Samuel  Richards. 

Andrews*  replied  : — 

"To  the  church  of  Christ,  over  which  3Tr.  John  Watts  is  pastor, 
tve,  whose  names  are  under-written,  do  send  salutation  in  the 
name  of  our  Lord  Jesus : — 

"  Brethren  and  Well-beloved  : — 

"  Forasmuch  as  some  of  you,  in  the  name  of  the  rest,  have  in  a 
friendly  manner  sent  us  your  desire  of  uniting  and  communing  in 
the  things  of  God,  as  far  as  we  agree  in  judgment,  that  we  may 
lovingly  go  together  heavenward,  we  do  gladly  and  gratefully 
receive  your  proposal,  and  return  you  thanks  for  the  same ;  and 
bless  God  who  hath  put  it  in  your  minds  to  endeavour  after  peace 
and  concord,  earnestly  desiring  that  your  request  may  have  a 
good  eifect,  which  may  be  for  the  edification  of  us  all,  that  we 
may  the  more  freely  perform  mutual  offices  of  '  love  one  towards 
another'  for  our  furtherance  in  Christianity.  But  that  we  may  do 
what  we  do  safely,  and  for  our  more  effectual  carrying  on  our  fore- 
mentioned  desire,  we  have  thought  it  might  be  profitable  for  us  all, 
and  more  conducive  to  our  future  love  and  unity,  that  we  might 
have  some  friendly  conference  concerning  those  affairs  before  Ave 
give  you  a  direct  answer  to  your  proposition,  which  we  have  confi- 
dence you  will  not  deny.  And  in  pursuance  hereof  we  do  request 
that  some  of  you  (who  you  think  best)  may  meet  with  us,  or  some 
of  us,  at  a  time  and  place  which  you  shall  appoint,  that  what  we 
agree  upon  may  be  done  in  order. 

"  Subscribed,  in  the  name  of  the  rest,  Philadelphia,  November  3, 
1698.  Jedediah  Andrews. 

"John  Green,!  Samuel  Richards, 

David  Giffing,  Herbert  Corry, 

John  Van  Lear,  Daniel  Green." 

It  was  agreed  to  meet  at  the  common  meeting-house  on  the 

*  Printed  in  Edwards's  History. 

I  In  the  ofiSce  of  the  Register  of  Wills,  Philadelj^hia,  are  recorded  the  testa- 
ments of — 

Daniel  Green,  October  22,  1699. 

John  Green,  cordwainer,  October  4,  1711. 

David  Giffing,  bricklayer,  1716. 

John  Van  Lear,  April  16,  1722, 
I  do  not  find  the  names  of  Richards  or  Corry. 


814  JEDEDIAH  ANDREWS. 

19tli  of  November.  Three  of  the  Baptists  went  from  Pennepek 
to  town,  (Philadelphia,)  and  sent  to  Andrews's  lodgings,  which 
•^^'ere  near.  But  he  said,  "  he  knew  it  not  to  be  the  day,  but  took 
it  to  be  the  second  day  after."  The  Baptists  waited  for  him  and 
his  friends  till  sunset.  Watts  went  home,  satisfied  that  the  Pres- 
byterians had  not  acted  "  in  sincerity,  how  godly  soever  their 
words  may  be."  He,  therefore,  wrote  to  Andrews  the  same 
day:— 

"  Necessity  constrains  us  to  meet  apart  from  you  till  we  can 
receive  an  answer,  and  are  assured  you  can  own  us,  so  as  we  do 
you.  We  remain  the  same  as  before,  and  stand  by  Avhat  we  have 
w^'itten.  No  more  at  present ;  but  prayers  for  you,  and  dearest 
love  to  you  in  Christ  Jesus." 

This  conduct  of  the  Presbyterians  surely  needs  no  such  heavy 
censure  as  Edwards  bestows,  calling  it  "  a  dispossession  unkind 
and  rightlcss."  The  Baptists  withdrew  to  the  brew-house  of 
Anthony  Morris,  "  near  the  draw-bridge."  Andrews  soon  after 
wrote  to  Thomas  Revell  at  Burlington: — "  Though  we  have  got 
the  Anabaptists  out  of  the  house,  yet  our  continuance  there  is 
uncertain ;  therefore  must  think  of  building,  notwithstanding  our 
poverty  and  the  smallness  of  our  number."  He  was  probably 
ordained  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  fall  of  1701 ;  for  his  "  llecord 
of  Baptisms   and    Marriages"  begins,  1701,  Tenth  month,  14th 

Talbot,*  Church  missionary  at  Burlington,  writing  to  the 
*' Venerable  Society,"  April  24,  1702,  says,— "The  Presbyte- 
rians here  come  a  great  way  to  lay  hands  on  one  another ;  but, 
after  all,  I  think  they  had  as  good  stay  at  home  for  all  the  good 
they  do In  Philadelphia,  one  pretends  to  be  a  Presbyte- 
rian, and  has  a  congregation,  to  which  he  preaches." 

In  1704,  they  left  the  "  Barbadoes  Store,"  to  worship  in  the 
church  they  had  erected  in  Buttonwood  [now  Market]  Street. 
Fjve  adults  were  baptized  in  1705  and  four  in  1706. 

He  enters  the  baptism  of  his  children  thus: — 

"  1707,  Seventh  month,  21. — Mary,  daughter  of  Jedediah  An- 
drews and  Helena  his  wife. 

"  1700,  Third  month,  28. — Ephraim,  their  son,  (born  January  28, 
1708-9,)  baptized  by  Mr.  Hampton." 

The  church  is  said  to  have  been  of  the  Congregational  order ;  but 
it  was  represented  by  elders  in  presbytery  from  the  first.  An- 
drews was  punctual  in  his  attendance  on  every  meeting ;  being 
accompanied  by  Joseph  Yardf  for  eight  years,  in  1716,  by  David 

*  Hawkins's  Missions  of  English  Church. 

f  Joseph  Yard,  bricklayer,  made  his  will  in  May  16,  1716.  .John  Snowdon.  a 
tanner,  was  the  father  of  Jedediah  Snowden,  an  early  trustee  of  the  Second  (.'liuich, 
and  the  ancestor  of  Isaac  (father  of  Gilbert)  Tenueut,  Samuel  Finley,  and  iS'atha- 


JEDEDIAH   ANDREWS.  315 

Giffing  for  six  successive  years,  and  frequently  after  by  John 
Snowden,  occasionally  from  1723  by  John  Budd,  and  regularly 
from  1732  to  1746  by  William  Gray. 

In  1711,  when  Christ  Church  could  not  be  used,  the  Presbyte- 
rians oflfered  the  use  of  their  church  to  the  vestry.  They  declined 
it,  preferring  the  Swede  Church  at  Wecaco. 

In  1714,  £10  were  allowed  to  Philadelphia  out  of  the  money 
sent  by  Mr.  Reynolds  of  London,  to  "  the  support  of  God's  woi'k 
in  these  parts." 

The  presbytery,  in  1707,  "for  propagating  the  interest  of  reli- 
gion," directed  each  minister  in  his  congregation  to  read  and  com- 
ment on  a  chapter  of  the  Bible  every  Lord's  day,  as  discretion  and 
circumstances  of  time  and  place  will  admit.  All  the  ministers  but 
Andrews  complied  ;  and  in  1708  it  was  recommended  to  him  to  take 
into  serious  consideration  the  reading  a  chapter  and  making  a  com- 
ment on  the  same.  His  backwardness  to  read  a  chapter  in  public 
worship  strongly  illustrates  his  tenacity  of  New  England  habits. 
The  exposition  of  the  Scripture  was  to  the  other  members  of  pres- 
bytery a  most  important  service  of  the  sanctuary ;  in  it  they  de- 
lighted, and  perhaps  excelled.  The  repugnance  of  the  New  Eng- 
land divines  to  it  was  as  uniform  as  it  was  unaccountable.  When 
the  new  church  was  reared  in  Boston  for  Dr.  Colmau,  ancient  men 
stood  aghast  at  the  report  that  a  chapter  was  to  be  read  from  the 
Bible  morning  and  afternoon ;  they  apprehended  it  to  be  a  premo- 
nitory symptom  of  the  Liturgical  mania.  The  entries*  in  Chief 
Justice  Sewell's  diary  are  curiously  illustrative.  In  1713,  Dr. 
Colman  bewailed,  in  one  of  his  sermons,  the  prevailing  neglect  of 
the  Scriptures  in  public  worship.  It  is  unlikely  that  Andrews  ever 
conformed  to  the  good  old  Presbyterian  custom  of  expounding 
God's  word. 

But  he  needed  no  urgency  to  comply  with  the  suggestion  to  sup- 
ply the  destitute.  His  record  of  baptisms  is  proof  of  his  journey- 
ings  to  Hopewell,  Bensalem,  Gloster,  Salem,  Burlington,  Piles- 
grove,  Rocky  Hill,  Amboy,  and  Staten  Island. 

He  was  Recording  Clerk  of  the  presbytery  and  of  the  synod 
till  his  death,  conducted  most  of  their  correspondence,  and  was 
relied  on  as  signally  gifted  and  successful  in  terminating  happily 
the  disputes  which,  wedge-like,  had  been  driven  to  the  head  in  con- 
gregations and  among  individuals. 

It  is  a  serious  loss  that  so  few  of  his  letters  to  Cotton  Mather 
and  Dr.  Colman   are  preserved.      Tradition  says  that  the  Inde- 

niel  Snowden,  ministers  in  our  church.     John  Budd  was  an  agent  of  the  Proprie- 
taries for  the  sale  of  land  in  New  Jersey.     William  Gray  was  a  baker,  and  executor 
of  Ins  pastor's  estate,  together  with  Peter  Chevalier.     Gray  preserved  the  Register 
of  IJ:iptisms  and  Marriages,  and  placed  it  iu  the  hands  of  Edward  Shippen,  Esq. 
■\  American  Quarterly  Register. 


316  JEDEDIAH   ANDREWS. 

pendent  mode  was  laid  aside  by  him  in  1720  ; — a  strange  time  to 
do  it,  when  the  congregation  were  seeking  aid  from  Boston  to  en- 
large their  house.  Nothing  of  the  kind  is  hinted  at  in  liis  letter 
to  Colman  in  1729,  asking  advice  about  his  duty  in  relation  to  the 
Adopting  Act.  "As  to  affairs  here,  we  are  engaged  in  the  en- 
largement of  our  house,  and,  by  the  assistance  we  had  from  Boston, 
I  hope  we  shall  go  on  comfortably  with  that  work." 

Writing  to  the  Rev.  Thomas  Prince,  14th  of  Eighth  month,  1730, 
"  I  am  continually  longing  to  come  and  see  my  mother  once  more 
before  she  dies ;  but,  the  journey  being  long  and  multiplicity  of 
business  continually  taking  me  up,  I  am  doubtful  whether  I  shall 
get  liberty  to  answer  my  desires."  She  died,  Oct.  23,  1732,  aged 
ninety-nine, — to  the  last,  pretty  quick  to  hear  and  see, — leaving 
two  sons  and  two  daughters. 

In  September,  1733,  he  asked  the  synod  "  that  an  assistant  be 
allowed  unto  him  in  the  ministry."  The  request  was  unanimously 
granted,  "  if,  first,  sufficient  provision  be  made  for  his  honourable 
maintenance  during  his  life  among  them."  This,  after  long  discourse, 
and  after  conference  with  some  gentlemen  of  his  congregation,  was 
modified  so  as  to  allow  the  congreo-ation  to  call  an  assistant.  Those 
■who  desired  an  assistant  were  directed  not  to  diminish  but  rather 
increase  their  subscriptions  to  Andrews,  because  the  present  sub- 
scription was  but  scanty;  that  none  of  the  present  subscription  be 
alienated  from  him,  but  that  all  care  be  taken  to  get  new  ones  for 
him  ;  and  that  he  have  all  the  monthly  collections.  In  the  follow- 
ing May,  the  presbytery  acceded  to  his  request,  and  gave  him 
leave  to  remove  if  he  saw  fit.  In  the  autumn,  Hemphill  came  to 
this  country,  was  received  as  a  member  of  synod,  and  took  up  his 
abode  in  Philadelphia  until  he  should  obtain  a  settlement.  An- 
drews invited  him  to  occupy  his  pulpit  a  part  of  each  Sabbath,  but 
soon  regretted  it ;  for  "  freethinkers,*  deists,  and  nothings,''  flocked 
to  hear  him,  while  the  better  part  of  the  congregation  stayed  away. 
Andrews  attended  regularly  during  the  winter,  and  felt  himself 
bound  "to  article  against  him  ;"  and  the  commission  tried  Hemphill 
and  suspended  him.  Andrews  tells  Colman  that  he  had  never  suf- 
fered so  much  as  during  this  period,  and  that  his  mind  was  made  up 
to  leave  his  charge,  although  "  the  better  sort"  desired  to  keep  him. 

The  congregation  could  not  agree  on  an  assistant ;  but  one  part 
supplicated  the  synod  for  Dickinson,  and  another  for  Robert 
Cross.  But  while  the  matter  was  in  debate,  the  friends  of  the  lat- 
ter asked  to  be  erected  into  a  new  congregation,  capable  to  call  a 
minister  for  themselves.  Their  request  was  granted  by  a  large 
majority,  with  the  understanding  that  they  are  not  obliged  to  form 
a  distinct  society,  but  may  do  so  if  they  see  fit. 

*  MS.  Letter  in  Am.  Antiq.  Soc.  Lib. 


JEDEDIAH    ANDREWS.  317 

The  commission  met  in  June,  1736,  the  endeavours  for  a  re- 
union of  the  congregation  having  been  unsuccessful ;  they  per- 
suaded the  friends  of  Cross  to  make  a  further  effort,  and  Andrews 
heartily  approved  of  the  design  ;  but  his  friends  would  not  consent. 
The  now  erection  had  supplies  till  1737,  when  Robert  Cross  ac- 
cepted their  call ;  then  the  two  congregations  united,  and  were 
allowed  ,£50  out  of  tlie  synod's  funds  to  buy  a  burying-ground. 

Andrews  remained  with  the  Old  Side  on  the  division.  In  1744,  he 
wrote  to  Colman  that  Tennent  was  much  more  moderate  and  left 
him  alone. 

At  the  close  of  a  long,  active,  useful,  and  honourable  life,  a 
rumour  was  spread  that  Andrews  had  suddenly  fallen  by  a  disgrace- 
ful act.  He  was  put  on  trial ;  and  his  own  hands  recorded  his 
statement  of  the  matter, — his  denial  of  drunkenness,  criminal  in- 
tent or  act,  and  his  confession  of  imprudence  and  foolish  tamper- 
ing with  evil.  He  deplores  the  shame  brought  on  the  ministry,  by 
a  levity  so  unbecoming  his  advanced  life.  No  testimony  appears 
to  have  been  adduced ;  and  he  closes  his  labours  as  clerk  of  pres- 
bytery by  recording  that  the  sentence  of  suspension  was  passed  on 
him.  In  a  few  months  he  was  restored,  and  very  soon  after  ended 
his  days.  He  made  his  will  July  31, 1742,  being  in  declining  health ; 
it  was  proved  May  25,  1747.  He  left  his  property  to  his  widow 
during  her  life ;  and,  in  case  his  only  son  should  die  without  issue,  all 
should  go  to  John,  in  Boston,  son  of  his  brother  Benjamin.  His 
library  consisted  of  363  volumes, — 58  folios,  78  quartos,  45  octavos. 

Franklin,*  in  his  Memoirs,  says  that  he  regularly  paid  his  sub- 
scription for  the  support  of  the  only  Presbyterian  minister  or  meet- 
ing we  had.  "  He  used  to  visit  me  sometimes  as  a  friend,  and 
admonish  me  to  attend  his  ministrations ;  I  was  now  and  then 
prevailed  on  to  do  so  ;  once  for  five  Sundays  successively.  Had  he 
been,  in  my  opinion,  a  good  preacher,  perhaps  I  might  have  con- 
tinued, notwithstanding  the  occasion  I  had  for  the  Sunday's  lei- 
sure in  my  course  of  study ;  but  his  discourses  were  chiefly  either 
polemic  arguments,  or  explications  of  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  our 
sect,  and  were  all  to  me  very  dry,  uninteresting,  and  unedifying, 
since  not  a  single  moral  principle  was  inculcated  or  enforced ; 
their  aim  seeming  to  be  rather  to  make  us  Presbyterians  than  good 
citizens.  At  length  he  took  for  his  text,  Phil.  iv.  8 : — '  Finally, 
brethren,  whatsoever  things  are  true,  honest,  just,  pure,  lovely,  or 
of  good  report,  if  there  be  any  virtue  or  any  praise,  think  on  these 

*  Memoirs.  An  epigram  in  Bradford's  Weekly  Mercuiy,  June  12,  1729,  repreT 
sents  one  -whose  eyes  had  been  drawn  from  the  preacher  at  Christ  Church,  to  the 
ladle,  going  in  the  afternoon  to  the  Presbyterian  meeting:  — 

"  Now  will  I  guard  against  my  morning's  fall ; 
Eyes,  by  your  leave,  now  ears  shall  have  it  all. 
This  said,  1  closed  them,  and  in  posture  sate 
Like  devotee,  to  hear  and  meditate  : 
But  now  'twas  worse  ;uid  worse;  the  priest  did  creep 
So  dull  and  slowly  that  1  tell  asleep." 


318  GEORGE   McNISH. 

things.'  I  imagined,  in  a  sermon  on  such  a  text,  we  could  not  miss 
of  having  some  morality.  He  confined  himself  to  five  points  only,  as 
meant  by  the  apostle : — Keeping  holy  the  Sabbath  day.  Being  dili- 
gent in  reading  the  Scriptures,  Attending  duly  the  public  worship, 
Partaking  of  the  sacraments,  and  Paying  due  respect  to  God's 
ministers.  These  all  might  be  good  things ;  but,  as  they  Avere  not 
the  kind  of  good  things  I  expected  from  that  text,  I  despaired  of 
ever  meeting  with  them  from  any  other,  was  disgusted,  and  attended 
his  preaching  no  more.  On  Hemphill's  defeat,  (in  1735,)  I  quitted 
the  congregation,  never  attending  it  further,  though  continuing  my 
subscription  many  years  for  the  support  of  its  ministers." 


NATHANIEL   TAYLOR 


"Was  probably  ordained  in  Scotland  in  1702  or  '3,  and  came  imme- 
diately to  Marlborough,  on  the  Patuxent.  The  settlement  was  made 
in  IGUOj  by  Col.  Ninian  Beall,  who  purchased  a  large  tract  on  the 
Potomac  and  drew  thither  his  friends  and  neighbours  from  Fifeshire. 

The  mouth  of  Patuxent  was  a  great  commercial  emporium ; — 
There  George  Fox  and  Edmundson  anchored  in  1651 ;  and  there 
Chalkley  and  Richardson,  who  followed  them  as  Public  Friends, 
left  the  ship. 

Taylor  was  a  punctual  attendant  on  every  meeting  of  presbytery 
till  his  death  in  1710.  His  elder  in  1707  was  William  Smith  ;  and, 
in  1708  and  '09,  James  Bell  (Beall  ?) 

Mr.  Foot,  of  Port  Penn,  supposes  him  to  have  been  related  to  the 
Taylors,*  who,  as  early  as  1683,  settled  at  Drawyers.  He  may  have 
T  been  a  brother  of  Elias  Taylor,  who  married  Makemie's  sister-in- 
law.  Comfort  Anderson. 


GEORGE   McNISH 

Came  to  Maryland  with  Makemie  and  Hampton  in  1705.  Dr. 
Reid  says  that  he  was  from  Ulster ;  but  Mr.  Poyer,t  of  Jamaica, 
calls  him  a  North  Briton.  He  preached  at  Monokin  and  "Wico- 
mico; but,  being  poorly  supported,  he  declined  their  call  in  1710. 
The  presbytery  left  it  to  himself  to  determine  the  affair  between 

*  Historical  Discourse  at  Drawyers.  f  Albany  Documents. 


GEORGE   McNISII.  319 

Jamaica  and  Patuxent,  but  advised  him  not  to  delay  fixing  him- 
self somewhere. 

Makemie  states  that  there  was,  at  the  time  of  his  trial,  a  Dis- 
senting minister  at  Jamaica  by  a  "  during-pleasure  license"  from 
Cornbury.*  The  chiefs  of  the  sect  petitioned  Lord  Lovelace  on 
his  assuming  the  chair  of  State;  but  his  untimely  death  occurred 
before  it  was  answered.  "  No  sooner  was  his  Majesty  pleased  to 
remove  Col.  Ingoldsby,  he  having  administered  the  government 
from  the  death  of  Lovelace  in  1709,  but  the  very  next  day  (April  11, 
1710)  the  more  violent  of  that  sect  took  possession  of  the  church, 
and  detained  it  against  the  justice.  He  committed  them.  They 
were  released  on  bail,  fined  three  shillings  each,  and  the  fines  were 
remitted." 

On  Governor  Hunter's  arrival,  "the  two  great  patrons  of  the 
sect"  waited  on  him,  and,  in  the  presence  of  Colonel  Morris,  dis- 
cussed the  Ministry  Act  of  1693 ;  but  he  gave  them  no  encourage- 
ment. He,  however,  removed  some  who  were  in  the  Commission 
of  the  Peace,  and  substituted,  unintentionally,  some  who  were  not 
Churchmen.  This  drew  on  him  the  anger  of  the  clergy,  who  sent 
many  strong  representations  against  him  to  the  crown.  To  answer 
them,  he  sent  minute  specifications  of  his  zeal,  energy,  and  libe- 
rality in  behalf  of  the  English  Church  in  New  York  and  the 
Jerseys. 

The  Presbyterians,  on  the  day  the  Church  missionary  was  ex- 
pected in  town,  entered  the  parsonage  and  dispossessed  Mr.  Urqu- 
hart's  widow,  with  her  connivance ;  for  her  daughter  by  her  first 
husband  was  married  to  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Woolsey,  an  Inde- 
pendent, at  that  time  a  student  of  theology.  She  was  soon  admitted 
as  a  tenant  of  the  congregation.  In  the  spring  of  1710,  the 
churchwardens  and  vestry,  being  all  Independents,  called  "one 
Mr.  George  McNish,  an  itinerant  Dissenting  minister;"  but,  at 
the  governor's  order,  Mr.  Poyer  was  inducted,  by  Mr.  Sharp, 
chaplain  of  the  forces.  Hunter  advised  Poyer  to  sue  for  the 
parsonage  and  his  stipend,  promising  the  use  of  his  purse,  and 
offering  to  bear  the  whole  expense  of  the  suit.  The  clergy  in  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware,  advised  to  the 
contrary,  and  joined  in  a  complaint  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  got 
up  with  all  secrecy,  against  the  governor,  for  having  "lately  ad- 
vanced judges  who  were  professed  implacable  enemies  of  the 
Church,  in  the  room  of  men  of  character,  who  were  actually  doing 
justice  to  the  Church;"  and  also  for  not  having  "written  to  the 
judges  to  enforce  them  in  their  duty."  The  governor  had  con- 
sulted with  Chief- Justice  Mompessom,  who  said  that  any  attempt 
to  put  Poyer  in  possession  of  the  parsonage,  without  due  course  of 

*  Letters  to  the  Venerable  Society :  quoted  by  Macdonald  in  History  of  Ja- 
maica. 


820  GEORGE    McNISn. 

law,  would  be  a  high  crime  and  inisdemcanour.  He  wrote  in  his 
defence  to  the  Venerable  Society ;  and  his  statements  were  fully 
sustained  by  Lewis  Morris,  Esq.,  Colonel  Heathcote,  and  Mr. 
Sharp,  the  chaplain.  Mr.  Vesey,  of  New  York,  and  Mr.  Hen- 
derson, of  Dover,  Delaware,  were  chiefly  zealous  in  getting  up  this 
petition,  Poyer  being  a  weak  man  and  used  as  a  tool  by  Vesey. 
The  petition  of  the  clergy  prevailed ;  and  her  Majesty,  in  council, 
granted  them  leave  to  appeal  in  any  suit,  without  limitation  of 
8um,  to  the  governor  and  council  of  the  province.  The  petition 
was  resented  by  Hunter  and  his  friends ;  and  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don wrote.  May  12,  1712,  to  Poyer: — 

"I  must  now  entreat  you  for  the  future  to  have  a  care  of  foolish 
and  unwary  advisers.  Pray,  therefore,  think  your  governors  to 
be  wiser  than  yourself;  and,  if  you  miscarry  under  that  conduct, 
you  will  come  off  with  reputation,  for  I  must  tell  you  that  your 
application  over  into  England  has  done  you  and  your  brethren  no 
great  service.     Be  wiser,  therefore,  for  the  time  to  come. 

"The  clergy,"  says  Morris,  "are  a  gigg  (agog)  to  be  meddling 
with  politics, — an  inclination  I  wish  our  missionaries  had  less  of." 
"All  the  Assembly  which  passed  the  Act  of  1693  were  Dissenters, 
except  the  speaker,  (James  Grahame,  a  relative  of  the  Marquis  of 
Montrose.)  They  knew  nothing  of  the  Church,  and  intended  to  raise 
a  maintenance  for  a  Dissenting  minister.  The  act,  without  wrest- 
ing, will  admit  a  construction  in  favour  of  Dissenters. 

"  There  is  no  comparison  of  our  numbers  anywhere  but  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  I  believe,  at  this  day,  the  Church  had  been  in 
a  much  better  condition,  had  there  been  no  act  in  her  favour ;  for 
in  the  Jerseys  and  Pennsylvania,  where  there  is  none,  there  are 
four  times  the  number  of  Churchmen  there  are  in  New  York,  and 
most  of  them  are  so  upon  principle ;  whereas  nine  parts  in  ten  of 
ours  will  add  no  great  credit  to  whatever  church  they  are  of.  Yet 
the  poor  man  Poyer  and  his  friends,  are  weak  enough  to  think 
their  superiors  in  England  will  enter  into  measures  to  displace  the 
governor,  for  not  dragooning  in  their  favour,  as  his  predecessor 
did." 

The  church  was  wrested  from  the  Presbyterians;  but  McNish, 
on  accepting  the  call,  was  put  by  the  town  in  possession  of  the 
parsonage  and  glebe,  and  the  stipend  fixed  by  the  Act  of  1693  was 
raised  and  paid  to  him. 

Poyer  complained,  in  ITIS,  that  the  governor  had  appointed 
one  Baird,  a  North  Briton  and  a  Dissenter,  high-sheriff;  and  he, 
though  ordered  by  the  justices,  refused  to  thrust  out  the  tenant 
whom  the  town  had  placed  in  the  parsonage. 

The  Venerable  Society  obtained  from  the  Dissenting  ministers, 
Robinson  and  Reynolds,  the  letter  of  Cotton  Mather  in  relation  to 
Jamaica;  and,  having  seen  the  statements  on  both  sides,  agreed  to 
pay  Poyer's  expenses  in  an  ejectment  suit  and  in  an  action  for  the 


GEORGE   McNISH.  321 

Stipend.  He  commenced  suit  in  1716,  and  recovered  of  the  church- 
wardens £16  lis.  Sd.,  and  "proceeded  to*  such  lengths  that  several 
of  the  principal  inhabitants  were  harassed  with  severe  persecutions, 
heavy  fines,  and  long  imprisonment ;  others  fled  out  of  the  pro- 
vince, to  avoid  the  rage  of  Episcopal  cruelty."  Their  steadfastness 
was  stigmatized  as  obstinacy;  and  "they  are  encouragedf  in  it  by 
their  ministei*,  a  very  designing  man,  who  persuades  them  to  Avhat 
he  will."  The  Venerable  Society  were  gravely  informed  that  the 
miller  refused  to  grind  Foyer's  grain,  saying  he  might  eat  it  whole, 
as  the  hogs  did;  and  the  society,  in  consideration  of  his  many 
hardships,  sent  him  a  gown,  a  cassock,  and  ten  pounds. 

Before  McNish  came,  the  people  had  unanimously,  at  their  own 
expense,  built  a  meeting-house.    In  this  he  preached  during  his  life. 

Governor  Hunter  sent  to  the  clergy  in  the  province,  copies  of 
the  72d  article  of  the  Queen's  instructions,  requiring  the  vestry  of 
each  parish  to  admit  the  minister  as  a  member  of  their  body,  and 
to  transact  no  business  without  his  presence.  In  January,  1713, 
Poyer  met  with  the  vestry  and  produced  the  instructions.  McNish 
was  with  them ;  and  they  refused  to  do  any  business  till  Poyer  re- 
tired.    This  was  duly  represented  to  the  governor  and  the  society. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  Reynolds,  of  London, |  wrote  to  Cotton 
Mather,  June  9,  1715,  "I  must  now  acquaint  you  that  Mr. 
McNish  has  not  been  forgotten  by  me,  who  have  endeavoured, 
upon  all  occasions,  to  solicit  the  concern  of  the  foreign  plantations, 
and  have  stirred  up  my  brethren  to  counteract  the  designs  of  the 
missionaries.  Endeavours  have  been  used  and  much  time  spent 
for  this  purpose.  The  society  proceeds,  and  is  not  without  hopes 
of  gaining  bishops  to  be  sent  into  his  Majesty's  plantations."  He 
urges  that  an  agent  be  sent  over;  "and  that  if  Mr.  McNish  or 
any  other  can  send  any  thing  which  may  aiford  matter  of  further 
remonstrance  to  the  society,  we  pray  he  will  do  it  with  all  expe- 
dition, and  with  authentic  testimonials." 

In  the  fall  of  1718,  there  was  "a  prospect  of  his  going  to 
Britain  on  important  business;"  but  he  did  not  go. 

Pumry,  of  Newtown,  having  joined  the  presbytery,  and  the  con- 
gregation of  Southampton  having  come  under  its  care,  it  was,  on 
the  erection  of  the  synod,  earnestly  recommended  to  McNish  and 
Pumry  to  use  their  best  endeavours,  with  their  neighbouring 
brethren,  to  form  a  presbytery.  In  this  they  were  successful; 
and,  with  the  Rev.  George  Phillips,  of  Setauket,  they  constituted 
the  Presbytery  of  Long  Island,  and  probably  held  their  first  meet- 
ing April  17,  1717,  and  ordained  Gelston. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  he  had  a  grant  of  one  thousand  acres 


C 


*  Rev.  Dr.  Elihu  Spender:  quoted  by  Macdonald. 

f  Mr.  Poyer  to  the  Veaerable  Society.  J  Mather  MSS.  Am.  Antiq.  Soc. 

21 


822  JOHN   HAMPTON. 

from  the  King  on  the  Wallkill  in  Orange  county.  Eager  mentions 
him  among  the  land-owners  in  1721. 

He  died  March  10, 1722,  leaving  one  son,  who  married*  a  daugh- 
ter of  Joseph  Smith,  of  Jamaica,  and  removed  to  New  Jersey,  where 
he  was  educated  and  licensed ;  and  whether  ever  ordained  is  not 
ascertained.  He  resided  in  Orange  county,  New  York,  and,  in 
1738,  married  Mary  Fitch.  He  died  at  Wallkill,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-five,  in  1779.  His  descendants  remain  there,  Hef  preached 
at  Newtown,  Long  Island,  between  1744  and  '46. 

McNish  gave  reasons  in  1716  for  the  absence  of  his  elder.  He 
■was  attended  at  synod  in  1717,  by  John  Rhodes,  and  in  1720  by 
Daniel  Smith. 


JOHN  HAMPTON. 


Whether  he  w^as  a  native  of  Scotland  or  Ireland  is  unknown. 
Lord  Cornbury  speaks  of  him  as  "a  young  Presbyterian  minister 
lately  come  to  settle  in  Maryland."  He  made  application  to  Somer- 
set Court  to  be  qualified,  in  Jan.  1706 ;  the  matter  was  referred  to 
the  governor,  and  he  went  northward  with  Makemie,  and,  having 
preached  at  Newtown  on  Sabbath  in  "  a  meeting-house  ofiered  to 
record,"  was  arrested  with  Makemie  and  carried  before  Cornbury. 
He  remained  silent  until  the  governor  began  to  make  out  an  order 
for  his  commitment,  when  he  demanded  a  license  to  preach,  accord- 
ing to  the  Toleration  Act.  Cornbury  refused,  and  sent  him  to 
prison. 

He  was  not  indicted,  the  attorney-general  having  dropped  his 
name  when  the  matter  was  laid  before  the  grand  jury. 

He  was  called  to  Snowhill  in  March,  1707,  the  salary  to  be  paid 
in  tobacco.     He  was  "inaugurated"  by  McNish. 

He  was  long  in  feeble  health,  and  visited  his  native  country  in 
1717  for  his  recovery ;  and  the  synod,  in  the  following  fall,  accepted 
his  demission  of  the  pastoral  care  of  his  people,  because  he  could 
not  perform  his  duty  to  them  "without  apparent  hazard  of  his  life 
through  bodily  indisposition." 

He  made  his  will];  October  28,  1719,  and  died  before  February, 
1721.  His  widow  (probably  his  second  wife)  survived  him  and  her 
two  previous  husbands,  Colonel  Francis  Jenkins  and  Rev.  John 
Henry,  and  died  in  1744. 

He  also  served  Pitt's  Creek ;  and  the  united  congregations  were 

*  Macdonald.  f  Riker's  History  of  Newtown.  J  Spence. 


JOHX   BOYD — JOSEPH    SMITH.  323 

represented  m  1709  by  William  Fosset ;  in  1710,  by  Benjamin  Aid- 
lett,*  (Aydelotte;)  in  1711,  by  Adam  Spence;  in  1714,  by  Samuel 
Hopkins;  in  1715,  by  Nathaniel  Hopkins;  and  in  1718,  by  Ed- 
mund Cropper. 


JOHN  BOYD, 


A  NATIVE  of  Scotland,  came  as  a  probationer,  probably  at  tbe 
solicitation  of  liis  countrymen,  who,  fleeing  from  persecution,  settled 
in  Monmouth  between  1680  and  '90.  Wodrow  is  said  to  have  cor- 
responded with  the  Scots  in  Jersey. 

He  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  December 
29,  1706,  at  the  public  meeting-house,  before  a  numerous  assem- 
bly. He  had  no  call,  but  laboured  at  Freehold  and  Middletown. 
The  country  around  Upper  Freehold  was,  at  that  time,  a  wilderness 
full  of  savages,  t 

The  people  of  Freehold  wrote  to  the  presbytery,  about  the  settle- 
ment of  Mr.  Boyd,  in  May,  1708,  and  the  presbytery  requested 
them  to  consent  to  his  preaching  every  thii'd  Sabbath  at  Wood- 
bridge.  He  died  in  1708,  and  his  tomb  remains  to  this  day,  while 
Makemie  and  the  other  ministers,  most  of  them,  lie  in  unknown 
graves. 


JOSEPH   SMITH. 


In  Connecticut,  the  ancient  barriers  of  Independency  were  swept 
away  as  by  an  ice-freshet.  The  legislature  called  synods  to  ad- 
judicate ;  but  every  step  only  led  further  from  the  rigid  mode  of 
separating  the  world  from  all  participation  in  the  government  and 

*  The  Aydelotte  family  are  still  members  of  our  church  at  Pitt's  Creek.  Adam 
Spence,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Snowhill,  came  from  Scotland  during  the 
persecution  ;  the  late  Irving  Spence  was  his  descendant,  to  whom  we  owe  much,  for 
Jhis^gathering  many  interesting  materials  of  our  early  history.  Nathaniel  Hopkins 
stands  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  elders,  indicating  his  rank  in  society.     Edmund  i^ 

Cropper  is  mentioned  as  attending  Newcastle  Presbytery. 

f  Morgan  Edwards's  History  of  New  Jersey.  Colonel  Morris  says  that  Keith 
made  the  first  settlement  in  Freehold ;  he  preached  several  times  when  a  missionary 
at  ToDonemus,  in  Freehold.  The  congregation  was  probably  represented  by  John 
Gray,*  in  1708. 


324  JOSEPH   SMITH. 

privileges  of  the  church,  and  their  children  from  the  sacrament  of 
baptism.  A  pacification  was  agreed  on ;  but  the  Lord's  Supper  was 
not  celebrated  for  a  long  time  in  Hartford,  and  it  Avas  esteemed  an 
offence  that  the  aggrieved  brethren  sought  a  dismission  to  another 
church.  It  was  grievous  to  the  ruling  powers  that  those  who  could 
not  walk  with  the  church  of  Hartford  were  treated  as  brethren  in 
good  standing  by  the  church  of  Wcthersfield.  This  led  to  the  pur- 
chase of  a  large  tract  on  the  Connecticut,  in  Massachusetts,  and  to 
the  unanimous  engagement  of  the  proprietors,  in  the  spring  of  10.59, 
to  remove  thither  with  their  families.  Besides  a  larger  number 
from  Hartford,  the  minister  of  Wethersfield,  Mr.  llussell,  with 
twelve  heads  of  families,  removed.  Among  them  were  Samuel 
Smith,  and  Philip  his  son,  both  men  of  good  estate.  Philip  mar- 
ried Rebecca,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Foote,  one  of  the  early  set- 
tlers of  Wethersfield.  "  He*  was  largely  employed  in  the  affairs  of 
the  town,  a  lieutenant  of  the  troop,  and,  which  crowns  all,  a  man 
for  devotion,  sanctity,  and  all  that  was  honourable,  exceeding  ex- 
emplary. Labouring  under  ischiatick  pains,  he  seemed  ripening 
apace  for  another  world,  filled  with  grace  and  joy  to  a  high  degree. 
Such  was  his  weariness  of,  and  his  weanedness  from  this  world,  that 
he  kncAV  not  whether  he  might  pray  for  his  continuance  here. 
Such  assurance  had  he  of  the  love  of  God,  that  he  would  cry  out, 
in  raptures,  '  Lord,  stay  thy  hand ;  it  is  enough !  it  is  more  than 
thy  frail  servant  can  bear !'  Such  a  man  was,  in  the  winter  of  the 
year  1684,  murdered,  with  a  hideous  witchcraft,  that  filled  all  those 
parts  of  New  England  with  astonishment." 

Joseph,  son  of  Philip  Smith,  was  born  at  Hadley,  in  1674,  and 
graduated  at  Harvard,  in  1695.  About  two  years  after,  he  married 
Esther,  daughter  of  Cornet  Joseph  Parsons,  one  of  the  first  settlers 
of  Springfield.  He  preached  for  a  time  at  Brookfield,  Massachu- 
setts, and  came  early  in  1708  to  Cohanzy,  in  West  Jersey,  at  the 
instance  of  his  college  classmate,  Andrews,  who  said  they  were 
"the  best  people  in  this  neighbourhood." 

The  settlement  on  Cohanzy  was  made  from  Fairfield  county, 
Connecticut,  and  they  named  their  new  homes  Fairfield  and  Green- 
wich, after  the  towns  from  which  they  came.  It  is  said  the  church 
was  formed  in  1700,  and  supplied  by  Mr.  Black,  The  Rev.  Thomas 
Bridge  preached  at  Cohanzy  in  1702  or  '03,  and  was  called  from 
there  to  be  colleague  to  Mr.  Bradstreet,  in  the  First  Church  in 
Boston.  He  came  to  Boston  in  1682, f  with  testimonials  from  John 
Owen,  Matthew  Mead,  and  six  other  divines ;  he  soon  after  settled 
at  Port  Royal,  in  Jamaica,  and  then  in  New  Providence  and  Ber- 
muda.    He  died  in  Boston,  September  16,  1715,  aged  fifty-eight. 

*  Quoted  from  Mather's  Magnalia,  in  the  genealogy  of  the  Foote  family,  by  my 
honoured  and  indefatigable  fiiend,  N.  Goodwin,  Esq.,  of  Hartford. 

•j-  MSS.  in  Massachusetts  Historical  Society:  Funeral  Sermon  of  Mr.  Bridge. 


JOHN    HENRY.  325 

Smith  was  ordained  and  installed  at  Cohanzy  in  1708 ;  but,  com- 
plaining of  the  negligence  in  making  up  his  support,  he  left,  and 
returned  to  New  England.  The  presbytery  ordered  him  to  go  to 
Hopewell  and  Maidenhead  and  confer  with  them  on  such  matters 
as  may  be  propounded  to  him  by  them,  concerning  his  being  called 
to  be  their  minister. 

He  preached  for  a  short  time  at  Greenwich,  Connecticut,  and 
about  1713  was  called  to  the  Second  Society,  in  Middletown,  Con- 
necticut, (commonly  known  as  Upper  Houses,)  then  newly  formed ; 
and  was  installed  January  5,  1715,  and  died  there  September  8, 
1736,  aged  sixty-two.  His  widow  survived  him  twenty-five  years, 
and  died  May  30,  1760,  in  her  eighty-ninth  year. 

He  left  a  son,  Joseph,  and  two  daughters,  Mary,  the  wife  of 
Rev.  Samuel  Tudor,  of  East  Windsor,  and  Martha,  the  wife  of 
Richard  Hamlin,  of  Middletown. 


JOHN  HENRY 


Was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  Dublin,  and  came  to  Mary- 
land in  1709,  having  been  invited,  on  the  death  of  Makemie,  to 
be  his  successor.  He  was  admitted  a  member  of  presbytery  in 
1710,  having  given  good  satisfaction  by  testimonials.  Mr.  Pierce 
Bray  presented  a  call  for  him  "  from  the  good  people  of  Reho- 
both;"  and  Hampton  and  Davis  preached  at  his  "admission." 

"He*  stood  high  as  a  citizen  and  a  divine.  He  left  a  strongly- 
bound  octavo  volume  of  manuscript,  entitled  'Commonplace,'  of 
from  three  hundred  to  five  hundred  pages.  It  Avas  a  mass  of  reli- 
gious instruction,  enforcing  the  prominent  doctrines  of  the  West- 
minster Confession  in  their  length  and  breadth,  and  urging  the 
performance  of  every  Christian  duty.  It  was  made  up  with  great 
care,  and  was  more  legible  than  many  printed  volumes. 

"  He  married  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  King,  the  agent 
of  Maryland  in  1690,  and  the  widow  of  Colonel  Francis  Jenkins, f 
who,  with  herself,  was  the  executor  of  Makemie's  will,  and  who 
died  childless.  Henry  left  two  sons,  both  men  of  distinction, — • 
Robert  Jenkins  Henry  being  Judge  of  the  Provincial  Court  in 
1754,  and  residing  in  Somerset,  Colonel  John  Henry  sitting  in 
the  House  of  Delegates  for  Worcester   county.     One  of  his  de- 


*  Spence's  Early  History. 

f  Colonel  Jenkins  was  President  of  tlie  Council  in  1708,  being  then  very  old.    He 
died  before  1710. 


328  JAMES    ANDERSON. 

scenJants  was  Govern. )r  of  Maryland,  and  was  educated  under 
Samuel  Finley,  at  I>Jottin^luim. 

"His  will  ia  dated  October  15,  1715;  he  died  before  September, 
1717." 

The  elder  from  Rehoboth,  in  1710,  was  Pierce  Bray ;  in  1718, 
John  Dridden,  (Dryden,)  whose  descendants  still  reside  there. 


JAMES  ANDERSON 

Was*  born  in  Scotland,  November  17,  1G78,  and  was  ordained 
by  Irvine  Presbytery,  November  17, 1708,  with  a  view  to  his  settle- 
ment in  Virginia.f  He  sailed  March  6,  1709,  and  arrived  in  the 
Rappahannock,  April  22 ;  but,  the  state  of  things  not  warranting  his 
stay,  he  came  northward,  and  was  received  by  the  presbytery,  Sep- 
tember 20.     He  settled  at  Newcastle. 

He  was  directed  to  write,  in  conjunction  with  "VVilson,  to  the 
Synod  of  Glasgow ;  and  the  application  was  answered  by  sending 
hither  Wotherspoon  and  Gillespie. 

In  1714,  out  of  regard  to  the  desolate  condition  of  the  people  in 
Kent  county,  he  was  directed  to  supply  them  monthly  on  a  Sab- 
bath, and  also  to  spend  a  Sabbath  at  Cedar  Creek,  in  Sussex. 

An  effort  seems  to  have  been  made,  after  the  acquittal  of  Ma- 
kemie,  to  have  the  city  of  New  York  supplied  with  a  minister  of 
our  church.  Vesey|  wrote  to  a  friend  December  2,  \709,  "that 
the  Dissenting  preacher  is  likely  to  gain  no  ground."  ~His  stay 
was  brief;  but  the  people  kept  together,  and  met  for  worship,  with 
few  interruptions,  and  with  a  gradual  increase  of  numbers,  till 
1716,  Avhen  they  took  measures  to  form  a  regular  congregation, 
tl'he  next  year  found  them  strong  enough  to  undertake  the  support 
of  a  minister,  being  doubtless  encouraged  by  promises  from  the  mi- 
nisters of  Glasgow.  They  presented§  tlieir  call  for  Anderson,  by  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Thomas  Smith  and  Mr.  Gilbert  Livingston,  to  New- 
castle Presbytery  during  the  first  meeting  of  synod.  They  con- 
sidered the  matter,  and.  having  heard  Anderson's  reasons  for  re- 
moval, referred  it  to  the  synod :  a  large  committee  was  appointed 
to  meet  at  Newcastle  and  ''audit"  the  objections  of  his  people  and 
fully  determine  the  afi'air.  The  commissioners  attended  the  com- 
mittee, and  Anderson  was  allowed  to  accept  the  call. 

Public  worship  was  held  in  the  City  Hall.     The  original  friends 


*  Miller's  Life  of  Rodgers.  f  Anderson  to  Principal  Stirling,  of  Gbit^gow. 

J  Albany  Documents.  ^  MS.  Records  of  Newcastle  Presbytery. 


JAMES   ANDERSON.  827 

of  Presbyterianism  seem  all  to  have  passed  away.  Prominent 
among  their  successors  were  Patrick  Mai^knight,  Dr.  John  Nicoll, 
Gilbert  Livingston,  Thomas  Smith,  William  Smith,  and  William 
Livingston. 

The  bold,  free,  handsome  signature  of  P.  Macknight,  at  the 
head  of  the  representatives,  indicates  his  position  as  a  merchant 
and  a  man  of  property.  He  was  from  the  North  of  Ireland. 
Dr.  Nicoll  was  a  graduate  of  Edinburgh  University, — a  physician 
of  eminence;  he  died  October  2,  1743,  aged  sixty-four.  Gilbert 
Livingston  was  the  youngest  son  of  Robert  Livingston,  son  of  the 
venerable  minister  of  Ancrum, — and  was  the  grandfather  of  Dr. 
Gilbert  R.  Livingston,  of  Philadelphia.  William  Livingston  was 
the  nephew  of  Robert,  and  father  of  the  Governor  of  New  Jersey. 
Thomas  Smith  was  from  England :  he  lived  to  an  advanced  age. 
\^''illiam  Smith  was  a  native  of  Newport-Pagnel,  in  England,  and 
caliiie-to  New  York  in  1715  in  the  same  ship  with  James  Alexander, 
who,  like  Smith,  became  distinguished  as  a  lawyer  and  an  opponent 
of  an  arbitrary  executive.  He  was  afterwards  a  judge,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  King's  Council. 

In  1718,  Dr.  Nicoll,  Macknight,  Gilbert  Livingston,  and  Thomas 
Smith  purchased  a  lot  on  Wall  Street,  near  Broadway,  and,  in 
the  following  yeai-,  built  a  church.  Besides  the  donations  in  the 
city,  the  Legislature  of  Connecticut  directed  a  collection  to  be 
taken  up  throughout  the  colony  for  their  benefit. 

Cotton  Mather*  wrote  to  Dr.  Nicoll  (January  20,  1719-20)  the 
following  letter  "  to  be  communicated:" — 

"  Brethren  : — 

"  We  are  very  sensibly  touched  with  grief  at  the  information 
you  give  us  of  the  strange  dilficulties  under  which  your  evan- 
gelical affairs  are  labouring.  But,  since  it  is  from  you  only  we 
have  been  informed  of  them,  this  gives  us  a  little  hope  they  may 
not  grow  to  the  extremity  you  may  be  afraid  of.  The  opposition 
your  work  suffers  from  the  great  adversary  is  but  an  argument 
that  it  is  a  work  of  God ;  and  if  you  keep  looking  up  to  Him,  who 
is  infinitely  stronger  than  he  that  is  in  the  world,  you  may  soon 
see  all  the  opposition  happily  conquered.  But  it  would  be  a  wis- 
dom in  the  opposers  to  consider  seriously  who  and  what  they  may 
be  acting  for.  As  for  us,  we  have  never  yet  had  any  disadvanta- 
geous representations  of  worthy  Mr.  Anderson  made  to  us ;  nor  shall 
we  receive  any  thing  to  his  disadvantage  without  first  giving  him 
and  you  an  opportunity  of  vindication.     May  the  glorious  Lord, 


*  Mather  j\ISS.  American  Antiquarian  Society.  Wodrow  -wrote  to  Mather, 
January  28,  1713,  "  I  presume  to  give  my  kindest  regards  to  Mr.  James  Ander- 
son, my  old  acquaintance."  He  desires  to  hear  of  the  condition  of  our  brethren 
in  Penui^ylvauia  and  Maryland,  and  thereabouts. —  Wodrow  Correspondeiice. 


328  JAMES   ANDERSON. 

who  Icnows  the  services  and  patience  of  his  ministers,  be  near  lu3 
faithful  minister, — a  God  of  patience  first  and  then  of  consohition. 
It  has  been  a  trouble  to  us  that  we  have  been  able  to  do  so  little 
among  our  people  for  your  assistance  in  your  laudable  design  of 
erecting  an  edifice  for  the  worship  of  God." 

Macknight  and  Nicoll,  with  Joseph  Blake,  John  Leddel,  and 
Thomas  Inglis,  representatives  of  the  congregation,  wrote  (May  9, 
1720)  a  letter*  of  thanks  to  the  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor, 
Members  of  Council,  and  llepresentatives  of  the  General  Court 
of  Connecticut.  A  twelvemonth  before,  they  had  applied  to  their 
honours,  "  for  a  bri^f  for  a  general  and  voluntary  contribution  for 
assisting  in  building  our  house  of  Avorship,  which,  being  begun,  we 
could  not  finish  without  the  charitable  aid  of  others ;  which  was 
cheerfully  and  readily  granted.  Now,  with  rejoicing,  we  crave 
leave  to  acquaint  this  assembly  that,  by  the  assistance  we  ex- 
perienced from  Connecticut,  we  were  not  only  encouraged  to  go 
on  with  our  begun  building, — which  otherwise  was  like  to  drop 
and  go  to  ruin, — but  were  able  also  to  get  it  under  roof,  so  that 
now  with  joy  we  enjoy  the  ordinances  dispensed  to  us  therein. 
We  heartily  thank  you  for  your  opportune,  free,  and  voluntary 
liberal  aid  to  a  small  despised  handful,  which,  we  hope,  designs 
nothing  else  but  the  honour  of  the  glorious  Lord  and  the  eternal 
good  of  their  souls  and  their  children's."  The  sum  raised  in  Con- 
necticut was  less  than  they  expected, — "  the  charity  of  some 
having  been  cooled  by  false  and  malicious  reports  dispersed 
through  the  colony.  However,  we  do  not  blame  anybody  but 
'  the  accuser  of  the  brethren,'  who  hath  indeed  all  along  opposed 
the  good  work  with  the  utmost  malice.  But  this  does  not  in  the 
least  discourage  us,  but  rather  demonstrates  to  us  that  the  work 
is  God's,  who,  as  he  has  brought  it  this  length,  will  undoubtedly 
finish  it  in  opposition  to  Satan  and  all  his  instigations." 

The  congregationf  petitioned  the  King's  Council  (March  4, 
1719-20)  to  incorporate,  by  letters-patent  under  the  great  seal 
of  the  province,  the  ministers,  elders,  and  deacons  of  the  Presby- 
terian congregation  in  the  city  of  New  York.  They  style  them- 
selves Scots,  from  North  Britain,  and  state,  that  they  have 
erected  a  house  for  the  worship  of  God  after  the  manner  of  the 
Presbyterian  church.  They  urge  their  request  on  the  ground  of 
the  great  inconvenience  of  vesting  the  title  to  their  property  in 
certain  individuals,  which  they  must  do  until  incorporated.  This 
application  was  signed  by  Anderson  and  the  five  representatives. 
The  president  of  the  council  was  Peter  Schuyler;  the  members, 
A.  Depeyster,  Rip  Van  Dam,  John  Barberie,  Thomas  Byerly,  and 

*  MSS.  in  Secretary  of  State's  Office,  Hartford. 

+  Case  of  the  Scots  Presbyterian  Cougrcgatiou  in  New  York. 


JAMES    ANDERSON.  329 

John  Johnston.  The  vestry  of  Trinity  Church  appeared  by  coun- 
sel to  oppose,  and  the  re({uest  Avas  refused. 

On  the  lUth  of  September,  they  renewed  their  petition, — Go- 
vernor Burnet*  being  come  to  the  province  and  appearing  friendly. 
With  him  there  was  a  discrepancy  between  appearance  and  inten- 
tion. He  was  for  the  Church,  right  or  Avrong,  by  fair  means  or 
foul :  he  rent  the  French  congregation  by  his  illegal  interference, 
and  deceived  the  Presbyterians  by  much  fair  speech. 

The  council  were,  A.  D.  Philipse,  George  Clarke,  Robert  Wal- 
ter, Caleb  Heathcote,  and  John  Byerly, — probably  all  Church- 
men. Counsel  was  heard  on  both  sides ;  and  the  council  declined 
to  act,  because  no  instance  had  occurred  of  granting  corporate 
privileges  to  a  body  of  Dissenters. 

Their  petition,  dated  May  10,  1724,  was  transmitted  to  the 
"Lords  of  Trade;"  and  the  Attorney-General  for  Ireland,  Rich- 
ard West,  gave  his  opinion  that,  in  the  general  and  abstract  view 
of  the  thing,  there  was  nothing  in  the  request  unreasonable  or 
improper. 

On  the  16th  of  May,  1730,  the  church  was  completed,  being 
eighty  feet  long  by  sixty  feet  wide. 

"xhe  Synod  of  Glasgow  and  Ayr,  in  1719,  invested  a  collection 
in  goods,  and  sent  them  to  New  York.  The  Synod  of  Phila- 
delphia gave  a  tenth  of  the  nett  produce  to  aid  in  the  support  of 
Anderson,  and  sent  to  their  Scottish  friends  "  hearty  thanks  for 
their  kindness  to  the  interest  of  religion  in  these  wilderness 
parte." 

,  .The  letters  to  Boston  and  Connecticut  had  referred  to  malicious 
reports,  widely  dispersed,  against  Anderson,  and  which  had  cooled 
the  charity  of  some  towards  the  infant  church.  Gilbert  Living- 
ston and  Thomas  Smith  were  much  dissatisfied,  and  complained  to 
the  synod  of  the  Presbytery  of  Long  Island  in  regard  to  the 
settlement  of  Anderson.  The  synod  heard  their  representations, 
and,  by  a  large  majority,  decided  that  the  proceedings  were  regu- 
lar. The  two  gentlemen  also  complained  of  two  sermons  of  An- 
derson's ;  they  were  read,  and  approved  as  orthodox  and  godly  in 
substance,  though  the  terms  in  some  passages  were  not  so  mild 
and  soft  as  they  could  have  wished.  Dr.  Nicoll  was  present  in 
synod  as  an  elder;  Andrews  and  Dickinson  wrote  to  Livingston 
and  Smith ;  Jones,  Gillespie,  and  Evans  wrote  to  the  congi'e- 
gation. 

These  gentlemenf  petitioned  the  council  not  to  grant  corporate 
privileges  to  the  congregation,  as  this  would  confirm  the  property 


*  The  "Address  of  the  Presbyterian  Ministers  of  New  York  and  Long  Island" 
to  him  in  October,  1720,  contains  a  high  compliment  to  his  father's  memory,  the 
historian. — Bradford's  Weekly  Mercury. 
"  ■•)■  Documentai-y  History  oif  New  York,  thii-d  volvune. 


830  JAMES   ANDERSON. 

to  Anderson  and  tliose  who  adhered  to  him.  They  asked  that 
they  might  be  released  from  the  bonds  which  they,  jointly  Avith 
Macknij^ht  and  Nicoll,  had  given  for  the  land  and  the  building, 
as  Macknight  was  about  to  go  to  Europe,  and  they  had  experience 
enough  of  Nicoll's  instability  and  other  faults. 

The  matter  was  not  healed.  The  source  of  the  difficulty  is 
■wholly  to  be  guessed  at.     Andrews  calls  it  "  a  squabble."* 

The  trustees  of  New  Haven  College  sent  missionaries,  at  the 
request  of  Smith,  to  erect  a  new  congregation.  The  synod  (in 
1721)  approved  of  the  action  of  Long  Island  Presbytery;  but, 
having  received  a  letter  from  the  trustees,  desiring  the  synod  to 
send  some  of  their  number  to  confer  with  them  on  the  interest  of 
religion  in  general  and  the  unhappy  difference  in  New  York,  the 
synod  directed  the  presbytery  to  meet  with  them.  The  conference 
was  held  at  Stamford,  in  October,  but  was  fruitless.  The  synod 
approved  of  the  presbytery's  management  of  the  affair. f 

Jonathan  Edwards,^  barely  nineteen,  preached  to  Smith  and 
his  friends  from  August,  1722,  till  April  2(3.  He  loved  to  re- 
member the  pleasant  days  spent  there,  and  his  delight  in  the  so- 
ciety of  the  pious  Madam  Smith  and  her  son, — probably  the  llev. 
John  Smith,  of  liye. 

The  separation  terminated  on  Edwards's  departure. 

In  the  "Antiquarian  Library"  at  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  is 
a  letter  from  Rebecca  Nicoll,  to  Cotton  Mather,  (May  23,  1723,) 
representing  that  the  whole  difficulty  lies  with  Smith,  and  Grant 
and  his  son,  and  intimating  that  they  were  unreasonable.  They 
"  had  a  meeting  by  themselves ;  but  most  of  Grant's  family  went 
to  the  English  church."  Mr.  Grant  reports,  "  that  the  Boston 
ministers  engage  £60  yearly  to  aid  the  separate  meeting.  We 
have  a  faithful  pastor,  as  all  who  know  Mr.  Anderson  acknow- 
ledge him  to  be.  It  is  a  shame  to  send  aid  to  humour  a  part  of 
two  families.  Madam  Smith  has  a  letter,  confirming  the  report 
of  aid.     Ten  of  the  people  are   very  scandalous.     Mr.  Jephson 


*  The  narrative  given  in  the  preface  to  the  Records  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Con- 
gregation was  drawn  up  twenty  years  after  by  AVilliam  Smitli,  who  takes  no  notice 
of  this  oricrinal  difficulty  between  "  the  undertal^ers,"  but  refers  solely  to  the  sub- 
sequent ditiiculty  between  Dr.  Nicoll  and  the  minister,  and  presents  the  view  taken 
of  the  matter  by  Dr.  Nicoll.  Dr.  Rodgcrs  has  added  a  marginal  note,  that  Ander- 
son was  a  graceful,  popular  preacher,  and  a  worthy  man. 

•j-  Mm-gan  to  :Mather,  October  31,  1722  :— "  Our  synod  have  justified  all  that  the 
Long  Island  Presbytery  have  done  in  the  affair  of  New  York.  I  only  stood  up  and 
dissented ;  more  would,  Init  have  been  mistrusted  to  have  had  a  hand  in  setting  up 
the  separate  n\eeting ;  but  all  knew  that  I  was  against  that  being  set  up,  for  I  look 
upon  it  as  a  very  hurtful  thing." — American  Antiquarian  Society. 

\  Immediately  on  being  licensed,  in  consequence  of  an  application  from  a  num- 
ber of  ministers,  who  were  intrusted  to  act  in  behalf  of  the  Presbyterians  of  New 
Yoik,  he  went  thither.  "I  liad,"  Edwards  says,  "  abundance  of  sweet  religious 
conversation  in  the  family  (if  Mailam  .Smith."  After  leaving,  "  sometimes  1  felt 
my  heart  ready  to  sink  with  the  thoughts  of  my  friends  iu  New  York," 


JAMES    ANDERSON'.  331 

and  his  family  have  returned  to  us.     Her  excuse  for  writing  was, 
'having  been  one  of  your  flock.'  " 

Dr.  Nicoll  took  a  voyage  to  ScotLand,  and  engaged  the  General 
Assembly  to  assist  them ;  and,  by  their  order,  a  large  collection 
was  taken  up. 

New  troubles  were  in  store  for  Anderson ;  the  representatives 
and  elders  complaining  of  Dr.  Nicoll  to  the  presbytery  and  synod. 
Without  consulting  the  representatives,  (trustees,)  he  had  applied 
to  the  payment  of  the  church  debt,  the  money  sent  from  Great 
Britain,  and  refused  to  cancel  or  deliver  up  the  bonds  paid  with 
the  public  money.  He  disregarded  the  presbytery,  would  not 
attend  the  synod  when  notified,  and,  as  though  the  church  were 
his  property,  applied  to  Boston  for  a  minister.  The  synod  (in 
1726)  pronounced  his  conduct  unjustifiable,  and  wrote  to  the  minis- 
ters in  Boston  not  to  countenance  him  till  he  gave  satisfaction. 

x'\.nderson  at  once  desired  liberty  to  remove  from  New  York,  and 
the  congregation  was  alloAved  to  call  another  minister  in  an  orderly  / 

manner,  as  soon  as  they  paid  the  arrears  noAv  due.  / 

He  was  called,  September  24,  1726,  to  Donegal,  on  the  Susque- 
hanna, and  accepted  it.  His  removal  did  not  heal  the  difficulty: 
the  arrears  were  not  paid  till  1730.  The  synod  gave  leave  to  his 
friends,  Blake,  Leddel,  and  Inglis,  to  "join  as  to  sacramental  com- 
munion" with  any  of  our  neighbouring  congregations. 

Application  was  made  by  Andrew  Galbraith  to  Newcastle  Pres- 
bytery, August  1, 1721,  for  supplies  for  Chicken's  Longus,  (Chique-  j 
salunga ;)  and  Gillespie  and  Cross  were  sent.  Rowland  Chambers 
rencAved  the  request  next  year.  In  May,  1723,  Conestoga  applied  ; 
but  Hutcheson  failed  to  go,  being  unable  to  obtain  a  guide  thi- 
ther ;  in  the  fall,  he  and  McGill  were  sent  to  Dunngaal.  In  1725, 
Donegal  obtained  one-sixth  of  Boyd's  time;  and  he  served  them 
till  they  called  Anderson.  He  was  installed  the  last  Wednesday 
in  August,  1727.  In  September,  1729,  he  gave  every  fifth  Sab- 
bath to  the  people  on  Swatara,  and  joined  the  congregation  of 
Derry. 

The  Presbytery  of  Donegal  held  its  first  meeting  October  11, 
1732,  and  consisted  of  Anderson,  Boyd,  Orr,  and  Bertram.  As 
early  as  September,  1735,  the  emigration  to  Virginia  attracted  the 
attention  of  Thomson,  of  Chestnut  Level ;  and  he  proposed  to  Done- 
gal Presbytery  to  employ  an  itinerant  in  Virginia.  The  overture 
was  "simply  approven;"  that  is,  fully,  as  in  Romans  xii.  8: — "He 
that  giveth,  let  him  do  it  with  simplicity," — without  stint  or  abate- 
ment: so  they  concurred  in  his  plan  heartily.  Each  year  brought 
up  the  case  of  the  back-parts  of  Virginia;  and  in  April,  1738,  the 
presbytery  approved  of  the  plan  of  John  Caldwell  to  ask  the  synod 
to  send  a  deputation  to  wait  on  the  Virginia  government  and 
solicit  its  favour  in  behalf  of  our  interest  there.  The  synod  wrote 
to  the  governor,  and  sent  Anderson  to  bear  the  letter,  providing 


332  JAMES   ANDERSON. 

Bupplies  for  liis  pulpit,  and  allowing  for  his  expenses  "in  a  manner 
suitable  to  his  design." 

Caldwell  was  a  member  of  Thomson's  congregation,  having  come 
with  four  single  sisters  from  county  Antrim.  lie  removed  to  Frede- 
rick county;  then  to  Canij)bell  and  I'rince  Edward's.  He  was  the 
father  of  Caldwell,  of  Elizabethtown,  and  of  Miijor  John  Caldwell, 
of  Virginia,  wdio  was  shot  by  a  Tory  during  the  Kevolution.  John 
C.  Calhoun  was  his  great-grandson. 

Anderson  performed  his  mission  satisfactorily.  In  April  of  the 
next  year,  the  presbytery  blamed  him  for  having  sent  Dunlap  from 
New  England  to  Virginia  without  knowing  any  thing  certainly  of 
his  ecclesiastical  standing.  This  was  probably  the  Kev.  Kobert 
Dunlap,  who  settled  in  Maine. 

He  married*  Mistresse  Suitt  Garland,  daughter  of  Sylvester 
Garland,  of  the  Head  of  Apoquinimy,  February,  1712-13.  She 
died  December  24,  1736.  He  married  Rachel  Wilson,  December 
27,  1737.  His  son.  Garland  Anderson,  was  one  of  the  witnesses 
of  Andrews's  will,  in  1742.  He  married  Jane,  daughter  of  Peter 
Chevalier,  of  Philadelphia:  he  died  early.  His  daughter  Eliza- 
beth married  Samuel  Breeze,  and  resided  in  New  York,  a  woman 
of  great  excellence. 

Anderson  died  July  16, 1740,  probably  on  his  return  from  a  visit 
to  Opequhon,  and  just  in  the  trying  emergency  when  he  was  needed 
to  stand  in  the  breach.  A  worthless  fellow  sought  to  bring  a  re- 
proach on  him  after  his  death,  and  the  presbytery  promptly  came 
forward  with  a  declaration  that  he  was  high  in  esteem  for  circum- 
spection, diligence,  and  faithfulness  as  a  Christian  minister. f 

Blair,  in  his  answer  to  "  The  Querists,"  speaks  of  him  as  pressing 
forward,  at  Fagg's  Manor,  to  dispute  with  Whitefield,  almost  before 
he  had  finished  preaching.  He  afterwards,  at  Newcastle,  proposed 
to  have  some  conference  with  Whitefield,  but  was  told  that,  since 
he  and  his  friends  had  made  their  queries  public,  he  could  have  no 
communication  Avith  him  except  through  the  press. 

His  brother,  the  Hon.  John  Anderson, J  of  Perth  Amboy,  was 
made,  in  1712,  one  of  the  Council  of  the  Province,  in  place  of 
William  Pinhorne,  Esq.  Governor  Hunter  was  obliged  to  excuse 
himself  to  the  government  at  home  for  having  displaced  an  obsti- 
nate Churchman  to  make  way  for  a  man  of  sense  who  was  a  Dis- 
senter. He  died  in  March,  1736,  aged  seventy-three,  being  then 
President  of  the  Council. 


*  From  bis  family  Bible :  copied  by  Mr.  Hazard. 

■)■  His  correspondence  with  Principal  Sterling,  of  Glasgow,  is  preserved  in  the 
Advocates'  Library,  Edinburgh. 

J  Albany  Documents.  "  A  Scotch  Presbyterian  who  had  the  command  of  a  ship 
of  the  Darien  Company,  and  enriched  himself  by  plundering  it."  Rev.  Mr.  Hen- 
derson, of  Dover,  Delaware,  wrote  thus  to  England,  to  involve  Governor  Huuier  iu 
trouble. 


NATHANIEL   WADE.  333 


NATHANIEL   WADE. 

Nathaniel  Wade,  a  lawyer  of  Bristol,  and  a  vehement  republican, 
had  formed  the  project  of  emigrating  to  New  Jersey;  but,  engag- 
ing in  Monmouth's  scheme  to  overthrow  James  the  Second,  he  un- 
dertook to  head  a  rising  in  his  own  city.  He  was  thrown  into  pri- 
son ;  and  his  confession,  often  referred  to  by  Macaulay,  is  in  the 
Harleian  Collection,  6845.     He  probably  came  to  Massachusetts. 

Nathaniel  Wade,  of  Medford,  married  Mary,  the  eighth  child  of 
Governor  Bradstreet,  of  that  province. 

The  name  of  Nathaniel  Wade  does  not  occur  m  any  of  the 
genealogical  researches  I  have  seen,  nor  among  the  graduates 
of  Harvard  or  Yale.* 

Nathaniel  Wade  was  ordained  and  settled  at  Woodbridge,  in 
New  Jersey,  by  the  ministers  of  Fairfield  county,  in  Connecticut, 
before  1708.  Woodbridge  was  settled  from  Newbury,  Massachu- 
setts ;  and  Chief-Justice  Sewall  began  to  prepare  for  the  ministry, 
with  a  view  of  being  their  pastor.  The  church  embraced  several 
Scottish  families,  and  was  served  for  a  season  by  the  Rev.  Archi- 
bald Riddel. 

~"  In  May,  1708,  letters  from  Woodbridge  informed  Philadelphia 
Presbytery  of  the  difference  about  Wade,  and  they,  besides  writing 
to  the  ministers  of  Fairfield  county,  directed  Boyd,  if  his  people 
at  Freehold  consented,  and  those  of  Woodbridge  desired  it,  to 
preach  in  the  meeting-house  at  Woodbridge  every  third  Sabbath. 
They  straitly  enjoined  that  the  meeting-house  shall  be  the  only 
place  of  worship  in  the  town,  but  Boyd  "may  preach  at  Amboy." 
Talbot, f  in  1704,  in  representing  to  the  Venerable  Society  the  im- 
portance of  a  church  in  Amboy,  said,  "  Though  there  be  few  people 
there,  many  would  come  out  of  Woodbridge." 

In  September,  1710,  Wade  desired  to  be  a  member  of  the  pres- 
bytery, and  was  received,  having  satisfied  the  brethren,  by  "letters, 
testimonials,  and  personal  arguings,  that  his  proceedings  gave  just 
ground  for  his  acceptance." 

They  wrote  separately  to  those  with  whom  he  was  concerned, 
and  to  those  who  were  dissatisfied  with  him.  To  the  latter  they 
said,  "You  professedly  own  this  judicatory."  They  had  found,  by 
Wade's  certificates,  that  he  had  a  call  and  subscriptions  even  from 
some  of  them,  and  that  his  ordination  was  valid  according  to  Scrip- 
ture rules.     He  produced  certificates  from  persons  whose  integrity 


*  Jlary,  the  youngest  child  of  Rev.  John  Davenport,  first  minister  of  New  Haven, 
married  for  her  second  husband  a  Mr.  Wade, 
■j-  Hawkins's  Missions  of  English  Church. 


334  NATHANIEL   WALE. 

could  not  be  suspected ;  and  his  joining  the  presbytery  .seemed 
to  be  from  sincere  intentions  of  being  more  useful,  and  he  sub- 
mitted himself  fully  to  our  church  government  and  discipline. 
They  therefore  urge  them  not  to  Aveaken  his  hands,  but  to  seek  to 
cement  the  congregation.* 

He  sat  in  presbytery  in  1711,  with  his  elder,  Thomas  Pike,  and 
resigned  all  pastoral  relation  to  the  people  in  Woodbridge.  Divers 
of  his  congregation  were  present,  for  and  against  him ;  and  he  did 
not  clear  himself  altogether  of  the  grievous  scandals  charged  upon 
him.  With  trembling  hands  and  tears  in  his  eyes,  he  declared  he 
would  no  longer  be  "a  bone  of  contention  in  that  miserable  town." 
The  presbytery  sent  Gillespie  thither ;  but,  when  the  town  met  to 
consider  the  getting  of  another  minister.  Wade,  with  ostentation, 
told  them  that  he  was  now  more  firmly  fixed  in  Woodbridge  than  be- 
fore, and  that  he  stood  as  fair  to  be  voted  for  as  any  man ;  pretend- 
ing the  intention  of  the  presbytery  to  be  that  a  vote  should  first  be 
taken  for  himself.  The  town  Avas  therefore  constrained  to  send  to 
"a  coram  of  our  number"  for  an  interpretation  of  the  presby- 
tery's intent.  At  the  same  time  Wade  visited  Boston,  and  made 
to  Cotton  Mather  such  a  statement  as  led  him  to  encourage  a  Mr. 
Wiswall  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  vacancy. 

Mather  had  heartily  recommended  Gillespie,  and  wrote  several 
letters, — "the  utmost  he  could  do  for  poor  Woodbridge." 

No  further  mention  is  made  of  Wade,  who  seems  to  have  re- 
mained in  the  town.  It  may  be  added  that  his  opponents,  John 
Ilsley  and  William  Sharp,  were  New  Englanders ;  and  also  all  those 
"who  drew  ofi"  to  Episcopacy.  -~-_ 


*  Mr.  Whitehead,  of  Newark,  has  kindly  furnished  me  with  the  following  docu- 
ment from  the  Records  of  the  Venerable  Society,  addressed,  in  1711,  to  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Vaughan,  Church  missionai-y  at  Elizabethtowu  and  the  adjacent  region  : — 

"Sib: — The  unhappy  difiference  between  Mr.  AVade  and  the  people  of  Woodbridge 
is  grown  to  that  height  that  we  cannot  join  with  him  in  the  worship  of  God  as 
Christians  ought  to  do.  It  is  the  desire  of  some  people  here,  that  if  you  think  it 
may  be  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  no  damage  to  the  other  churches,  that  you  would 
be  pleased  to  afford  us  your  help  sometimes  on  the  Sabbath  as  you  shall  think  con- 
venient; we  do  it,  not  with  any  intent  to  augment  the  difference  among  us,  but 
rather  hope  that  it  may  be  a  means  for  our  better  joining  together  in  setting  up  the 
true  worship  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  here  amongst  a  poor  deluded  people.  This 
is  the  desire  of  your  humble  servants, 

RicHAED  Smith,  John  Ashton,  Benjamin  Dunham 

Amos  Goodwin,  Gershom  Higgins,        Henky  Rolph, 

John  Bishop,  William  Bingle,  George  Eubancks." 

Egbert  Wright, 

A  house  was  placed  at  Mr.  Vaughan's  disposal.  'Monthly  services  were  commenced, 
and  a  church  was  built  near  the  meeting-liouso, — "  probably  the  smallest  y<iu  have 
ever  seen,  but  amply  sufficient  for  the  congregation  at  this  day."' — Newark 
Sentinel. 


JOSEPH    MOKGAN.  335 


JOSEPH  MORGAN. 

James  Morgan*  came  to  Peqnot,  New  London,  Connecticut,  about 
1647,  with  the  first  settlers,  the  younger  John  Winthrop  being  their 
head.  His  third  son  married  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Thomas  Parks, 
Esq.,  in  April,  1670.     Their  son  Joseph  was  born  Nov.  6,  1674. 

Arrangementsf  were  made  by  the  town  of  Bedford,  in  West 
Chester  county,  New  York,  Dec.  26,  1699,  to  secure  him  for  their 
minister.  It  was  settled  from  Stamford,  Connecticut,  and  had  a 
meeting-house  in  1680.  They  promised  him  a  house  and  X40.  On 
the  12th  of  June,  1700,  they  took  measures  to  have  him  indicted, 
under  the  Act  of  1693,  for  settling  a  ministry  He  was  ordained 
about  that  time  by  the  ministers  of  Fairfield  county,  and  preached 
the  sermon  according  to  the  custom  of  that  time.  Two  years 
after,  he  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  as  one  of  the 
first  class  of  graduates  of  Yale ;  making  it  probable  that  in  one 
instance,  at  least,  a  degree  was  given  where  the  usual  course  of 
study  had  been  accomplished  before  the  college  possessed  cor- 
porate privileges. 

When  he  began  to  preach,  he  used  notes.     Hooker  would  hardly  '\ 
consent  to  his  being  licensed,  and  Noyes,  of  Stonington,  exclaimed    ' 
vehemently  against  his  performing  his  duty  in  that  manner.     He 
pleaded  his  inability  to  proceed  without  them  ;  and,  they  insisting 
on  their  being  laid  aside,  he  made  the  attempt,  and  complied  fully 
with  their  advice. 

He  also  served  the  neighbouring  town  of  East  Chester.  It  had, 
in  1704,  400  inhabitants,  mostly  Presbyterians ;  but  difficulties 
sprang  up,  of  which  the  Churchmen  availed  themselves.  Colonel 
Heathcote,  of  Scarsdale  Manor,  a  man  of  large  possessions  and  great 
influence,  informed  the  Venerable  Society,  Oct,  5,  1704,  that  the 
minister;];  was  about  to  leave  the  Independent  Church  at  Bedford, 
and  that  the  people  were  well-affected  to  the  Church.  He  had 
used  means  to  persuade  Morgan  to  conform,  and  says  he  had  pro- 
mised to  do  so ;  but  he  left,  and  removed  to  Greenwich,  Connec- 
ticut, and  preached  there  till  1708. 

Madam  Knight,  in  her  "  Itinerary  of  an  Overland  Journey  from 
Boston  to  New  York  in  Dec.  1704,"  says,  "East  Chester  is  a  very 
miserable,  poor  place,  and  the  people  a  poor,  quarrelsome  crew ; 
and,  having  quarrelled  about  their  minister,  the  governor,  on  find- 
ing a  vacancy,  sent  them  an  Episcopalian,  who  supplied  besides  at 
the  French  town  (New  Rochelle)  and  Merrinack  (Mamaroneck.)" 

Makemie  says,  in  1706,  that  Bedford  had  asked  Cornbury's  leave 

*  Transcribed  from  Town  Records  by  N.  Goodwin,  Esq. 

I  Bolton's  History  of  West  Chester  County.  1  Bolton. 


336  JOSEPH   MORGAN. 

to  settle  a  Dissenting  minister,  but  that  no  answer  would  be  given 
until  a  Scotch  Non-juring  parson  had  been  consulted. 

In  1700,  Morgan  settled  at  Freehold,  in  New  Jersey ;  and, 
being  desired  to  preach  in  the  fall  of  that  year  at  the  ordination 
of  Dickinson  in  Elizabethtown,  he  resolved  to  take  the  same  sub- 
ject and  treat  it  in  the  same  manner  as  he  had  done  at  his  own 
ordination,  nine  years  before.  This  he  could  not  do  in  all  respects  ; 
for  one  of  the  ministers  frequently  desired  him  to  be  brief,  on  ac- 
count of  the  shortness  of  the  day  and  the  greatness  of  the  work 
in  htmd.  His  text  was  Mark  xvi.  16 : — "  The  Great  Concernment 
of  Gospel  Ordinances,  manifested  from  the  great  effects  of  im- 
proving or  neglecting  them." 

This  sermon  was  printed  at  New  York*  by  "W.  &  A.  Bradford,  in 
1712,  the  preface  being  dated  at  Freehold,  Dec.  12,  1709.  It  is  a 
judicious,  instructive  discourse,  appropriate  to  the  occasion.  The 
duty  of  suitable  preparation  for  the  ministry  is  enforced  by  the 
adage,  "A  tow  lace  ill  beseems  a  silk  garment." 

His  treatise  on  Baptismf  is  a  review  of  "  The  Portsmouth  Dis- 
putation Examined ;"  the  dedication — to  Robert  Hunter,  Governor 
of  New  Jersey — is  dated  Oct.  28,  1712.  He  had  then  a  great 
family,  and  little  opportunity  to  devote  himself  to  learned  studies. 

He  was  a  correspondent  of  Cotton  Mather  ;  and  a  Latin  letter  to 
him,  dated  "  Cal.  III.,  Sept.  1721,"  is  in  the  Antiquarian  Library 
in  Worcester.  He  had  sent,  by  a  Mr.  Preston,  a  treatise  against 
Deists,  who  sadly  abounded  in  New  Jersey.  He  says  he  had  few 
books, — no  dictionary  but  an  imperfect  copy  of  Rider's.  His  eldest 
son  had  been  more  of  an  impediment  than  a  help  to  him  ;  his 
second  son  was  at  Yale ;  and  the  third  and  fourth  relieved  him 
from  the  labour  of  the  parsonage  plantation. 

It  was  amazing  to  see  the  happy  change  that  had  taken  place. 
Formerly  Presbyterians  were  scarcely  less  hated  than  Papists  ;  but 
now  they  were  regarded  with  favour,  and  openings  presented  for 
"fluent"  preachers.  There  had  been  a  happy  display  of  saving 
grace  among  his  own  people.  He  had  laboured  thirteen  years  and 
seen  no  work  of  grace,  but  in  about  two  years  is  so  strange  a  turn, 
that  I  stand  in  a  kind  of  maze  to  see  it. 

In  the  spring  of  the  next  year,  he  travelled  through  Connecticut, 
and  on  his  return  wrote  to  Mather  from  East  Chester,  May  28, 1722. 
His  object  had  been  to  procure  ministers  for  New  Jersey,  but  had 
failed,  there  being  ten  vacancies  in  Connecticut.  He  expresses 
his  uneasiness  about  the  introduction  of  Arminianism  into  Yale, 
but  is  unwilling,  on  account  of  his  obligations  to  the  institution,  to 
appear  as  a  witness  or  informer. 

Mather  sent  him  some  books,  which  he  acknowledges  under  date 

*  Connecticut  Historical  Society's  Library, 
•j-  Am.  Antiq.  Soc.  Libr. 


JOSEPH   MORGAN.  337 

of  Oct.  31,  1722,  and  transmits  a  manuscript  for  the  press,  de- 
siring that  his  friend  would  furnish  a  preface.  He  was  in  cor- 
respondence also  with  Governor  Saltonstall  of  Connecticut,  and 
with  Deputy  Governor  Gold. 

He  soon  after  printed  a  "Remedy*  for  Mortal  Errors,  showing 
the  Necessity  of  the  Anointing  of  the  Spirit  to  guard  us  from  Error," 
and  strongly  insisting  on  the  duty  of  examining  candidates  for  the 
ministry  on  their  experience  of  a  saving  change.  He  appends  a 
few  sentences  in  Latin,  wishing  that  our  ministers  would  disuse 
notes  in  preaching,  they  being  so  disagreeable  to  the  Scotch  and 
the  Dutch ;  concluding  with  the  wish  that  all  our  churches  were 
furnished  with  ruling  ciders  to  assist  the  ministers.  His  next 
publication,  on  "Original  Sin,"  is  in  the  Old  South  Church  Library. 
It  was  followed  by  another,  entitled,  "Sin  its  own  Punishment." 

His  "  Replyf  to  an  Anonymous  Railer  against  the  Doctrine  of 
Election"  bears  date  "17th,  Eighth  month,  1724."  Noticing  the 
slur  on  Presbyterian  ministers  for  receiving  a  maintenance,  he 
says  he  had  been  in  the  ministry  twenty-seven  years,  and  that,  when 
his  people  kept  him  free  from  worldly  avocations,  the  work  of  grace 
went  on  abundantly :  they  came  from  every  quarter  to  receive  spi- 
ritual consolation.  "  It  would  even  melt  one's  heart  to  see  the 
humiliation,  self-abasement,  and  self-loathing  that  appeared  in  them, 
and  their  fleeing  to  the  blood  of  Christ  for  relief,  and  to  the  pure 
grace  and  good  pleasure  of  God  to  draw  them  to  Christ,  and  to 
see  the  change  wrought  in  these  lovely  souls."  But  when  he  from 
necessity  entangled  himself  in  the  things  of  this  life,  the  scene 
changed  mournfully ;  but,  on  his  being  set  free  from  this  burden, 
he  witnessed  again  the  same  delightful  success. 

He  tells  Mather,  Oct.  31,  1722,  that  he  hopes  the  circulation  of 
his  book  may  remove  the  prejudices  "  which  half  the  country  here- 
away, and  almost  the  other  half  too,  have  against  our  Confession 
of  Faith.  Of  all  the  engines  Satan  has  formed  against  our  sal- 
vation, the  most  effectual  is  Arminianism ;  especially  so,  because, 
while  it  owns  most  of  the  great  articles  of  faith,  it  goes  less  feared 
and  mistrusted,  and,  under  the  specious  pretext  of  vindicating  God's 
benevolence  and  encouraging  virtue,  and  such  like,  it  privately 
strikes  the  work  of  regeneration  under  the  fifth  rib,  and  is  usually 
followed  by  Socinianism,  and  that  by  Deism." 

His  son  Joseph  graduated  at  Yale  in  1723,  and  died  in  early 
life.  His  father  "  entertained"  the  audience  at  his  funeral  by  a 
discourse  on  Ps.  cxxxvii.  1  and  Job  x.  2.  He  printed  it,  with  the 
title  of  "The  Duty|  and  Marks  of  Zion's  Children." 

In  September,  1728,  the  synod  examined  divers  papers  of  com- 
plaints against  him,  and  dismissed  the  accusations.     They  found  no 

*  Am.  Antiq.  Soc.  Libr.  f  Ibid. 

X  Dr.  Sprague's  Collection  in  Seminary  Library,  Princeton. 
22 


338  PAULUS   VAN   VLECK. 

proof  of  his  practising  astrology,  countenancing  promiscuous  danc- 
ing, or  transgressing  in  drink  ;  but  some  separated  from  him ;  and, 
there  being  no  hope  of  his  promoting  peace  or  union,  he  removed 
to  Maidenhead  and  Hopewell.  He  published  about  this  time  a 
sermon  on  "  Love  to  the  Brethren,"  which  reached  a  third  edition 
at  Boston  in  1749. 

In  1736,  the  Presbytery  of  Philadclpliia  resolved  to  call  Dickin- 
son and  Pierson  as  correspondents,  and  to  meet  on  the  2d  of  No- 
vember to  investigate  the  charge  of  intemperance  brought  against 
him.  The  accusations  were  supported  with  much  evidence,  and,  in 
many  instances,  Avere  fully  proved.  He  was  then  of  advanced  age 
and  of  high  reputation  for  piety  ;  but,  on  his  denying  all  and  seem- 
ing wholly  insensible,  he  was  suspended  until  sincere  repentance 
should  be  seen  in  him.  The  synod  left  the  case  to  the  Presbyteries 
of  Philadelphia  and  East  Jersey,  and  approved  of  their  course  in 
continuing  tlie  suspension.  He  declined  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Presbytery  in  Sept.  1738,  but  retracted  it  in  October ;  and  the 
Presbytery  restored  him,  at  the  request  of  the  body  of  sober  and 
religious  people,  they  expressing  grateful  remembrance  of  his 
past  usefulness,  and  confidence  in  his  hopeful  ability  to  do  them 
service. 

The  synod  approved  of  his  restoration  ;  but  his  name  is  not  men- 
tioned after  1740. 

In  1739,  Franklin  printed  for  him  a  sermon  on  "  The  general 
Cause  of  all  hurtful  Mistakes,"  from  Prov.  iii.  5  :  it  was  reprinted  at 
New  London  in  1741. 


PAULUS  VAN  VLECK, 

A  NATIVE  of  Holland,  and  a  nephew  of  Jacob  Phenix,  in  New 
York,  was  in  that  city  in  1709,  having  probably  arrived  in  the 
spring,  as  a  probationer.  Colonel  Nicholson*  directed  the  Rev. 
Dominie  Dubois  to  select  a  proper  person  to  accompany  the  expe- 
dition to  Canada  and  read  prayers  to  the  Dutch  troops.  Van 
Vleck  was  presented  to  him ;  and  the  Colonial  Assembly,  on  the 
21st  of  June,  directed  Dubois,  and  his  colleague,  Antonides,  to 
take  him  and  examine  him  before  the  next  Tuesday,"Tn  the  pre- 
sence of  two  of  her  Majesty's  council,  and  ordain  him.  They  did 
not  obey;  and  Van  Vleck,  on  the  23d,  prayed  the  Assembly  to 
insist  on  their  compliance.     The  next  day,  Mr.  Livingston   laid 

*  Proceedings  of  New  York  Legislature. — N.  Y.  Mercantile  Lib. 


GEORGE    GILLESPIE.  330 

before  the  house  a  paper  from  the  two  ministers,  stating  that  they 
were  not  empowered,  by  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  to  ordain. 
The  matter  was  dropped. 

In  September,  1710,  he  joined  the  presbytery,  being  the  minister 
of  the  Low  Dutch  congregation  of  Neshaminy,  in  Bucks  county, 
Pennsylvania ;  Mr.  Lenard  Vandegrift  being  his  elder.  By  whom 
he  had  been  ordained  does  not  appear.  In  1711,  one  of  his  elders 
was  sent  to  presbytery,  to  state  that  his  absence  was  caused  by 
his  being  disabled  through  sickness.  The  next  year  he  was  charged 
with  bigamy ;  but  the  evidence  was  not  sufficient  to  prove  the  crime, 
neither  was  his  vindication  such  as  to  take  off  the  scandal  wholly ; 
he  therefore  consented,  as  the  presbytery  proposed,  to  desist  from 
preaching  till  his  innocence  was  completely  established  by  proof 
of  his  first  wife's  death.  The  day  after  the  presbytery  broke  up, 
he  brought  papers  in  his  behalf,  which  were  seen  by  all  the  mem- 
bers, and  left  by  them  with  Andrews,  McNish,  and  Hampton,  to 
consider  if  they  were  sufficient  to  clear  him  of  the  imputation. 
They  thought  they  were  not;  besides,  a  new  charge  of  falsehood 
was  brought.  On  inspecting  a  letter  from  his  mother,  they  learned 
that  his  wife  was  alive.  Drunkenness,  swearing,  and  "light  car- 
riage" were  also  fastened  on  him.  "He  ran  out  of  the  country;" 
and,  from  1715,  he  is  passed  over  in  silence. 


GEORGE  GILLESPIE 


Was  born  in  1683,  in  the  toAvn  of  Glasgow,  and  educated  in  the 
ancient  university  founded  there  centuries  ago.  He  was  licensed 
by  Glasgow  Presbytery  early  in  1712,  and  came  to  New  England 
in  the  spring,  furnished  with  recommendations  from  Principal  Stir- 
ling to  Cotton  Mather,  and  "certificates  of  his  conversation." 
The  situation  of  Woodbridge  had  been  made  known  to  the  ministers 
in  Boston;  Mather  heartily  recommended  Gillespie  to  that  divided 
people.  He  was  "  at  first  generally  liked,  being  of  an  excellent 
character  and  laudable  carriage,  and  his  management  being  to 
universal  satisfaction."  The  hope  of  his  uniting  the  discordant 
parties  was  cheering;  but  Wade's  factious  course  divided  them  still 
more. 

In  September,  the  presbytery  approved  of  his  credentials ;  and, 
"if  Providence  make  way  for  his  ordination  by  a  call  from  any 
congregation,  Andrews,  McNish,  Anderson,  and  Morgan  are 
ordered  to  ordain  him."  The  presbytery  recommended  him  again 
to  the  congregation  of  Woodbridge: — "We  shall  strengthen  his 
Lauds  and  encourage  his  heart  to  try  a  while  longer,  waiting  for 


340  GEORGE   GILLESPIE. 

the  effect  of  our  renewed  essays  for  peace  and  quietness  among 
you." 

He  wrote  to  the  presbytery;  and  Ilcnry  prepared  an  answer, 
informing  him  that  the  people  of  White  Clay  had  petitioned  for  a 
minister,  and,  if  he  left  Woodbridge,  he  was  ordered  first  to  supply 
that  people. 

lie  was  ordained  by  a  committee  of  three,  May  28,  1713,  having 
received  a  call  from  the  people  of  White  Clay  Creek.  He  preached, 
the  day  before,  on  Gal.  iv.  4,  5,  and  delivered  an  exegesis  on  "An 
Christus  pro  omnibus  et  singulis  sit  mortuus?"  These  were  to 
good  acceptance,  as  also  his  examination  in  the  original  languages, 
philosophy,  and  theology. 

Red  Clay,  Lower  Brandywine,  and  Elk  River,  besides  White 
Clay,  seem  to  have  formed  his  charge  for  several  years,  Abra- 
ham Emmit,  who  subsequently  appears  as  an  elder  from  Elk  River, 
petitioned  for  a  new  erection  in  1719,  and  was  refused. 

Gillespie  was  zealous  for  strict  discipline,  and  three  times  en- 
tered his  dissent*  when  offenders  were  dealt  with  too  leniently  for 
their  immoralities.  He  informed  his  presbytery  that  he  would 
publish  his  animadversions  on  the  synod's  undue  tenderness  in  a 
certain  case;  but  he  was  strictly  forbidden  by  them  to  do  so. 
The  Philadelphia  papers,  in  1735,  advertise  his  "  Treatise  against 
the  Deists  or  Freethinkers,  shewing  the  Necessity  of  Revealed  Reli- 
gion: for  sale  by  John  Cross,  at  the  Drawbridge,  in  Front  Street." 
No  copy  is  known  to  exist.  Was  it  "Occasioned  by  Hemphill's 
course 't 

Pie  is  said  to  have  organized  the  congregation  of  the  Head  of 
Christiana,  and  he  served  it  till  his  death. 

Zealous  for  the  interests  of  the  church,  he  was  remarkably 
punctual  in  attendance  on  presbytery  and  synod,  and  in  bringing 
something  for  the  fund. 

On  the  question  of  the  Protest  he  did  not  vote,  having  in  all  the 
previous  trying  sessions  sought  the  peace  of  Jerusalem :  he  with- 
drew with  the  excluded  brethren,  and  joined  with  them,  and  pub- 
lished a  letter  to  the  New  York  Presbytery  in  their  defence.  In 
February,  1743-4,  he  made  a  public,  formal  acknowledgment  of 
his  error  in  having  done  so,  before  Newcastle  Presbytery ;  and  he 
was  cordially  welcomed  to  membership.  Soon  after,  Franklin 
published  his  "  Remarksf  upon  Mr.  Whitefield,  proving  him  a  man 
under  delusion:  Rom.  xvi.  17;  1  John  iv.  1." 

In  discussing  the  terms  of  union,  he  objected  to  being  required 
to  acknowledge  the  events  generally  styled  "the  Great  Revival," 
as  "a  glorious  work  of  grace."     He  had  seen  so  many  sad  issues 

*  Morgan  said,  "Pious  Mr.  Gillespie  entered  his  dissent"  against  the  limited 
suspension  of  Walton,  in  1722. 

f  In  the  hands  of  Rev.  Dr.  Dickey,  of  Oxford,  Pa. 


JOHN   MACKEY.  341 

of  hopeful  beginnings,  so  many  lamentable  tilings  in  the  pi'oceed- 
ings  of  the  chief  actors,  such  sad  confusions  and  wide-spread 
divisions,  that  his  heart  trembled  for  the  ark  of  God. 

He  died  January  2,  1760,  aged  77.  Alison,  who  knew  him, 
calls  him  "that  pious  saint  of  God."  It  was  left  to  a  generation 
"that  knew  not  Joseph"  to  lavish  on  his  name  epithets  of  con- 
tumely. A  long  life  passed  in  the  service  of  Christ,  unchronicled 
by  the  men  of  his  own  day,  is  summed  up  in  a  few  bare  sentences. 
The  storm  leaves  a  record  of  its  progress  and  its  power,  but  the 
dew  and  the  summer  breeze  "return  not  void"  to  Him  that  sent 
them;  though  unobserved,  they  are  not  useless.  Yet  we  would 
gladly  see  some  record  of  a  good  man's  life, — something  more  note- 
worthy than  that,  in  1750,  the  synod  allowed  five  pounds  towards 
the  building  of  his  meeting-house,  or  that  he  urged  his  brethren  to 
remonstrate  against  the  opening  of  a  play-house  in  Philadelphia. 


I/^^.*,/   *9HN  MACKEY."^ 

The  earliest  congregation  that  had  a  minister  was  the  first  to  • 
become  extinct.  Colonel  Anthony  Lawson  was  the  leading  man 
on  the  Eastern  Branch  of  Elizabeth  River,  Virginia,  when  Make- 
mie  came  there,  in  1683.  His  descendants  resided  at  "the  new 
town,"  near  Norfolk,  until  a  recent  date.  George  Keith,  who  was 
often  in  that  neighbourhood,  having  a  daughter  married  at  Kicke- 
tan,  (now  Hampton,)  said  that  Princess  Anne  county  could  not 
maintain  a  Church  minister,  the  tobacco  was  so  very  poor.  The 
congregation  in  Lynnhaven  parish,  on  Elizabeth  River,  is  men- 
tioned by  Commissary  Blair  as  existing  at  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 

Makemie*  owned  a  house  and  lot  in  Elizabeth  River,  and  gave 
them,  by  his  will,  to  the  congregation  of  Rehoboth,  leaving  it 
doubtful  whether  the  Presbyterians  in  Norfolk  county  needed  no 
aid,  or  were  so  greatly  diminished  that  any  efforts  for  the  main- 
tenance of  "our  way"  in  that  neighbourhood  would  be  useless. 
In  1710,  the  presbytery  sent  word  to  Dublin  Presbytery  that  "  in 
all  Virginia  there  is  but  one  small  congregation  at  Elizabeth  River, 
and  a  few  families  favouring  our  way  in  Rappahannock  and  York." 

Henry,  in  1713,  made  "complaint  to  the  presbytery  of  the 
melancholy  circumstances  Mr,  John  Mackey,  in  Elizabeth  River, 
labours  under."     Hampton,  being  about  to  write  to  him  on  an 


Spence. 


842  THOMAS   BRATTON — ROBERT   LARSON. 

affair  of  his  own,  was  flcsircd  by  the  brethren  to  signify  "their 
regard  to  and  concern  for  him."  The  nature  of  his  distresses,  and 
their  issue,  with  all  his  history,  is  unknown.  Thomas  Wilson,  an 
English  Friend,  mentions  his  stopping,  in  1713,  at  the  house  of  a 
Presbyterian  widow  in  Lynnhaven  Bay. 


THOMAS  BRATTON 


Arrived  in  Maryland  in  the  fall  of  1711 ;  and  the  next  year, 
being  detained  by  sickness,  he  sent  to  the  presbytery  a  "certificate 
of  his  legal  admission  to  the  ministry."  Robert  Wilson,  a  com- 
missioner from  Monokin  and  Wicomico,  presented  a  statement  of 
their  church  affairs,  and  a  call  for  Bratton,  and  a  paper  of  sub- 
scriptions for  his  encouragement.  Anderson  wrote  to  him  in  re- 
spect to  the  call  in  favour  of  the  people.  He  had  probably  preached 
for  them  from  his  arrival,  but  the  letter  scarcely  reached  him 
before  he  was  hurried  away.  He  finished  his  course  in  October, 
1712. 


ROBERT  LAWSON 


Was  a  member*  of  Dumfries  Presbytery  in  December,  1696. 
The  tobacco  trade,  for  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  kept 
up  direct  communication  between  London  and  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land. The  wants  of  Monokin  and  Wicomico  speedily  reached 
Great  Britain ;  and,  on  the  early  death  of  Bratton,  Lawson  came 
over  to  supply  his  place.  He  was  a  native  of  Scotland;  but,  like 
McGill,  his  countryman  and  companion  across  the  Atlantic,  it 
was  through  Scottish  merchants  in  London  that  he  was  directed  to 
their  correspondents  in  America. 

Mr.  Reynolds,  of  London,  sent  by  him  a  letter  to  the  presby- 
tery, engaging  to  pay  £20  for  the  support  of  one  or  more  ministers 
to  spread  the  gospel  "in  the  parts  about  you."  At  the  presby- 
tery, in  1713,  he  produced  ample  testimonials  of  his  ordination 
and  good  behaviour,  and  was  received  cheerfully.  A  call  for  him 
from  Monokin  and  Wicomico  was  presented  by  the  elder,  James 

*  Minutes  of  trial  of  Mr.  Cliinny :  in  the  hands  of  the  Rev.  A.  B.  Cross,  of  Balti- 
more. 


DANIEL   McGILL.  343 

Caldwell,  and,  being  offered  to  him  by  the  moderator,  he  took  it 
under  consideration,  with  promise  to  give  the  people  an  answer  as 
soon  as  the  circumstances  of  his  affairs  would  allow.  Ten  pounds 
out  of  the  sum  promised  by  Reynolds  were  given  to  him.  He  died 
in  November,  a  few  months  after  his  landing  on  our  shores. 


DANIEL   McGILL. 

'  On  the  death  of  Taylor,  Patuxent  remained  vacant,  having 
only  occasional  supplies.  Failing  to  obtain  McNish,  they  applied 
to  their  friends  in  London,  who  procured  McGill  for  them.  They 
transmitted  him  a  call,  and  he  accepted  it  in  England,  and  laid  aside 
all  business*  that  could  be  advantageous  to  him  ;  he  was  unemployed 
for  nearly  half  a  year  in  consequence,  before  he  entered  into  ac- 
tual service  in  Marlborough.  He  joined  the  presbytery  in  1713. 
In  1714,  his  elder  was  James  Beall ;  in  '14,  Alexander  Beall ;  in  '15, 
Wilson  Scott.  "  On  being  interrogated  touching  the  manner  of  his 
people's  deportment  to  him  in  his  pastoral  work,  he  made  his  answer 
wholly  to  their  advantage,  and  with  a  pleasing  earnestness  to  com- 
mend them,  as  made  it  apparent  he  had  good  cause  for  what  he  spoke." 

But  the  presbytery,  on  the  representation  of  the  messenger,  Mr. 
Scott,  was  sensibly  affected :  they  heard  of  Satan's  devices,  threat- 
ening their  gospel  peace  and  mutual  love.  They  made  a  few  pro- 
posals to  them,  "  which  it  is  in  your  power  to  make  helpful  to  your 
present  condition : — 

"Particularly  with  firmness  and  godly  resolution  oppose  all 
dividing  measures. 

"  We  apprehend  the  disproportion  between  the  number  of  your 
elders  and  deacons  may  occasion  some  uneasiness  in  your  session. 
We  need  only  represent  unto  you  the  ends  and  institution  of  Scrip- 
ture deacons,  and  that  there  is  no  judicial  power  allowed  them  in 
the  Scripture. 

"  We  expect  your  acquiescence  in  our  last  year's  act  touching 
sessions  and  session-books,  which  we  presume  you  know  to  be  agree- 
able to  the  laudable  practice  of  the  best  reformed  churches." 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Marlborough,  in  the  town  of  Providence, 
in  the  town-land  of  Seven,  was  the  home  of  the  Independents 
when  di'iven  from  Virginia.  The  Scots  from  Fife,  and  the  Inde- 
pendents, had  little  in  common  in  regard  to  church  government  and 
discipline.     Here  we  see  them  approaching  to  collision. 

Concerning  Scripture  deacons,  Dickinson  has  expressed  himself 

*  Synod  Records  i.  62. 


344  DANIEL   McGILL. 

strongly  in  a  pamphlet  in  vindication  of  Non-conformity,  published 
in  Boston  in  1724: — "  We  have  no  church  stock,  and  therefore  have 
no  need  of  the  office  of  deacons." 

The  congregation  sent  a  representative  next  year,  a  Scotsman, 
Archibald  Edmundson  ;  but  a  doubt  was  raised  whether  he  ought  to 
be  allowed  to  act  as  a  representative  in  presbytery,  in  the  absence 
of  the  minister.  It  was  unanimously  decided  that  he  might.  lie 
was  the  bearer  of  a  letter  from  Patuxent,  which  was  "  read  twice 
to  our  great  satisfaction." 

Another  difficulty  arose,  and  was  considered  by  Newcastle  Pres- 
bytery in  1718,  during  the  intervals  of  synod.  "Andros  and  Mc- 
Knish"  (as  David  Evans  spells  ;  his  rare,  curious  handwriting  being 
as  uncommon  as  his  spelling)  sat  as  correspondents.  A  healing 
letter  was  written;  but  McGill  insisted  that  it  should  not  be  sent 
until  the  last  paragraph  was  expunged.  The  letter  was  sent  with- 
out alteration;  and,  at  the  next  synod,  a  testimonial  Avas  given 
him,  he  having  no  pastoral  charge,  and  being  uncertain  how  and 
where  Providence  may  dispose  of  him." 

The  traditionf  at  Marlborough  is  that  he  was  an  austere,  sulky 
man.  In  1720,  he  asked  the  commission  if  he  ought  not  to  be 
paid  by  his  people  for  the  six  months  which  elapsed  between  his 
acceptance  of  the  call  in  England  and  his  beginning  to  preach 
to  them.  About  this,  there  was  "  a  difi'erence  between  his  apprehen- 
sions and  theirs,"  as  there  well  might  be  at  the  end  of  eight  years. 

The  synod  in  1719,  having  received  a  letter  from  the  people  of 
Potomoke,  in  Virginia,  requesting  their  care  and  diligence  to  pro- 
vide them  an  able  gospel-minister,  appointed  McGill  to  preach  to 
them  in  order  to  settlement  on  their  mutual  agreement.  Conn  and 
Cross  wrote  to  the  congregation  on  McGill's  going  to  Potomoke. 
He  spent  some  months,  and  put  "  the  people  into  church  order." 

They  manifested  by  letter  their  approbation  of  his  whole  conduct 
among  them,  and  desire  him,  but  in  vain,  to  be  their  minister.  The 
,  aftair  of  Potomac  was  referred  to  the  Committee  of  Bills,  and  is  not 
"again  mentioned.  This  was  probably  Bladensburg,  subsequently 
described  as  on  the  East  Branch  of  Potomac  and  Pamonkey ;  and 
probably  the  advice  of  the  synod  about  "dividing  measures"  grew 
out  of  the  wish  to  have  the  western  part  of  Marlborough  congre- 
gation, living  on  Potomac,  permitted  to  have  a  minister  of  their  own. 

McGill  was  called  to  Elk  River,  in  Maryland,  but,  after  a  long 
dela}^,  declined.  He  was  a  supply  for  short  periods  in  Kent,  at 
Birmingham,  on  Brandywine,  at  Snowhill,  White  Clay,  Drawyers, 
Conestoga,  and  Octorara. 

He  died  Feb.  10,  1724,  his  home  being  in  the  London  Tract, 
Newcastle  county,  Delaware.  He  was  a  valuable  member  of 
synod,  a  good  preacher,  and  a  learned  man. 

*  Quoted  by  Dr.  Hodge,  from  T.  Balch's  MS.  History. 


HOWELL    POWELL.  345 

Besides  the  following  advertisement,  nothing  else  has  been  res- 
cued, concerning  him,  from  the  river  of  oblivion: — 

1722.  "  Ran*  away  from  the  Rev.  D.  Magill,  a  servant  clothed 
with  damask  breeches  and  vest,  black  broadcloth  vest,  broadcloth 
coat  of  copper-colour,  lined  and  trimmed  with  black,  and  wearing 
black  stockings." 


HOWELL   POWELL. 

Howell  ap  Howell  offered  himself  for  admission  in  1713 ;  and 
the  presbytery,  well  satisfied  of  his  ordination,  advised  him  to  procure 
within  a  year  further  credentials  from  some  eminent  ministers  in 
England,  whom  they  knew.  Till  then  he  shall  be  free  to  exercise 
his  ministry  in  all  its  parts  where  Providence  shall  call  him,  but 
not  fully  to  settle  as  a  fixed  minister." 

When  Smith  left  Cohanzy,  there  came  thither  Mr.  Exell.  The 
presbytery  wrote  to  them,  in  1711,  that  they  "wished  the  congre- 
gation had  taken  better-advised  steps  for  their  provision  as  to  the 
ministry :  by  the  best  account  they  had  of  him,  they  judged  him 
not  a  suitable  person  to  preside  in  the  work  of  the  ministry. 
Though  invited  to  be  present  at  our  meeting,  he  neither  came  nor 
sent,  intimating  either  a  contempt  or  a  supine  neglect  of  ecclesias- 
tical judicatures.  We  cannot  approve  of  some  printed  papers  dis- 
persed by  him  among  the  people,  as  they  contain,  so  far  as  they 
are  intelligible,  abundance  of  gross  errors, — a  great  part  consisting 
of  nonsense  and  obvious  self-contradictions." 

He  settled  at  Chestertown,  in  Maryland,  and  formed  an  Indepen- 
dent congregation.  A  grant  of  land  for  its  use  was  made,  in  1727, 
to  Mr.  Samuel  Exell. f 

By  their  messenger,  John  Ogden,  Cohanzy  sent  a  petition  the 
next  year,  and  the  presbytery  sent  them  a  written  answer. 

Ephraim  Sayre,  in  their  behalf,  asked  advice  about  the  choice  of 
a  minister,  and  Powell  was  sent. 

In  1714,  he  sat  in  presbytery  with  his  elder,  Joseph  Sealey. 
Though  he  had  used  diligence,  he  had  not  received  the  required 
credentials  ;  but  the  presbytery,  being  satisfied  by  so  long  trial  and 
personal  acquaintance,  together  with  other  considerable  circum- 
stances, sustained,  on  mature  deliberation,  the  unanimous  call  given 
him  from  Cohanzy.  He  accepted  it ;  and  Andrews  preached  his 
admission  sermon,  Oct.  14,  1715. 

He  died  before  September,  1717. 

-j>^.    Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia.       f  Rev.  A.  B.  Cross,  Baltimore,  Maryland. 


846  MALACni  JONES. 


MALACIII  JONES 

Offered  himself  to  the  presbytery,  Sept.  9,  1714,  and  they, 
being  well  satisfied  of  his  ordination  and  other  qualifications,  did 
heartily  accept  of  his  offer,  and  admitted  him  as  a  member.  He 
had  been  ordained  in  Wales.  He  came  to  Abingdon,  about  eleven 
miles  from  Philadelphia,  where  a  church  was  organized  in  1714  on 
the  Congregational  plan :  it  soon  adopted  the  Presbyterian  method. 

Being  the  oldest  minister,  he  was  frequently  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  commission  and  on  the  affair  of  the  fund. 

At  the  close  of  the  synod  in  1727,  he,  with  David  Evans,  Webb, 
and  Hubbcll,  brought  in  a  protest, — probably  against  the  delay  in 
receiving  Pemberton, — and  declared  his  intention  to  join  no  more 
with  them.  He  seems  not  to  have  retracted  it ;  for  his  death  is  men- 
tioned thus  in  the  records  : — 

"  Since  our  last,  Mr.  Malachi  Jones,  heretofore  a  member  with  us, 
and  Mr.  Archibald  McCook,  departed  this  life." 

Andrews,  in  writing  to  Colman  under  date  of  March  7,  1729, 
adds,  "P.S. — Ten  days  ago  died  Mr.  Malachi  Jones,  an  old  Welsh 
minister.     He  Avas  a  good  man,  and  did  good." 

He  made  his  will  Sept.  28,  1727  ;  he  left  three  sons — Malachi, 
Benjamin,  and  Joshua — and  four  daughters.  He  provides  for  his 
widow  two  rooms  and  the  little  cellar,  and  charges  his  son  Malachi 
to  give  her  comfortable  maintenance,  and  to  have  her  firewood  cut 
and  brought  to  her  door,  with  five  hogsheads  of  cider,  whenever  the 
plantation  shall  make  so  much.  To  each  grand  child  he  gave  a 
ewe  and  a  lamb.     His  will  was  proven  March  25,  1729. 

Plis  son  Benjamin  was  an  elder  at  Abingdon  in  1733,  and  a 
member  of  Assembly  from  Bucks  county  in  1724.  He  and  his 
brothers  adhered  to  the  Old  Side. 

The  elders  who  sat  with  Jones  in  presbytery  were  probably,  in 
1715,  John  Parsons;  and  in  synod,  in  1720,  Benjamin  Armitage  ;* 
in  1723,  Joseph  Charlesworth  ;  in  1725,  John  Hall,  (a  member  from 
Bucks  county  in  1740 ;)  in  1726,  Charles  Hofty.  George  Renock 
(Reuwick)  attended  synod  as  an  elder  in  1729. 

*  He  was  frozen  to  death  in  a  swampy  meadow,  in  Dec.  1735,  being  an  ancient  man 
and  feeble.     Charlesworth  died  in  1748;  Hofty,  in  1742. 


ROBERT    WOTHERSPOON — DAVID   EVANS.  347 


ROBERT    WOTHERSPOON, 

A  NATIVE  of  Scotland,  wrote  to  the  presbytery  in  1713,  enclos- 
ing his  credentials  as  a  probationer.  The  people  of  Apoquinimy  ~»^ 
petitioned  that  he  might  be  ordained  and  settled  among  them ;  but 
they  were  informed  that  this  could  not  be  done  until  they  presented 
a  formal  call.  They  did  so;  and  he  was  ordained  to  the  sacred 
function  and  office  of  the  ministry  to  the  Presbyterian  congrega- 
tion at  Apoquinimy,  May  13,  1714. 

Gabriel  Thomas,*  in  his  work  on  Pennsylvania,  published  in 
London  in  1695,  speaks  of  Apoquinimy  as  the  place  where  goods 
come  to  be  carted  into  Maryland.  Settlements  began  to  be  made 
on  the  three  branches  of  Drawyers  Creek,  as  early  as  1671, — chiefly 
from  Holland  and  England.  In  1703,  the  Venerable  Society  was 
asked  for  fifty  pounds,  in  aid  of  North  and  South  Apoquinimah,f 
which  were  about  to  build  Episcopal  churches.  They  were  styled, 
in  Latin,  Appoquenomen  and  Quinquenium,  the  last  being  the  "/^ 
original  name  for  St.  George's,  and  had  for  their  missionary,  in 
1707,  Mr.  Jenkins,  a  Welshman, — the  Episcopalians  at  St.  George's 
having  the  Church  services  in  their  native  tongue,  the  Welsh. 

On  the  10th  of  May,|  1711,  Isaac  Vigorue,  Hans  Hanson,  An- 
drew Peterson,  and  Francis  King,  bought  an  acre  of  land  and  built 
on  it  a  meeting-house.  The  spot  has  been  used  ever  since  as  the 
site  of  the  house  of  God. 

Wotherspoon,  in  1715,  bought  a  farm,  which  still  belongs  to  his 
descendants.     He  died  in  May,  1718. 

Hans  Hanson  sat  in  presbytery  in  1714;  Thomas  Heywood, 
(Hyatt,)  in  1715;  and  Elias  Naudain  in  synod  in  1717. 


DAVID   EVANS 


A  NATIVE  of  Wales,  was  probably  the  son  of  David  Evans,  Esq., 
an  elder  in  the  Welsh  Tract  Church.  A  Baptist  church  was  organ- 
ized in  Wales  in  1701,  and  the  members  came  to  Philadelphia  in 
September  of  that  year.  They  remained  a  year  and  a  half  at 
Pennepek,  but  could  not  hold  fellowship  with  the  church  there, 


*  New  York  Historical  Society's  Library.  f  Hawkins. 

J  Rev.  George  Foot's  Historical  Discourse  at  Drawyers. 


348  DAVID    EVANS. 

because  of  disagreement  about  laying  on  of  hands  after  immersion. 
Thirty  thousand  acres  having  been  bought  in  Delaware,  the  ncwl}'- 
arrived  church  removed  thither  and  settled  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Iron  Hill. 

Welsh  Presbyter  an  congregations  existed  in  Pencader,  or  the 
Y  Welsh  Tract,  and  in  Tredryffryn,  or  the  Great  Valley,  in  Chester 
county,  as  early  as  1710;  for  in  that  year  the  presbytery  agreed 
that  David  Evan  had  done  very  ill  in  preaching  or  teaching  in  the 
latter  place,  and  he  was  censured  for  acting  irregularly  and  for 
invading  the  work  of  the  ministry.  As  the  most  proper  method,  to 
advance  him  in  necessary  literature,  and  prepare  him  for  the  minis- 
terial work,  he  was  directed  to  lay  aside  all  other  business  for  a 
tAvelvemonth,  and  apply  himself  closely  to  learning  and  study  under 
the  direction  of  Andrews.  Liberty  was  given  to  Andrews,  Wilson, 
and  Anderson  to  take  him  on  trials,  and  at  their  discretion  to  license 
him. 

In  1711,  a  committee  of  presbytery  examined  him,  and  approved 
of  his  hopeful  proficiency,  and  he  was  allowed  to  preach  as  a  can- 
didate for  one  year,  under  the  direction  of  Andrews,  Wilson,  and 
Anderson.  In  the  next  fall,  David  Evans  a,  candidate,  was  chosen 
clerk  of  presbytery,  his  penmanship  being  careful  and  in  the 
extreme  curious.  The  people  of  Welsh  Tract  and  Great  Valley 
petitioned  that  he  might  be  ordained;  but,  though  he  had  made 
considerable  proficiency,  it  was  voted  that  he  should  continue  to 
study  as  before. 

In  1713,  he  graduated  at  Yale  College,  and  was  sent  at  the 
request  of  the  people  to  reside  at  Welsh  Tract  and  preach  there. 
They  gave  him  a  unanimous  call,  and,  after  a  thorough  examination 
and  the  usual  trials,  he  was  ordained,  Nov.  3,  1714.  There  being 
divers  persons  in  the  Great  Valley  with  whom  he  was  concerned, 
they  were  declared  a  distinct  society  from  his  pastoral  charge. 

He  was  the  recording  clerk  of  Newcastle  Presbytery  for  six  or 
seven  years.    For  his  services  each  member  gave  him  a  half-crown. 

"An  opinionative  difference"  between  him  and  Samuel  James 
gave  his  brethren  no  small  trouble  ;  they  dismissed  it  and  labored 
to  pacify  the  excitement  arising  from  it,  but  their  healing  letters 
and  healing  sermons  did  no  good.  He  was  dismissed  in  1720,  and 
was  called  to  Great  Valley ;  but  he  declined  to  accept  it  for  several 
years.  He  Avas  one  of  the  first  supplies  sent  to  Sadsbury,  West 
Branch  of  Brandywine,  and  Conestoga.  When  he  removed  to 
Tredryffryn,  he  was  directed  to  spend  one-fourth  of  his  time  at 
Sadsbury. 

He  printed  his  sermon  at  the  ordination  of  Treat,  of  Abingdon. 
On  page  49,*  he  says,  "That  it  is  a  wonder  to  see  any  gracious, 


*  Quoted  by  Franklin  in  his  defence  of  Hemphill. 


DAVID   EVANS.  349 

truly  considerate,  wise  man  in  the  ministry.  It  is  no  -vronder  to 
see  thousands  of  •  ignorant,  inconsiderate,  carnal  ministers ;  but 
it  is  a  wonder  to  see  any  truly  understanding,  considerate,  gracious 
ones." 

He  brought  in  a  protest  after  all  the  buspess  of  synod  was 
done  in  1727 ;  but  after  three  years  he  declared  his  hearty  concern 
for  his  withdrawal,  and  desired  to  be  received  as  a  member  again. 
Having  declared  his  adopting  the  Westminster  Confession  and 
Catechisms,  he  Avas  unanimously  received  as  a  member,  and,  for  his 
ease,  was  joined  to  Philadelphia  Presbytery. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1738,*  he  presented  to  the  presbytery  his 
scheme  for  supplying  the  English  Presbyterians  in  the  Valley.  In 
December,  1739,  the  presbytery  met,  and  heard  the  charges  brought 
against  him  by  Timothy  Griffiths  for  suspending  his  elders  from 
office.  He  was  cleared,  and  the  accuser  blamed  and  debarred  from 
church  privileges ;  but  the  charges  were  renewed  in  the  spring,  with 
a  complaint  of  his  heterodoxy,  his  not  preaching  enough  in  Welsh, 
and  his  church  tyranny.  The  only  point  on  which  he  was  thought 
censurable,  was  his  laying  aside  the  elders  and  saying  he  would 
make  no  use  of  them. 

At  his  request  he  was  dismissed,  and  accepted  a  call  to  Piles- 
grove  and  Quihawken,t  in  West  Jersey.  Either  the  church  or- 
ganization at  Pilesgrove  had  become  extinct,  or  it  was  not  to  his 
mind ;  for  a  church  covenant|  was  signed,  April  30, 1741,  by  him- 
self and  twenty-five  others.  Among  the  signers  were  Isaac  Van 
Meter,  Henry  Van  INIeter,  Cornelius  Newkirk,  Abraham  Newkirk, 
Barnet  Dubois,  Lewis  Dubois,  and  Garret  Dubois. 

He  adhered  to  the  Old  Side  on  the  division  of  1741 :  so  did  his 
sons.  Samuel  succeeded  him  at  TredyfFryn.  Joel  graduated  at 
Yale  in  1740,  was  licensed  by  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  September 
17, 1741,  and  supplied  Woodbury  and  Deerfield.  In  April,  1742, 
Mr.  Vandyke,  from  Appoquinimy,  desired  that  he  might  be  sent  to 
them.     He  died  before  May,  1743. 

Pie  printed  in  Franklin's  Gazette  what  Samuel  Finley  calls 
"sullen  remarks"  on  Tennent's  letter  to  Dickinson;  and,  in  1748, 
published  his  "Law  and  Gospel;  or,  Man  wholly  ruined  by  the 
Law  and  recovered  by  the  Gospel,"  being  the  substance  of  several 
sermons  preached  in  1734,  at  Tredyffryn,  from  Galatians  iii.  10; 
Romans  i.  16.     He  adds  to  his  name  A.M.  and  V.D.M, 

The  following  paper§  is  curious  and  interesting : — 


*  MS.  Records  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery. 

f  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Salem ;  probably  Penn's  Rock. 

j  New  Jersey  Historical  Collections. 

§  Mr.  W.  E.  Dubois,  of  Philadelphia. 


350  DAVID   EVANS. 


A  petition  in  the  behalf  of  Jonathan  Dubois,*  a  hopeful  begin- 
ner in  learning. 

To  ALL  OUR  Christian  Friends  in  Sopus  or  anywhere  else,  etc. 

This  is  to  acquaint  you  that  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Barnet  Du- 
bois, (the  bearer  hereof,)  hath  been  at  learning  these  three-quarters 
of  a  year,  in  order  to  the  gospel  ministry,  and  proceeds  in  learning 
hopefully,  as  also  does  his  cousin  John,t  the  son  of  Lewis  Dubois, 
his  school-fellow.  But,  his  parents  not  being  well  able  to  bear  the 
charges  of  his  learning  Avithout  assistance,  we,  therefore,  on  be- 
half of  the  said  Jonathan,  earnestly  desire  and  beg,  in  the  bowels 
of  Jesus  Christ,  that  his  near  relatives,  and  any  others  that  are  able, 
would  open  their  hearts  and  hands  and  contribute  out  of  their 
earthly  possessions  for  the  carrying  on  of  so  good  and  necessary  a 
work,  unto  which  the  Lord  and  owner  of  all  that  you  have,  now  by 
bis  providence,  calls  you.  We  entreat  you,  Christian  brethren,  to 
manifest  the  sincerity  of  your  Christian  faith  and  love,  by  being 
rich  in  good  works,  (1  Timothy  vi.  17,  18,  19,)  being  assui'ed  that 
they  who  sow  bountifully  shall  reap  also  bountifully.  I  add  no 
more,  at  present,  but  all  sincere  wishes  for  your  temporal,  spiritual, 
and  eternal  happiness,  by  the  mercy  of  God  the  Father,  through 
the  merits  of  God  the  Son,  by  the  sanctification  of  God  the  Holy 
Ghost.     Amen.     And  so  rest 

Youi-s,  in  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ, 

David  Evans,  3finister. 

Pilesgrove,  in  Salem  county,  in  West  New  Jersey,  May  7,  1745. 

Be  it  known  to  all  whom  it  concerns  that  the  moneys  which 
Barnet  Dubois  formerly  collected  at  Sopus  and  elsewhere,  for  our 
public  religious  affairs,  were  honestly  laid  out  according  to  the 
tenor  of  the  petition." 

The  congregation  of  Pilesgrove  had  met  with  great  discourage- 
ments in  their  endeavours  to  have  the  gospel  settled  among  them, 
and  in  1739,  the  commission  of  the  synod  allowed  them  to  build 
on  the  site  they  had  chosen.  To  accomplish  the  erection,  they  sent 
a  messenger  to  Esopus  and  other  parts  of  Ulster,  in  New  York,  to 
their  relatives,  to  solicit  help. 

Evans  is  said  to  have  been  eccentric  and  high-spirited.     His 
preaching  gave  such  offence  on  one  occasion  to  a  person  at  Piles-   \ 
grove,  that,  rather  than  listen  a  moment  longer,  he  jumped  out  of 
the  church  window. 

He  died  before  May,  1751.     In  his  will,|  he  expresses  the  hope 

*  The  pastor,  for  many  yeai'S,  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  in  Bucks  county, 
Pennsylvania. 

I  Died  in  1745,  at  New  London,  while  pursuing  his  studies  with  Alison, 
j  Ou  record  at  Trenton. 


JOHN   BRADNER — HUGH   CONN.  351 

that  his  people  would  settle  a  student  from  the  College  of  New 
Jersey,  and  leaves  a  sum  of  money  to  be  given  to  his  successor  for 
his  encouragement. 


JOHN  BRADNER. 


On  his  arrival  from  Scotland,  Hampton  and  Henry,  on  good  and 
sufficient  reasons,  took  him  on  trial,  and  licensed  him  in  March, 
1714.  He  was  called  to  Cape  May,  and  ordained  May  6,  1715. 
He  removed,  in  1721,  to  Goshen,  in  Orange  county.  New  York,  and 
died  before  September,  1733. 

His  son,  Benoni,  is  said  to  have  been  born  in  1733.  He  gradu- 
ated at  Nassau  Hall,  in  1755;  but  by  whom  or  where  he  was 
licensed  or  ordained,  does  not  appear :  it  was  not  in  our  connec- 
tion. He  was  settled  at  the  Nine  Partners,  in  Dutchess  county, 
and  in  June,  1786,  became  the  minister  of  the  Independent  Church 
in  Blooming  Grove,  in  Orange.  Consumptive,  and  troubled  with 
shortness  of  breath,  he  lived  to  the  age  of  seventy-one,  and  died, 
January  29,  1804,  after  a  long  and  distressing  illness.  He  was  a 
trustee  of  the  Morris  County  Society  for  Promoting  Religion  and 
Learning,  from  its  formation. 


HUGH  CONN. 


He  was  born  at  Macgilligan,  in  Ireland,  about  1685;  and,  hav- 
ing studied  at  the  school  in  Foghanveil,  (Faughanvale,)  he  gradu- 
ated at  the  University  of  Glasgow. 

The  trade  from  the  Patapsco  to  Great  Britain  gave  rise  to  a 
Presbyterian  congregation  in  Baltimore  county;  and  their  appli- 
cation to  the  London  merchants  brought  their  case  under  the  eye 
of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Reynolds,  minister  in  London ;  and,  through 
his  agency,  the  Rev.  Hugh  Conn  came  over  to  be  their  ministei'. 
He  sent  letters  by  him  to  several  members  of  the  presbytery,  with 
the  pleasing  inteUigence  that  he  designed  to  continue  his  bounty 
(which  was  <£30  per  annum)  for  the  furtherance  of  the  gospel. 
Conn's  credentials  were  approved ;  and  in  September,  1715,  Mr. 
James  Gordon  presented  a  call  for  him  from  the  people  of  Balti- 


352  HUGH   CONN. 

more  county,  and  he  was  ordained  on  the  third  Wednesday  of 
October  following.*  McGill,  James  Anderson,  and  George  Gil- 
lespie officiated  on  the  occasion,  and  installed  him  pastor  of  the 
congregation  of  Patapsco.  In  September,  1719,  he  obtained 
leave  to  demit  his  pastoral  charge,  on  account  of  his  uselessness 
there,  from  the  "  paucity  of  his  flock.  He  immediately  took 
charge  of  the  people  on  the  East  Branch  of  Potomac  and  Po- 
monkcy, — they  having,  by  their  commissioner,  James  Bell,  (Beall,) 
petitioned  Newcastle  Presbytery  for  a  minister.  Bladcnsburg  is 
the  modern  designation  of  his  field  of  labour;  Pomonkey  being  a 
creek  in  that  vicinity.     He  remained  there  till  his  death. 

He  seldom  met  Avith  Newcastle  Presbytery,  but  attended  with 
creditable  regularity  on  the  synod.  He  adhered  to  the  Old 
Side. 

He  died  on  the  28th  of  June,  1752,  while  preaching  at  the 
funeralf  of  a  person  who  died  suddenly.  The  subject^  he  was 
upon  gave  him  occasion  to  mention  the  certainty  of  death,  the 
uncertainty  of  the  time  when  it  might  happen,  the  absolute  neces- 
sity of  being  continually  prepared  for  it,  the  vast  danger  of  delay 
and  trusting  to  a  death-bed  repentance ;  for  that,  although  we  may 
possibly  live  some  years,  yet  we  may  be  called  away  in  a  month 
or  a  week,  or,  for  aught  that  we  can  tell,  death  might  surprise  us 
the  next  moment.  This  part  of  his  discourse  he  was  observed  to 
deliver  with  some  elevation  of  voice,  but  had  scarce  uttered  the 
word  "moment,"  when,  putting  one  hand  to  his  head  and  one  to 
his  side,  he  fell  backward  and  expired,  verifying,  in  a  most  extra- 
ordinary manner,  the  truth  of  his  doctrine. 

President  Davies,  in  two  of  his  printed  sermons,  refers  to  the 
manner  of  his  death.  In  one,  preached  before  the  New  Side 
Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  in  October,  1752,  he  says,  "Death  may 
surprise  us  in  the  pulpit,  and  leave  the  sentence  unfinished  on  our 
lips.  As  Mr.  Conn  was  observing,  '  death  may  seize  us  the  next 
moment:  just  as  he  had  expressed  the  word  'moment,'  he  fell 
back  in  the  pulpit  and  immediately  expired."  In  his  New-Year 
Day  sermon,  in  1760,  he  says,  "  Consider  the  uncertainty  of 
time  to  you.  You  may  die  the  next  year,  the  next  month,  the 
next  week,  the  next  day,  the  next  moment.  I  once  knew  a 
minister,  who,  while  making  this  observation,  was  made  a  striking 
example  of  it,  and  instantly  dropped  dead  in  the  pulpit." 

*  Records,  p.  37 

f  Rev.  Dr.  Macsparran,  in  Updyke's  History  of  the  Chm-cli  iu  the  Narra- 
gansetts. 

I  Maryland  Gazette  of  July,  1752. 


KOBEKT  ORR — SAMUEL  PUMRY.  353 


ROBERT  ORR, 

A  PROBATIONER  from  Ireland  or  Scotland,  having  preached 
Bome  time  for  the  people  of  Maidenhead  and  Hopewell,  presented 
his  credentials  to  the  presbytery  in  1715.  They  were  approved ; 
and,  a  call  being  presented  by  Mr.  Philip  Rings,  he  was  ordained, 
October  20,  1715,  at  Maidenhead,  by  Andrews,  Morgan,  Dickin- 
son, Evans,  and  Bradner,  before  a  numerous  assembly.  His  field 
embraced  the  ground  covered  by  Pennington,  Lawrence,  Trentonl 
(First  Church,)  Trenton  City,  Titusville,  and  perhaps  Amwell. 

The  ground  for  a  Presbyterian  house  of  worship  in  Hopewell 
was  secured  by  deed  before  1700.  The  Churchmen  obtained  a 
lot  in  1703,  and  soon  after  built.  Evans,  the  Church  minister  in 
Philadelphia,  baptized  nineteen  children  at  one  time  at  Maiden- 
head, in  1700.  Andrews  frequently  went  to  Hopewell  to  baptize 
whole  households.  In  1711,  the  united  congregations,  by  William 
Yard,  asked  assistance  of  the  presbytery  in  getting  a  minister : 
they  had  then  Mr.  Sackett  preaching  for  them,  who  afterwards 
settled  at  West  Greenwich,  Connecticut.  Mr.  Woolsey,  of  Long 
Island,  also  visited  them;  and  a  complaint  was  lodged  against 
Governor  Hunter  by  Henderson,  the  Church  missionary,  in  1712, 
because  Woolsey  had  been  allowed  to  preach  in  the  Episcopal 
church  in  Hopewell. 

Of  Orr's  stay  in  Hopewell  nothing  is  known.  Andrews  bap- 
tized his  son  Henry,  July  18,  1715. 

He  was  dismissed  from  his  charge  in  1719,  and  received  a 
synodical  testimonial,  being  uncertain  how  Providence  would  dis- 
pose of  him.  Through  the  loss  of  the  Records  of  Philadelphia 
Presbytery,  his  subsequent  career  cannot  be  traced. 


SAMUEL  PUMRY 


Was  the  son*  of  Medad  Pumry,  of  Northampton,  Massa- 
chusetts,— his  mother  being  the  widow  of  the  Rev.  Israel  Chauu- 
cey.  He  was  born  September  16, 1687,  and  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1705.  He  was  a  faithful  recorder,  and  has  left  a  store  of  accu- 
rate and  valuable  information. 


*  Riker's  History  of  Newtown. 
23 


854  SAMUEL   PUMRT. 

Newtown,  on  Long  Island,  was  settled  in  1651,  and  had,  for 
its  first  minister,  William  Levcrich, — from  1658  till  his  death  in 
1660.  The  Venerable  Society  were  told,  in  1704,  that  there 
"Was  a  church  or  chapel  there,  in  which,  according  to  the  Tolera- 
tion Act,  a  Dissenting  minister  might  preach:  there  was  also  a 
house  for  a  minister.  When  Hampton  preached  there  in  January, 
1706,  there  was  "  a  meeting-house*  offered  to  record ;  but  the 
town  were  afraid  to  ask  Cornbury's  leave  to  settle  a  minister  of 
their  choice." 

Pumry  marriedf  Lydia  Taylor,  of  Northampton,  July  23,  1707; 
and,  being  at  Newtown  in  July,  1708,  a  call,  signed  by  some 
scores  of  heads  of  families,  was  offered  to  him.  On  his  accept- 
ing it,  the  town  sent  two  men  to  transport  his  family  thither; 
and  he  and  his  wife  and  child  were  conveyed  thither  safely  on  the 
18th  of  September,  1708.  The  members  in  full  communion,  and 
the  rest  of  the  people,  making  earnest  request,  the  Rev.  Solomon 
Stoddard,  of  Northampton,  John  W^illiams,  of  Deerfield,  and 
William  Williams,  of  Hatfield,  ordained  him,  November  30,  1709, 
at  Northampton,  before  a  great  congregation.  He  was  heartily 
and  unanimously  accepted  as  a  member  of  presbytery  in  Septem- 
ber, 1715,  he  promising  subjection  in  the  Lord.  The  next  year, 
the  reasons  of  his  elder's  absence  were  inquired  into  and  sus- 
tained. This  refutes  the  supposition,  that  there  were  no  elders  in 
the  congregation  till  1724,  when  he  stated  his  need  of  assistance 
in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  On  his  nomination.  Content  Titus, 
James  Renne,  and  Samuel  Coe  were  elected,  and  ordained  June  28, 
and  "  the  members  of  the  church  were  required  and  exhorted  to 
acknowledge  them  as  men  in  authority,  and  to  be  subject  to  them 
in  their  government  in  the  Lord." 

In  1722,  he  married  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Webb,  of 
Green's  Farms,  in  Connecticut. 

On  the  24th  of  May,  1744,  his  absence  from  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia  was  excused  on  account  of  bodily  indisposition.  He 
had  preached  for  the  last  time  on  Sabbath,  the  20th,  from  John 
xi.  15,  and  "  was  taken  amiss  in  the  evening,  and  died  about  eight 
in  the  morning  of  the  30th  of  June." 

The  "Church  Record"  adds,  "He  left  his  dear  bosom  friend 
and  congregation  to  bewail  an  unspeakable  loss." 

His  daughters  married  Philip  Edsall  and  Jacob  Ryker. 

His  son,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  Pumry,  of  Hebron,  Con- 
necticut, was  a  man  of  real  genius, — grave,  solemn,  and  weighty 
in  his  discourses,  in  manner  animated,  and  full  of  zeal  and  afiec- 
tion.     In  expostulating  and  pleading  with  sinners,  he  melted  into 


*  Makemie's  NaiTative. 

■|-  Prime's  History  of  Long  Island ;    Riker's  History  of  Newtown. 


JOHN   THOMSON.  355 

tears  ;  -witli  equal  advantage  he  could  set  the  terrors  of  the  Lord 
in  array,  and  the  wonders  of  Christ's  love, — his  glory  and  the 
sufficiency  of  his  righteousness,  and  the  blessedness  of  all  who  are 
reconciled  to  God  by  him.  He  Avas  one  of  the  best  preachers  of 
his  day,  and  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  successful  promoters  of 
the* revival.  For  this  his  name  was  cast  out  as  vile  by  the  opposers 
of  the  work. 

He  was  ordained  at  Hebron  in  1735,  and  died  there  in  1784,  in 
the  forty-ninth  year  of  his  ministry,  aged  seventy-one. 


JOHN  THOMSON 


Came  from  Ireland  as  a  probationer  to  New  York,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1715,  with  his  wife  and  child.     He  was  recommended  by 
the   presbytery  to  the  people  of  Lewes,  in  Delaware,  and  went    ^ 
thither.     In  the  fall  of  1716,  they  presented  a  call  for  him  by     ' 
their  commissioner,  William  Shankland ;  and  he  was  ordained  and 
installed  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  April,  1717. 

In  1723,  a  brick  church*  was  erected.  In  1727,  Samuel 
Bownas,t  an  English  Friend,  visited  George's  Creek,  Duck  Creek, 
Motherkill,  Hoarkill,  (Lewes,)  and  Cool  Spring.  "  Friends  are  >t 
seldom  visited,  and  have  few  ministers.  The  Presbyterians  and 
Churchmen  have  attempted  to  do  something;  but,  the  people 
being  poor,  and  the  pensions  small,  they  gave  out  for  want  of 
pay." 

Thomson  left  Lewes  in  September,  1729,  through  want  of  sup- 
port. He  was  invited  to  Newcastle;  and  the  next  fall  he  ac- 
cepted the  call  from  Middle  Octorara,  sent  by  James  Garner. 
His  installation  was  appointed  for  the  second  Wednesday  in  Octo-  "^ 

ber;  but,  being  harassed  by  disorders  among  his  people,  he  re- 
moved, in  1732,  to  Chestnut  Level.  Being  in  great  straits,  the 
congregations  in  Donegal  Presbytery  kindly  made  collections  for 
his  relief  in  1733.  His  thankful  acknowledgment  was  placed  on 
the  record. 

His  proposal  for  sending  an  itinerant  to  Virginia  being  ap- 
proved, he  was  charged  with  the   duty,  but  was  excused,  because 
of  the  severity  of  the  winter  and  the  scarcity  of  provender.     In      I 
the  winter  of  1738,  he  visited  the  Valley,  and  passed  through  the 

*  Spence.  f  Friends'  Library. 


356  JOHN   THOMSON. 

Rockfish  Gap  to  Concord,  Buffalo,  and  Cub  Creek.  "  He*  took 
up  collections,  to  support  preachers  in  itinerating  in  the  new  set- 
tlements, and  was  active  in  promoting  the  best  interests  of  our 
church."  In  June,  both  parts  of  Opequhon  supplicated  for  him. 
In  September,  1739,  Alexander  McDowell,  from  Virginia,  was 
introduced  to  the  presbytery,  having  (probably  at  Thoms(5n'8 
solicitation)  detennined  to  devote  himself  to  the  ministry.  Thom- 
son asked  to  be  dismissed  from  his  charge,  to  remove  to  Virginia; 
but  the  presbytery  would  not  consent. 

In  the  troubles  of  the  great  rupture  he  had  his  full  share.  The 
state  of  his  congregation  made  it  uncomfortable  for  him  to  re- 
move ;  he  was  poorly  paid,  and  he  turned  towards  Virginia,  where 
he  had  steadfast  friends.  He  was  not  released  till  July  31,  1744 ; 
and  then  he  at  once  made  his  home  in  the  Valley.  Donegal  Pres- 
bytery intrusted  to  him  and  Black  and  Craig  the  charge  of  the 
missionary  operations  in  Western  Virginia.  An  effort  was  made 
to  bring  him  back  to  Chestnut  Level. 

In  1744,  he  visited  North  Carolina,  and  again  in  1751.  During 
the  last  visit,  he  met  with  Henry  Patillo,  and  engaged  him  to  study 
for  the  ministry. 

He  published  at  Williamsburg,  in  1749, f  an  Explication  of  the 
Shorter  Catechism.     He  was  then  labouring  in  Amelia. 

His  son-in-law  having  removed  to  Buffalo,  in  Prince  Edward, 
Thomson  spent  the  closing  years  of  his  life  with  him,  and  died  in 
1753,  in  Centre,  North  Carolina. J 

During  the  distractions  following  the  rending  of  the  synod  in 
1741,  he  overtured  the  presbytery  to  suffer  no  person  to  be  in- 
ducted into  the  eldership,  or  to  sit  in  any  judicatory,  without  hav- 
ing subscribed  the  Confession  of  Faith, — a  vain  remedy,  when  the 
agitators  were  as  zealous  for  it  as  their  opposers. 

His  book  on  the  "  Government  of  the  Church,"  and  his  sermon 
on  "Conviction  and  Assurance,"  are  as  able,  learned,  judicious,  and 
evangelical,  as  any  of  the  writings  of  Dickinson  and  Blair.  Even 
Gilbert  Tennent,  in  1749,  quoted  largely  from  them,  with  high  com- 
mendation, to  justify  the  Old  Side  from  the  misrepresentations  cur- 
rent against  them,  and  to  prove  the  expediency  and  the  duty  of 
uniting  the  synods  in  one  body,  bound  together  by  a  common  faith, 
by  mutual  esteem,  and  by  fervent  desire  for  the  peace  of  Jeru- 
salem. 

It  was  told  to  Thomson  that  himself  had  been  pointed  out  by 
some  as  an  unconverted  minister ;  but,  if  Tennent  spoke  thus  of 
him,  repeating  the  sin  of  Moses  while  God  renewed  the  mercies  of 


*  Dr.  Foote.  f  In  the  hands  of  Rev.  B.  M.  Smith,  of  Staunton,  Virgina. 

X  Dr.  Foote;  but  Dr.  Alexander  said,  "He  lies  in  the  Buffalo  graveyard,  with- 
out a  stone." 


JOHN   PIERSON.  357 

Meribali,  it  was  to  him  as  "waters  that  pass  away,"  when  he  wrote 
his  "Irenicum." 

Davies  knew  Thomson  as  a  neighbour  in  the  ministry,  and,  in 
1751,  speaks  highly*  of  his  judgment,  and  hopefully  of  his  piety, 
and  says,  "  He  acknowledged  the  Revival  had  done  much  good  in 
Hanover,  and  rejoiced  in  seeing  the  prosperity  of  religion." 

He  did  not  live  to  see  the  union ;  but,  on  the  proposal  to  prepare 
the  way  for  it,  he  hastened  to  Philadelphia  from  Virginia,  to  assist 
with  healing  counsels.  He  lived  long  enough  for  Tennent  to  do 
his  writings  justice,  and  to  vindicate  his  sentiments ;  long  enough 
to  obtain,  from  the  devoted  admirer  of  Samuel  Blair,  unsolicited 
testimony  to  his  judgment  and  his  delight  in  the  promotion  of  the 
work  of  God. 

His  discourse  entitled  "An  Overture,  nrging  the  Synod  to  adopt, 
by  a  public  agreement,  the  Standards  of  the  Scottish  Church,"  was 
answered  by  Dickinson  ;  his  "Examination  of  the  New  Brunswick 
Apology"  was  a  treatise  on  the  government  of  the  church,  and 
called  forth  a  reply  from  Samuel  Blair ;  his  sermon  on  Convictions 
was  attacked  by  Samuel  Finley,  but  is  deservedly  commended  as  an 
excellent  exhibition  of  the  truth. 


JOHN   PIERSON 


Was  born  in  1689,  and  graduated  at  Yale  in  1711. 

The  Rev.  Abraham  Pierson  was  an  Independent,  and,  with  a  com- 
pany of  like  sentiments,  came  to  Lynn,  in  Massachusetts,  and  from 
thence  removed  to  Southampton,  on  Long  Island.  But,  when  the 
Long  Island  towns  put  themselves  under  the  Connecticut  jurisdic- 
tion, he,  with  those  of  the  ancient  way,  settled  Branford,  in  the 
colony  of  New  Haven,  as  their  brethren  in  Hartford  settled  Had- 
ley,  that  they  might  not  be  partakers  in  the  growing  laxity  of  dis- 
cipline. The  colonies  of  New  Haven  and  Connecticut  united ;  and 
the  aged  Pierson,  like  another  Moses,  said  to  his  people,  "  Ye  have 
dwelt  long  enough  in  this  mount;"  and  they  arose  and  took  their 
journey  and  settled  the  town  of  Newark,  in  New  Jersey.  There 
he  died.  His  son,  being  "a  moderate  Presbyterian,"  left  Newark, 
and  became  the  Rector  of  Yale.  His  Presbyterianism  was  that  of 
Connecticut,  in  distinction  from  the  Independency  of  his  father. 

Woodbridge  had  vainlyf  endeavoured,  in  1609,  to  secure  for  its 
pastor  the  younger  Pierson,  then  settled  in  Newark.     They  built 

*  Letter  to  Bellamy.  •}■  Newark  Sentinel. 


358  JONATHAN   DICKINSON. 

a  meeting-house  thirty  feet  square,  and,  after  passing  through 
many  uncomfortable  seasons,  obtained  a  pastor  "vvho  served  them 
faithfully  through  a  long  life. 

In  1715,  Andrews  wrote  pressingly  to  the  people  of  Woodbridge, 
urging  them  to  use  utmost  diligence  to  have  a  minister  ordained 
among  them.  At  that  time,  Pierson  was  preaching  there,  and  a 
call  was  oifercd  to  him  the  next  year.  lie  was  ordained  there, 
April  29,  1717,  before  a  very  great  assembly.  Andrews,  Morgan, 
and  Orr  were  assisted  on  the  occasion  by  the  venerable  Prudden, 
of  Newark,  and  Dickinson,  of  Elizabethtown. 

He  is  said*  to  have  employed  no  elders  in  the  management  of 
f  church  affairs ;  but  this  tradition  is  inconsistent  with  the  record, 
his  elder  at  synod,  in  1742,  being  John  Ball;  probably,  also,  Moses 
Kolph  attended  in  several  previous  years. 

He  published  a  treatise  on  the  "Intercession  of  Christ,"  and  a 
sermon  preached  before  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  May  8, 1751, 
on  "  Christ,  the  son  of  God,  as  God,  Man,  Mediator." 

His  wife,  Ruth,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Timothy  Woodbridge,  of 
Hartford,  died  in  1782,  aged  thirty-eight.  Dickinson  printed  his 
sermon  at  her  funeral. 

In  1753,  he  resigned  his  pastoral  charge  and  settled  at  Mend- 
ham,  New  Jersey,  and  was  the  minister  there  for  ten  years.  He 
then  removed  to  Long  Island,  and  resided  on  the  farm  of  his 
second  wife,  Judith  Smith.  On  her  decease,  he  removed  to  Hano- 
ver, New  Jersey,  and  closed  his  days  under  the  roof  of  his  son- 
in-law,  the  Rev.  Jacob  Green.  He  died  August  23,  1770,  aged 
eighty-one. 


JONATHAN  DICKINSON 


Was  the  grandson  of  Nathaniel  Dickinson,  one  of  the  first  set- 
tlers of  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  who,  with  his  minister,  Mr.  Rus- 
sell, and  "the  aggrieved  brethren  in  Hartford,"  purchased  and  set- 
tled Hadley  and  the  adjoining  towns  in  1G59.  His  estate  was 
rated,  on  his  removal,  at  two  hundred  pounds, — one  of  the  largest 
in  the  town.  His  son  Hezekiah  lived  in  Hatfield,  where  Jonathan 
was  born,  April  22,  1G88.  He  graduated  at  Yale,  in  1706.  His 
father  dying  soon  after,  his  mother  married  Thomas  Ingersoll,  of 
Springfield. 

He  came  to  Elizabethtown  in  1708,  and  soon  after  married  Jo- 

*  Dr.  Azel  Roe's  MS.  History  of  'VYoodbridge :  quoted  by  Dr.  Hodge. 


JONATHAN  DICKINSON.  359 

anna,  the  claugliter  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Melyen,  or  of  some  other 
descendant  of  Joseph  Melyen,  one  of  the  associates  in  the  purchase 
of  the  Elizabethtown  Tract  under  Governor  Nicolls's  grant.  His 
entry  in  the  family  Bible  of  the  birth  of  his  first  child  is,  "  Our 
son  Melyen  was  born  December  7,  1709." 

He  was  ordained  by  the  ministers  of  Fairfield  county,  Connecti- 
cut, September  29,  1709.  Morgan,  of  Ereehold,  preached  from 
Mark  xvi.  16.  His  field  of  labour  embraced  Rahway,  Westfield, 
Connecticut  Farms,  Springfield,  and  part  of  Chatham.  He  was 
engaged  in  teaching,  and  in  the  practice  of  medicine. 

He  met  with  Philadelphia  Presbytery  as  a  correspondent,  in  1715, 
at  the  ordination  of  Orr,  and  became  a  member  early  in  1717. 

His  first  publication  was  his  sermon  preached  before  the  synod 
in  1722,  on  1  Timothy  iii.  17, — the  expression  of  his  views  on  the 
subject  of  Synodical  Acts,  or  Church  Legislative  Power. 

He  entered  warmly  on  the  Episcopal  controversy  when  a  heartless 
Arminianism  and  a  hope  of  court  favour  led  a  few  ministers  in  Con- 
necticut to  conform.  In  1724,  he  published  his  ''Defence  of  Pres- 
byterian Ordination  in  Boston."  A  reply  from  a  Churchman  drew 
from  him  an  answer,  in  which  he  says,  "High-Churchism  is  pro- 
perly no  more  a  part  of  the  Church  of  England  than  a  wen  is  of 
the  human  body." 

He  published  "  Remarks  on  Thomson's  Overture,  introducing  the 
Adopting  Act,"  in  April,  1729;  the  "Reasonableness  of  Chris- 
tianity," in  1732  ;  the  "  Vanity  of  Human  Institutions  in  Religious 
"Worship,"  a  sermon  he  had  preached  at  Newark,  June  2, 1732,  on  the 
introduction  of  the  Episcopal  services  into  that  town ;  the  "  Reason- 
ableness of  Nonconformity,"  in  1738  ;  the  "Witness  of  the  Spirit," 
in  17-1:0  ;  "A  Treatise  on  Regeneration,"  in  1744  ;  the  "Vindication 
of  the  Sovereignty  of  Grace,"  in  1776  ;  and  "  Familiar  Letters  to  a 
Gentleman,"  and  a  "  Dialogue,  entitled  a  Display  of  Saving  Grace." 
Mr.  Wetmore  defended  against  him  the  doctrine  of  regeneration  by 
baptism  ;  the  Rev.  Andrew  Croswell  condemned  the  "Dialogue  on  a 
Display  of  Grace"  as  pernicious  beyond  parallel.  Dickinson  replied 
to  him,  and  also  to  the  Rev.  John  Beach,  who  Avrote  against  his  book  on 
"  Sovereign  Grace."  Beach  rejoined,  and  Dickinson  left,  at  his  death, 
an  answer  unfinished.  It  was  completed  and  published  by  his  brother. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson,  of  Stratford,  Connecticut,  controverted  his 
opinions,  under  the  name  of  Aristocles.  The  Rev.  Experience  May- 
hew  also  addressed  two  letters  to  him.     To  both  of  them  he  replied. 

In  1740,  he,  with  Burr  and  Pemberton,  communicated  to  the 
Society  in  Scotland  for  Propagating  the  Gospel,  the  deplorable  and 
perishing  condition  of  the  Indians  on  Long  Island,  in  New  Jersey, 
and  Pennsylvania.  They  were  appointed  correspondents,  and 
authorized  to  employ  missionaries.  They  engaged  Azariah  liorton 
and  David  Brainerd,  and  were  forward  to  countenance  them  iu 
their  work  and  to  rejoice  their  spirits  with  hearty  counsel. 


360  JONATHAN   DICKINSON. 

His  former  instances  of  joy  in  revivals,  previously  enjoyed,  wcro 
more  eminent  and  remarkable  than  any  of  a  late  date.  While  he 
preached  to  youth,  there  was  weeping,  audible  sighing,  and  sobbing. 
About  sixty  were  added  to  the  communion ;  they  were  under  a  law- 
work  for  a  considerable  time ;  pungent  and  thorough  conviction 
emptied  them  of  self-righteousness,  and  drew  them  to  Christ. 

The  disorders  attending  the  awakening  in  New  Jersey  grew  out 
of  erroneous  views  of  assurance  and  the  witness  of  the  Spirit. 
Antinomianism  appeared,  and  denounced  the  practice  of  looking 
for  evidence  of  justification  in  the  progress  of  our  sanctificiition. 
There  was  much  arrogance  in  some  who  were  called  converts ;  and 
many  upheld  a  preacher  who  had  been  suspended  for  dreadful 
scandals.  These  things  called  forth  his  "  Dialogue  on  the  Display 
of  Grace"  and  his  sermon  on  the  "Witness  of  the  Spirit." 

His  wife  died  April  20,  1745,  aged  sixty-three ;  she  was  the  mo- 
ther of  a  large  family,  of  whom  only  three  daughters  survived  her. 
The  third  child  was  named  after  his  father,  born  Sept.  19,  1713, 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1731,  and  took  the  Master's  degree.  He  left 
his  home ;  and  his  father  daily  in  the  family  entreated  God  for 
him.  At  length  he  ceased  to  do  so.  His  household  noticed,  but 
none  asked  the  reason,  supposing  that  he  had  received  privately 
intelligence  of  his  end  too  painful  to  be  uttered.  His  youngest 
daughter,  Martha,  married  the  Rev.  Caleb  Smith ;  another  was  the 
second  wife  of  Mr.  Jonathan  Sergeant,  of  Princeton,  the  grand- 
father of  the  Hon.  John  Sergeant,  of  Philadelphia ;  a  third  mar- 
ried Mr.  John  Cooper,  probably  of  West  Hampton,  Long  Island. 

Brainerd  spent  part  of  the  closing  year  of  his  life  under  Dick- 
inson's roof,  and  solemnized  his  second  marriage  at  Newark,  April  7, 
1747.  He  rode  back  to  Ellzabethtown  in  the  evening,  ''  in  a  plea- 
sant frame,,  full  of  composure  and  sweetness." 

Dickinson  died  Oct.  12,  1747,  of  a  pleuritic  attack,  in  his  sixtieth 
year.  Pierson  preached  at  his  funeral.  The  New  York  Postboy 
contains  a  high  eulogium  on  him. 

Dr.  Johnes,*  of  Morristown,  who  was  with  him  in  his  last  illness, 
asked  him,  just  before  his  death,  concerning  his  prospects.  "  Many 
days  have  passed  between  God  and  my  soul,  in  which  I  have  so- 
lemnly dedicated  myself  to  him  ;  and,  I  trust,  what  I  have  committed 
unto  him,  He  is  able  to  keep  until  that  day."  These  were  his 
last  words. 

It  is  said  thattidingsf  of  Dickinson's  decease  came  toMr.Vaughan, 
the  minister  of  Elizabethtown,  then  lying  on  his  death-bed,  when 
he  exclaimed,  "  Oh  that  I  had  hold  of  the  skirts  of  Brother  Jona- 
than!" They  entered  on  their  ministry  in  the  town  about  the 
same  time,  and  "in  their  death  they  were  not  divided." 

*  Austin's  Preface  to  the  Five  Points. 
■)•  Dr.  Murray's  Notes  on  Elizabethtown. 


SAMUEL   GELSTON.  3G1 

Forty-six*  years  after  his  departure,  "  there  were  those  who  tes- 
tified that  he  was  a  most  solemn,  weighty,  and  moving  preacher ; 
a  uniform  advocate  for  the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  grace;  in-, 
dustrious,  indefatigable,  and  successful  in  his  ministerial  labours. 
His  person  was  manly  and  of  full  size,  his  aspect  grave  and  solemn, 
so  that  the  wicked  seemed  to  tremble  in  his  presence." 

Bellamy  speaks  of  him  as  "the  great  Mr.  Dickinson."  Dr.  Ers- 
kine  said  the  British  Isles  had  produced  no  such  writers  on  divi- 
nity in  the  eighteenth  century  as  Dickinson  and  Edwards;  he  wished 
Hervey  had  seen  their  treatises  before  he  prepared  his  works.  Dr. 
Rodgers  was  often  heard  to  say  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  vene- 
rable and  apostolical-looking  men  he  ever  saw. 

Foxcroft,  of  Boston,  was  his  friend  through  life,  and,  in  his  pre- 
face to  his  posthumous  piece,  expresses  a  high  sense  of  his  excel- 
lence. His  works  were  collected  after  his  death  and  published 
in  Boston.  A  selection,  comprising  all  that  were  ijiot  local  in 
their  design,  was  printed  in  Edinburgh,  in  an  octavo  volume,  in 
1793. 

His  treatise  on  "  The  True  Scripture  Doctrine  concerning  the 
Five  Points  of  Election,  Original  Sin,  Grace  in  Conversion,  Jus- 
tification by  Faith,"  was  issued  at  Boston,  in  1741.  Under  the 
direction  of  New  York  Presbytery,  in  1796,  a  new  edition  ap- 
peared; and  another  was  undertaken  at  Chambersburg  in  ISOO.f 


SAMUEL   GELSTON 

Was  born  in  the  North  of  Ireland  in  1692,  and  came  as  a  pro- 
bationer to  New  England  in  1715.  He  was  received  in  the  fall 
under  the  care  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  and  was  sent  to  the 
people  of  Kent,  on  Delaware.  Though  desired  to  stay,  he  left  with- 
out the  consent  of  presbytery,  and  went  to  Southampton,  on  Long 
Island.  There  his  brother  Hugh  resided:  he  was  called  as  col- 
league with  the  pastor.  Samuel  Whiting  and  the  congregation 
placed  itself  under  the  presbytery's  care.  The  Presbytery  of  Long 
Island,  on  its  organization,  took  him  on  trial,  and  ordained  and  in- 
stalled him,  April  17,  1717.  His  stay  was  about  ten  years;  and, 
Aug.  27,  1728,  he  was  received  as  a  member  of  Newcastle  Presby- 
tery, and  took  into  consideration  a  call  to  Newcastle.     The  next 

*  The  Rev.  David  Austin,  in  his  Preface  to  the  Five  Points. 
I  John  Colman,  of  Chambei'sburg,  subscribed  for  144  copies. 


862  SAMUEL   GELSTON. 

month,  he  was  called  to  New  London,*  Chester  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Tiiis  was  a  new  erection,  which  for  two  years  had  vainly  strug- 
gled for  a  separate  existence,  the  conrrregation  of  Elk  River  op- 
posing. Tiio  presbytery,  INIay  11,  17-*),  had  refused  leave  to  a 
few  families  residing  on  the  northeast  side  of  Great  Elk,  to  build 
a  meeting-house,  and  have  a  part  of  their  pastor's  labours  performed 
in  it.  The  house  was  put  up,  and  the  synod  confirmed  the  action 
of  the  presbytery  ;  but  the  next  year  they  modified  it,  requiring  the 
house  to  be  removed  to  a  point  six  miles  distant  from  Houston's 
church.  Only  one  person  dissented  from  this  decision,  and  from 
the  order  forbidding  any  minister  to  preach  in  it,  until  removed. 
The  site  pointed  out,  near  the  Indian  town,  towards  Fagg's  Manor, 
cannot  now  be  ascertained.  The  house  was  not  removed,  and  the 
synod  renewed  its  stringent  order.  The  presbytery  exacted  of 
Gelston  an  apologyfor  preacliing  in  the  forbidden  building,  and  laid 
him  under  a  solemn  engagement  to  do  so  no  more.  In  1731,  the 
matter  was  terminated,  by  leaving  the  house  where  it  was  built; 
none  of  the  apprehended  damage  having  accrued  to  the  congrega- 
tion of  Upper  Elk.  It  is  thought  probable  that  the  present  New 
London  Church  stands  on  the  very  spot  selected  by  the  presby- 
tery, and  so  tenaciously  refused  by  the  congregation. 

Robert  Finney,  who  was  an  elder  in  synod  in  1721  from  Elk 
River,  Avas  the  principal  mover  for  the  new  erection.  In  1729,  he, 
with  James  Muir,  protested  against  the  synod's  refusal  to  have  a 
perambulation  made  of  the  bounds  in  dispute  by  indifferent  men, 
and  against  their  hearkening  to  the  representations  of  those  who 
were  bent  on  defeating  the  enterprise. 

The  arrangements  for  Gelston's  installation  in  January,  1729, 
were  postponed,  as  a  rebuke  for  having  preached  in  the  objection- 
able locality.  He  left  his  charge  as  early  as  1733,  and  fell  under 
censure.  Going  into  the  Highlands  of  New  York,  many  evil  re- 
ports arose ;  but  a  committee  of  synod  met  at  Goshen  and  saw 
reason  to  remove  his  suspension.  He  seems  to  have  visited  Vir- 
ginia in  1735;  for,  in  May,  173G,  "both  parts  of  0  Pekon  wrote 
for  him"  to  Donegal  Presbytery.  He  had  joined  that  body  about 
a  month  before,  and  was  sent  to  Opequhon,  to  Conestoga,  and  Cone- 
doguinet.  In  the  fall,  he  was  directed  to  supply  Pequea,  and  in  the 
spring  following,  having  informed  the  presbytery  he  was  about  to 
remove  from  their  bounds,  he  was  dismissed.  In  1748,  Robert 
Cross  wrote  to  him  to  repay  the  money  he  had  borrowed  of  the 
synod's  fund  ;  and  in  1753,  a  promise  was  made  to  remit  all  the  in- 
terest in  arrear,  if  he  Avould  fortlnvith  pay  the  principal. 

He  is  saidf  to  have  died  Oct.  22,  1782,  aged  ninety. 

*  Rev.  R.  P.  Dubois's  Historical  Discourse  at  New  London, 
•j-  Thompson's  History  of  Long  Island. 


GEORGE   PHILLIPS — HENEY   HOOK.  363 


GEORGE  PHILLIPS 

Came*  of  a  distinguished  Puritan  ancestry,  being  the  son  of  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Phillips,  of  Rowley,  Massachusetts,  and  the  grand- 
son of  the  celebrated  divine,  George  Phillips,  of  Watertown,  who 
came  to  New  England,  in  1630,  with  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall. 

George  Phillips  was  born  June  3,  1644,  and  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1686 :  he  was  employed  as  a  licentiate  at  several  places, 
besides  Jamaica,  where  he  laboured  till  his  removal  to  Setauket, 
from  1693  to  1697. 

Brookhaven,  an  eight-sided  township,  the  largest  on  Long  Island, 
was  settled  from  Boston,  in  1655.  The  place  where  the  planters 
fixed  their  abode  was  called  Setauket,  from  the  Indian  tribe  which 
had  dwelt  there.  For  thirty-five  years,  the  town  had  for  its 
minister  Nathaniel  Brewster,  the  grandson  of  the  ruling  elder  of 
the  Pilgrim  Church,  of  Plymouth.  As  a  colleague  to  him,  Dugald 
Simson  was  employed  from  1685  to  1691,  when  he  returned  to 
Scotland. 

The  town  promised  Phillips  the  gift  of  one  hundred  acres  in  fee, 
and  the  use  of  two  hundred  more  for  life.  He  was  not  ordained 
from  1697  till  April  13,  1702. 

The  Second  Meeting-house  was  planned  in  1710,  and  the  dis- 
agreement about  the  site  was  not  removed  till  1714 ;  when,  by  an 
appeal  to  the  lot,  it  was  decided  to  build  on  the  old  spot.  This 
edifice  was  used  till  1811 ;  British  soldiers  occupied  it  in  the  war, 
and  left  on  it  marks  of  bullets  and  cannon-balls. 

Phillips  joined  in  forming  Long  Island  Presbytery,  in  1717.  On 
its  extinction,  he  was  connected  with  New  York  Presbytery  till  his 
death,  in  1739.     He  was  never  present  in  synod. 


HENRY  HOOK 


Came  as  an  ordained  minister  from  Ireland,  and  was  received 
by  the  synod  in  1718;  and  he  settled  at  Cohanzy.  Andrews 
wrote  to  Mather,t  April  30,  1722:— "The  week  before  last,  by 
the  pressing  importunity  of  the  minister  of  Cohanzy,  I  went  thither 
to   heal  some   dijBferences  between  the  two   congregations  thei'e; 

*  Thompson's  History  of  Long  Island;  Prime's  ditto. 
■}•  Mather  MSS.,  Am.  Antiq.  See. 


364  JOSEPH    LAMB — WILLIAM    TENNENT. 

which  being  effected,  contrary  to  expectation,  such  charges  were 
laid  against  him  as  have  subverted  him  from  acting  there  or  any- 
where else."  lie  removed  to  Dchiware;  and  Newcastle  Presby- 
tery met  in  Cohanzy  to  investigate  the  case.  The  synod  judged, 
though  several  things  were  not  proven,  yet  it  was  due  to  rebuke 
him  openly,  in  Fairfield  Meeting-house,  and  to  suspend  him  for  a 
season.     He  was  sent  to  supply  Conestoga  and  St.  Jones,  in  Kent, 

yon  Delaware.  Hans  Hanson  and  John  Burgess,  commissioners 
from  Drawyers  or  Appoquinimy,  presented  a  call  for  him,  March 
12,  1723:  he  did  not  accept  till  September  14,  1724,  and  Creag- 
head,  of  White  Clay,  installed  him.  He  was  sent  frequently,  as  a 
supply,  to  St.  Jones,  and,  in  1737,  to  Kent,  in  Maryland.  He 
died  in  1741,  and  was  buried  on  land  he  had  bought  in  1724,  and 
which  is  owned  by  his  descendants  at  this  day. 


JOSEPH  LAMB 


Graduated  at  Yale  in  1717,  and  was  ordained,  by  Long  Island 
Presbytery,  December  6,  1717,  pastor  of  Mattituck,  Long  Island. 

But  few  things  are  known  of  him,  further  than  that  his  wife  died 
in  April,  1729;  that  he  was  appointed  by  the  synod  to  supply 
Jamaica,  in  April,  1737 ;  and  that,  being  called  to  Baskingridge, 
in  New  Jersey,  he  joined  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  May  24, 
1744. 

Brownlee  calls  him  "a  Scottish  worthy;"  but  he  was  probably  a 
native  of  Connecticut,  for  he  was  sent,  in  July,  1744,  to  supply 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Milford,  in  that  colony.  He  died  in 
1749. 


WILLIAM  TENNENT 


Was  born  in  Ireland,  and  was  a  cousin,*  on  the  mother's  side, 
of  James  Logan,  the  Secretary  of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania; 
the  Rev.  Patrick  Logan  having  married  Isabel  Hume,  a  relative 
of  the  Laird  of  Dundas  and  the  Earl  of  Panmure.  Tennent  mar- 
ried, May  15,  1702,  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kennedy,  a  dis- 

*  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia. 


"WILLIAM    TENNENT.  365 

tmguished  Presbyterian  minister  in  Ireland.  The  Rev.  Gilbert 
Kennedy,  a  kinsman  of  the  good  Earl  of  Cassilis,  who  sat  in  the 
Westminster  Assembly,  having  been  ejected  from  his  charge  in 
Girvan,  Ayrshire,  went  to  Ireland,  and  became  the  minister  of 
Dundonald.  He  was  imprisoned,  in  1670,  by  Boyle,  Bishop  of 
Down,  and  died  February  6,  1G87-8.  His  brother  Thomas  was 
the  minister  of  Donoughmore;  and  his  grandson,  Gilbert,  suc- 
cessively minister  of  Lisburn,  Killileagh,  and  Belfast,  died  in 
1773. 

William  Tennent  was  ordained,  by  the  Bishop  of  Down,  a  deacon 
in  July,  1704,  and  a  priest,  September  22,  1706.  He  resided  in 
Down  at  the  time  of  his  marriage,  then  in  Armagh,  and,  after 
entering  into  orders,  in  Antrim  and  Down.  He  is  said  to  have 
held  a  chaplaincy  in  a  nobleman's  family. 

A  brief*  family  record  states  the  births  of  Tennent's  children, 
and  their  baptism  by  Church  ministers.  After  having  beenf  in 
orders  a  number  of  years,  he  became  scrupulous  of  conforming  to 
the  terms  imposed  on  the  clergy  of  the  Establishment,  and  was 
deprived  of  his  living.  There  being  no  satisfactory  prospect  of 
usefulness  at  home,  he  came  to  America  with  his  wife,  four  sons, 
and  a  daughter,  in  September,  1716. 

He  settled,  November  22,  1718,  at  East  Chester,  New  York,  and 
removed.  May  3,  1720,  to  Bedford.  In  1721,  he  took  charge  of 
Bensalem  and  Smithfield,  in  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania.  He  ac- 
cepted a  call  to  Neshaminy  in  1726.  He  had  a  school,  at  which  his 
sons  and  others  were  educated, — the  Latin  being  as  familiar  to  him 
as  his  mother-tongue.  In  1728,  James  LoganJ  gave  him  fifty  acres 
on  Neshaminy  Creek,  "to  encourage  him  to  prosecute  his  views, 
and  to  make  his  residence  near  us  permanent."  The  presbytery 
did  not  send  a  minister  to  install  him ;  but  the  people,  being  asked 
in  the  meeting-house,  declared  their  acceptance  of  him  as  their 
pastor.  He  had  two  congregations,  distinguished  on  the  presby- 
tery-book as  the  upper  and  lower.  On  obtaining  the  land,  a  log 
building  was  erected,  twenty  feet  square,  in  which  his  pupils 
studied.  Whitefield  says,  eight  ministers  trained  by  him  were 
sent  out  before  the  fall  of  1739.  Of  these,  four  were  his  sons; 
two  others  were  Samuel  Blair  and  John  Rowland. 

In  September,  1734,  the  newly-formed  congregation  of  Newtown 
asked  for  one-fourth  of  his  time ;  but  his  upper  congregation  would 
not  consent.  In  June,  1736,  he  asked  the  presbytery  if  they  con- 
sidered him  the  regular  pastor  of  Neshaminy:  they  replied  that 
they  did.  The  people  then  carried  the  matter  to  the  synod,  who 
concurred  with  the  court  below.  Again  Tennent  asked  the  presby- 
tery, in   1738,  and  they  replied  as  before.     Two  years  after,   a 

*  Published  by  Dr.  Alexander,  in  the  Log  College. 

f  Memoir  of  Wm.  Tennent,  of  Freehold.  |  Watson. 


366  WILLIAM  TENNENT. 

petition,  signed  by  sixty-six  names,  was  brought,  asking  for  an 
assistant.  The  presbytei*y  called  Boyd  and  Thomson  to  sit  with 
them  in  considering  the  matter:  they  came,  and  Tennent  freely 
and  cheerfully  agreed  to  the  people's  proposal.  It  Avas  arranged 
that  each  party  should  pay  their  own  minister,  and  the  two  should 
preach  "day  about."     McIIenry  was  chosen  as  assistant. 

His  people  complained,  September  18,  1739,  that  he  had  yielded 
his  pulpit  to  Rowland,  against  the  synod's  express  order  in  the 
previous  May.  When  the  presbytery  entered  on  the  consideration 
of  the  case,  he  disclaimed  their  jurisdiction,  and  withdrew;  and 
they  did  no  more  than  beseech  his  friends  not  to  suffer  the  like 
violation  of  the  synod's  authority  any  more. 

On  the  10th  of  November,  he  came  to  Philadelphia  to  sec  "White- 
field,  who  rejoiced  to  welcome  "an  old,  gray-headed  disciple  and 
soldier  of  Jesus  Christ, — a  great  friend  of  Mr.  Erskine,  but  secretly 
despised  by  most  of  the  synod."  Two  days  after,  AVhitefield  went 
to  Neshaminy,  and,  on  his  arrival,  found  Gilbert  Tennent  preach- 
ing in  the  churchyard  to  three  thousand  persons.  He  stopped  at 
once,  and  gave  out  a  psalm;  after  which  "Whitefield  preached, 
and  the  people  were  unaffected;  but,  in  the  midst  of  my  dis- 
course, the  power  of  the  Lord  Jesus  came  upon  me.  The  Lord 
brought  great  things  to  pass."  The  revival  was  extensive  and 
poAverful  there. 

Tennent  entertained  Whitefield  as  one  of  the  ancient  patriarchs 
would  have  done.  Whitefield  saw  in  him  another  Zacharias ;  and 
his  wife  appeared  like  Elizabeth.  There  were  then  "  several 
gracious  youth"  in  the  Log  College,  nearly  ready  for  the  ministry. 
Whitefield  wrote  to  a  friend  in  Philadelphia,  July  15,  1740,  "  I 
rejoice  you  have  been  at  Neshaminy.  I  can  say  of  Mr.  Tennent 
and  his  brethren  as  David  did  of  Goliath's  sword : — '  none  like 
them.'  " 

Tennent  was  regularly  at  synod  during  the  exciting  scenes  of 
the  three  years  preceding  the  rupture,  and  concurred  with  his 
sons  in  all  their  measures.  Reg-ardinsii;  himself  as  cast  out  bv  the 
Protest,  in  1741,  he  withdrew  from  the  synod  and  joined  New 
Brunswick  Presbytery.  He  soon  asked  for  an  assistant ;  and  sup- 
plies were  sent  till  1743,  when  Beatty  was  called  and  ordained. 
Roan  took  charge  of  the  school  for  a  season. 

Tennent  finished  his  earthly  course  May  6,  1746,  aged  seventy- 
three,  having  seen  of  his  pupils,  Samuel  Blair,  Rowland,  McCrea, 
Robinson,  John  Blair,  Samuel  Finley,  Roan,  Beatty,  Lawrence, 
and  Dean,  besides  his  four  sons,  make  honourable  proof  of  their 
ministry,  as  men  "  allowed  of  God." 

He  lived  and  died  poor.  On  his  coming  to  this  country,  he  bor- 
rowed from  the  synod's  fund,  McNish  being  his  security.  He 
asked,  in  1724,  for  "  some  supply  from  the  fund,"  in  vain.  On  one 
occasion,  the  unpaid  interest  was  remitted.     His  widow  petitioned 


SAMUEL   YOUNG — ROBERT    CROSS.  *o67 

for  the  same  favour :  eight  pounds  were  thrown  off,  on  condition  that 
principal  and  interest  were  paid  at  once. 

His  widow,  Catharine,  closed  her  days  with  her  son  Gilbert, 
and  died  in  Philadelphia,  May  7,  1753,  aged  seventy.  Of  his 
daughter,  Eleanor,  we  have  no  notice  except  of  her  birth,  Decem- 
ber 27,  1708. 

To  William  Tennent,  above  all  others,  is  owing  the  pros- 
perity and  enlargement  of  the  Presb3''terian  church.  Other  men 
were  conservative,  and  to  their  timely  erection  of  barriers  avo 
owe  our  deliverance  from  the  "New  Light"  of  Antrim;  others 
were  valiant  for  the  truth,  and  exerted  by  the  press  a  wide  influ- 
ence on  the  age ;  many  were  steadily  and  largely  useful  in  par- 
ticular departments  and  in  limited  spheres  :  but  Tennent  had  the 
rare  gift  of  attracting  to  him  youth  of  worth  and  genius,  im- 
buing them  with  his  healthful  spirit,  and  sending  them  forth 
sound  in  the  faith,  blameless  in  life,  burning  with  zeal,  and  un- 
surpassed as  instructive,  impressive,  and  successful  preachers. 


SAMUEL  YOUNG 


Was  received  from  Armagh  Presbytery  by  the  synod,  Septem- 
ber 23,  1718,  and  was  appointed  by  Newcastle  Presbytery  to 
supply  Drawyers.  In  May,  1720,  a  number,  (lately  come  from 
Ireland,)  having  settled  about  the  branches  of  Elk  River,  sent 
Thomas  Read  and  Thomas  Caldwell  to  present  their  case  to  the 
presbytery.  Young  visited  them,  and  countenanced  their  design  of 
having  the  gospel  settled  among  them.  They  were  organized  as 
a  congregation  in  June,  and  they  made  out  a  call  for  Young  in 
September:  he  declined,  and  died  before  June  6,  1721,  leaving  a 
widow. 


ROBERT   CROSS 


Was  born  near  Ballykelly,*  in  Ireland,  1689;  and  his  cre- 
dentials as  a  probationer  were  approved  by  the  synod  in  1717. 
After   spending   some   time  in  Newcastle,  he  was  called  to  that 

*  Near  Letterkenny,  according  to  Mr.  Hazard. 


868  ROBERT    CROSS. 

place  on  September  17,  1718;  he  was  ordained  and  installed, 
March  17,  1711*.  Young  preached,  and  Andrews  was  present  as 
a  correspondent.  The  congregation  of  Jamaica,  Long  Island, 
called  him,  September  18,  1728,  to  succeed  McNish.  He  ac- 
cepted the  call ;  and,  on  the  failure  of  the  Church  missionary  in 
his  suit  for  the  ejectment  of  the  tenants  from  the  parsonage  lands, 
he  was,  by  a  vote  of  the  town,  (January  2,  1725,)  put  into  pos- 
session of  them. 


GOVERNOR  BURNETT*  TO  THE  BISHOP  OF  LONDON. 

•'New  York,  July  14,  1727. 

"My  Lord:— 

"  I  have  been  informed  by  Mr.  Poyer  that  there  is  an  action 
commenced  by  the  Presbyterians  of  Jamaica  for  the  English 
church,  which  they  pretend  was  built  by  them,  and  taken  from 
them  by  violence  by  my  Lord  Cornbury. 

"  I  know  nothing  certain  about  their  claim  ;  but  if  they  take 
the  course  of  law  I  cannot  help  it ;  but,  they  having  committed  a 
riot  in  taking  possession  of  the  church,  the  attorney-general  here 
has  lodged  an  information  Against  them,  and  I  refused  them  a 
nolle  prosequi  upon  their  application, — that  their  rashness  may  be 
attended  with  charge  and  trouble  at  least,  if  not  punishment, 
which  may  perhaps  discourage  them  in  their  suit,  or  make  them 
willing  to  compromise  it.  My  lord,  &c., 

"W.  Burnett." 

Whether  they  were  indicted,  or  prosecuted,  or  convicted,  does 
not  appear;  but  they  proceeded  in  their  suit  for  the  church. 
The  defendant's  counsel  demurred  to  some  of  the  plaintiff's  evi- 
dences; but  Chief-Justice  Morris  bade  them  waive  it,  for  if  the 
jury  found  for  the  plaintiff  he  would  grant  a  new  trial.  They 
were  very  unwilling  to  do  so;  but,  knowing  the  man,  and  fearing 
the  worst  from  him,  they  consented.  The  verdict  being  for  the 
plaintiff,  the  defendant's  counsel  moved  at  the  next  term  before 
judgment  for  a  new  trial.  It  was  refused ;  and,  on  reminding 
Morris  of  his  promise,  he  denied  having  made  it,  but  said,  on 
being  urged,  "A  bad  promise  ought  always  to  be  broken."  So,  in 
1727,  the  Presbyterians  recovered  their  church  by  due  course  of 
law. 

Morris  was  no  friend  to  the  Presbyterians,  having  been  a  pupil 
of  George  Keith.  He  was  openly  charged  with  having  taken  a 
bribe,  and  Governor  Cosby  suspended  him  from  his  oflSce.  He 
went  to  England  for  redress,  and  published  the  grounds  of  his 

*  Quoted  by  Macdonald. 


ROBERT    CROSS.  369 

decision  in  the  Jamaica  case.  Cosby  wrote  in  his  own  vindication 
to  the  Council,  describing  Morris  as  grossly  intemperate,  insuf- 
ferably haughty,  shamefully  neglectful  of  the  business  of  his  office, 
and  destitute  of  regard  for  truth. 

The  year  after  Cross  settled  in  Jamaica,  there  were,  according 
to  Poyer,  many  infidels  and  eighty  Church  families  in  the  town 
and  the  precincts  of  Newtown  and  Flushing. 

In  1733,  the  Assembly  granted  the  Vestry  of  Jamaica  leave  to 
dispose  of  sixty  pounds ;  and  the  king  was  vehemently  importuned 
to  disallow  the  act,  because  the  money  Avould  be  given  to  the 
Dissenters. 

Cross  was  called  to  Philadelphia,  in  1734,  as  assistant  to  An- 
drews ;  but  the  synod,  on  his  leaving  the  matter  to  them,  decided, 
after  calling  upon  God,  not  to  place  the  call  in  his  hands.  Pem- 
berton*  wrote  to  Welstead,  of  Boston,  August  26,  1734,  "You 
live  in  a  place  of  action,  but  we  ...  .  have  nothing  before  us  but 
the  removal  of  Mr.  Cross.  The  Jamaica  people  refuse  to  give 
him  up ;  the  Philadelphia  people  insist  on  having  him.  He  de- 
clares himself  willing  to  comply  with  the  determination  of  synod, 
but  has  no  wish  to  part  with  his  present  people." 

When  the  commission  was  called  together,  in  April,  1735,  in 
the  case  of  Hemphill,  Pemberton  and  Cross  preached,  and  both 
printed  their  sermons,  to  vindicate  themselves  from  the  charges 
brought  against  them.  Hemphill  was  amazed  at  so  much  insin- 
cerity in  Cross,  who  had  seemed  to  be  much  his  friend. 

In  the  fall  of  1735,  his  friends  in  Philadelphia  petitioned  to  be 
made  a  distinct  congregation.  Leave  was  granted  in  the  next 
summer,  and  they  presented  a  call  for  him.  He  told  the  synod, 
that  he  thought  they  could  not  determine  the  matter  till  his  people 
had  been  duly  apprized,  and  that  he  thought  it  his  duty  to  stay 
with  them.  The  matter  was  delayed  a  year,  and  both  congrega- 
tions presented  theii'  reasons.  They  were  considered;  and,  after 
calling  on  God  for  light  and  direction  in  the  matter,  they  with 
one  accord  united  in  recommending  his  removal  to  Philadelphia. 

He  is  saidf  to  have  been  successful  in  winning  souls.  His 
work  in  Jamaica  had  been  to  him  delightful,  and  for  his  work's 
sake  he  was  very  highly  esteemed.  Elizabeth  Ashbridge,|  the 
Quakeress,  said,  "  His  people  almost  adored  him,  and  impoverished 
themselves  to  equal  the  sum  offered  him  in  the  city ;  but,  failing  in 
this,  they  lost  him." 

He  joined  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  May  29,  1737.  The  two 
congregations  uniting,  he  was  installed,  November  10;  and  An- 
drews preached  from  2  Cor.  iv.  7. 

*  MSS.  of  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 
f  Macdonald.  J  Friends'  Library. 

24 


370  ROBERT    CROSS. 

The  ministry  of  Whiteficld  in  I'hiladelphia  was  extensive  and 

powerful  in  its   influence.     Many  were   alienated  from  Andrews 

and  Cross;    they  did  not  preach,  it  was  said,  so  as  to  alarm  the 

conscience.      Whiteficld,   when  about  to   sail,  wrote  from  Reedy 

Island,  Delaware,  May   19,  1740,   "  Mr.  C.  has    preached    most 

of  his  people  away  from  him.     He  lashed  me  most  bravely  the 

-^        Sunday  before  I  came  away.     Mr.  A.  also  preached  against  me." 

]jut,  subsequently,  when  the  snow  prevented  the  roofless  "  Great 

I     House"  from    being    used,    Cross    offered    his    meeting-house    to 

I     Whiteficld,  and  he  preached  there,  with  a  sweet   and   wonderful 

power.     Then  he  entered  in  his  journal  his  sense  of  the  folly  of 

exposing  his  opinion  of  ministers  as  unconverted:  he  saw  it  to  be 

a  lording  it  over  brethren. 

On  the  death  of  Andrews,  Cross  had  Francis  Alison  for  his 
assistant;  and,  in  1753,  application  was  made  to  Edinburgh  and 
London  for  a  colleague.  The  answer  from  Edinburgh  is  un- 
known ;  but  Dr.  Chandler  recommended  Mr.  Richard  Godwin,  of 
Little  St.  Helen's,  in  London, — "  serious  and  reserved  in  con- 
versation, but  very  fluent  in  the   pulpit."     He  (Cross)  resigned 

/  the  pastoral  charge,  June  22,  1758.  He  maintained  a  corre- 
spondence with  the  ministers  of  South  Carolina  Presbytery.  He 
died  on  the   9th  of  August,  17G6.     His  wife,  who   was  born   in 

(         New  York,  in  1G88,  died  in  the  same  year  with  him.     They  left 

\         no  children. 

'  He  was  esteemed  for  prudence,  gravity,  and  skill  in  the  Holy 

Scriptures ;  it  is  added, — and  for  his  genteel  deportment. 

He  made  his  will  on  the  6th  of  June.  "I  do  commit  my  soul  to 
my  heavenly  Father,  of  whose  mere  mercy  and  free  grace  I  hope 
to  obtain  the  full  and  free  pardon  of  all  my  sins,  through  the  merits 
and  mediation  of  his  well-beloved  Son,  my  only  Saviour  and  Re- 
deemer, the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom  I  believe,  and  on  whose 
atonement  and  all-powerful  intercession  I  solely  depend  for  my 
acceptance  with  God  and  eternal  salvation."  He  left  to  his  bro- 
ther, Hugh  Cross,  £100  in  Irish  money;  "£1000  proclamation  to 
Margaret,  only  daughter  of  my  brother  William,  who  lives  with 
me."  He  gave  twenty-five  pounds  to  the  Widows'  Fund;  and  the 
proceeds  of  his  library,  excepting  several  books  given  to  Mrs. 
Humphreys,  to  the  poor  of  the  congregation,  specifying  that 
twenty  pounds  be  given  to  the  Widow  Glen.  His  gold-headed 
,  cane  he  left  to  his  executor,  Mr.  William  Humphreys. 
i  At  this  period,  Davies  and  Tennent  were  in  Great  Britain,  in  be- 

\  half  of  the  college;  and  they  suspected  Cross  of  having  sent  to 
Chandler  a  copy  of  the  Nottingham  Sermon.  They  attributed  its 
appearance  there  to  the  inveterate  malignity  of  the  Philadel[)hia 
Synod,  though  it  is  not  unlikely  it  was  officiously  dispersed  from 
hand  to  hand  by  the  Rev.  William  Smith,  a  Churchman,  who  was 


JOHN    CLEMENT — 'U'lLLIAM    STEWARD.  -371 

then  in  London,  zealously  moving  for  the  Philadelphia  Academy. 
Cross,  however,  wrote  to  Scotland  to  excite  prejudice  against  the 
college  and  its  agents:  his  letter  was  put  into  "sundry  hands," 
and  the  Nottingham  Sermon  was  industriously  spread  at  Edin- 
burgh, among  the  members  of  the  General  Assembly.  Tennent 
and  Davies  prepared  an  answer  to  the  letter,  which  they  stigmatized 
as  a  malignant,  ungenerous,  clandestine  effort. 


JOHN   CLEMENT 


Presented  his  credentials  as  a  probationer  from  Britain;  and 
they  Avere  approved  by  the  synod,  September  18,  1718.  A  call 
was  presented  for  him  from  Pocomoke,  in  Virginia,  called  some- 
times Coventry,  from  the  parish  in  which  it  partly  lay,  and  ordinarily 
Rehoboth,  from  the  place  where  the  meeting-house  stood.  His 
ordination  was  appointed  to  be  according  to  the  usual  methods,  and 
to  be  performed  by  Davis,  Hampton,  and  Thomson,  and  such  mem- 
bers of  Newcastle  Presbytery  as  they  might  choose  to  call  to  their 
assistance.  He  was  ordained  in  June,  1719;  but  scarcely  a  year 
elapsed  before  some  of  his  elders  sent  a  written  complaint  of  him 
to  the  synod.  It  was  given  to  him,  and  he  prepared  a  written  an- 
swer ;  but  they  suspended  him.  The  suspension  was  taken  off  on 
his  full  confession,  and  Philadelphia  Presbytery  employed  him  to 
preach  at  Gloster  and  Pilesgrove ;  but,  on  inquiry  into  his  manner 
of  life,  he  was  suspended  again,  and  further  mention  of  him  ceases. 


WILLIAM  STEWARD 

Was  received  as  a  probationer  on  the  same  day  with  Clement, 
and,  being  called  to  Monokin  and  Wicomico,  was  ordained  on  the 
same  day  with  him.  For  several  years  he  waited,  in  the  hope  of 
forming  a  presbytery  in  the  peninsula ;  but,  in  1723,  by  order  of 
synod,  he  joined  Newcastle  Presbytery.  A  new  meeting-house 
was  built  at  Monokin,  on  land  conveyed  by  deed,  in  1720.  The 
congregation  had  then  eight  elders. 

Steward  died  in  1734. 


372  JOSEPH   WEBB — JOHN   ORME. 


JOSEPH  WEBB, 

The  son,  probabi  of  the  minister  of  Green's  Farms,  Connecti- 
cut, gr.adujitcd  at  \  /^  in  1715,  and  became  a  member  of  synod  in 
1720,  being  the  pas  /of  Newark.  He  was  attended  by  his  ehler, 
Caleb  Ward.  In  1)  Vi,  he  proposed  to  the  synod  a  case  of  con- 
science, but  in  sue: '  general  and  doubtful  terms,  that  it  was  re- 
mitted to  the  presbytery.  In  1726,  a  committee  of  synod,  at  his 
request,  went  to  Ncvark  to  heal  the  difference  there.  The  synod 
approved  in  1727  of  its  doings.  After  all  the  business  was  done 
that  year,  Jones,  David  Evans,  Webb,  and  Hubbel  put  in  a  protest, 
declaring  their  intention  to  join  no  more  with  them.  Webb  re- 
tracted in  two  months  after. 

As  early  as  1732,  difficulties  in  his  congregation  led  the  Church 
missionaries  to  commence  their  service  in  the  town.  Dickinson 
preached  on  the  "Vanity  of  Human  Institutions  in  matters  of  Re- 
ligion." Colonel  Josiah  Ogden  had  been  suspended  from  church 
privileges,  because,  for  fear  of  losing  his  hay,  he  had  gathered  it  in 
on  the  Lord's  day.  He  wrote  to  the  synod  in  1734,  and  Cross  and 
Pemberton  replied ;  but  the  letter  did  not  satisfy  him.  Dickinson 
and  Pemberton  wrote  the  next  year,  Webb  having  opened  the  case 
more  fully  to  the  synod.  Ogden  connected  himself  with  the  Epis- 
copalians, and  a  Church  missionary  was  stationed  in  Newark. 

Webb  is  said  to  have  been  dismissed  from  his  pastoral  charge  in 
1736  ;  his  name  is  mentioned  as  a  member  of  synod  till  1740.  He 
was  most  punctual  in  bringing  collections  for  the  fund.  He  and 
his  son,  a  student  in  Yale  College,  were  drowned  October  21,  1741, 
while  crossing  the  ferry  at  Saybrook,  Connecticut. 


JOHN  ORME, 

A  MINISTER  from  Devonshire,  England,  was  received  by  the 
synod,  September  26,  1720.  The  congregation  of  Marlborough  on 
Patuxent  having,  through  their  correspondents  in  London,  engaged 
him,  he  became  their  pastor,  and  continued  with  them  till  his  death, 
in  1758,      He  remained  with  the  Old  Side. 

Whitefield  preached  twice  at  Upper  Marlborough,  and  wrote, 
December  8,  1739,  to  Noble,  of  New  York,  "  This  afternoon  God 
has  brought  us  hither.  Some  are  solicitous  for  my  staying  here 
to-morrow.  I  have  complied  with  their  request.  These  parts  are 
in  a  dead  sleep." 


MOSES    DICKINSON.  373 


MOSES  DICKINSON, 

A  YOUNGER  brother  of  Jonathan,  was  borr  at  Springfield,  De- 
cember 12,  1695,  his  father  having  lived  sue  ssively  at  Hatfield, 
Hadley,  and    Springfield.     He  graduated  fale  in  1717,  and 

succeeded  Orr,  in  Hopewell  and  Maidenht,  before  September, 
1719,  his  sickness  at  that  time  having  detain  1  his  brother  from 
synod.  His  first  child,  Mary,  was  born  Augist  18,  1721.  The 
date  of  his  ordination  and  installation  is  not' known.  He  sat  in 
synod  for  the  first  time  in  1722.  Morgan  wrote  to  Mather,  in 
May,  1721,  of  the  astonishing  marks  of  a  work  of  grace  around 
him,  and  which  were  more  plentiful  among  those  who  had  been 
longer  under  the  means  of  grace ;  and,  in  September,  he  speaks  of 
"magnum  incrementum  ecclesias"  in  Dickinson's  cono-regations. 

He  was  released  from  Hopewell  and  Maidenhead  before  August, 
1727.  On  the*  dismission  of  Buckingham  from  Noi'walk,  in  Con- 
necticut, many  in  the  congregation,  having  heard  Gilbert  Tennent, 
were  desirous  of  calling  him ;  but  the  Fairfield  Association  thought 
he  ought  not  to  be  taken  from  so  destitute  a  region  as  the  Jerseys. 
They  advised  them  to  call  Dickinson,  for  whom  they  expressed 
great  respect  and  value.  He  was  invited  to  preach  for  them,  June 
26,  1727,  and  was  called  on  the  19th  of  August.  Seventy-five 
voted  for  him,  and  thirty-nine  against  him :  they  objected  to  the 
call,  not  out  of  dislike  to  him,  but  because  they  felt  bound  in  con- 
science to  regard  their  previous  minister  as  their  pastor.  The  ad- 
joining parish  of  Wilton  concurred  in  the  call  the  next  day.  The 
town  sent  the  Hon.  Joseph  Piatt  to  New  Jersey  to  remove  Dickin- 
son's family  at  their  expense. 

A  large  manuscript  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  George  Hale, 
of  Pennington,  entitled  "  Some  Meditations  on  the  Occasion  of  the 
Removal  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  in  1727 ;  delivered  in  Hopewell  meeting- 
house, by  Enoch  Armitage."  Armitage  was  an  elder,  and  came 
from  Yorkshire  in  1719. 

Dickinson  preached  the  sermon  at  the  ordination  of  Elisha  Kent, 
in  Newtown,  Connecticut,  his  predecessor,  Mr.  Beach,  having  gone 
to  England  and  returned  with  holy  orders  and  a  commission  as 
a  missionary.  At  Norwalk,  an  Episcopal  separation  took  place ; 
and,  among  others,  Mr.  Jarvis,  a  deacon,  withdrew.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  Bishop  Jarvis  was  baptized  before  or  after  his  father  took 
this  step,  and,  consequently,  whether  he  ever  tasted  any  other  than 
uncovenanted  mercies. 

Dickinson  published  several  sermons.     On  the  death  of  his  bro- 

*  Rev.  Dr.  Hall's  History  of  Norwalk. 


374  THOMAS    EVANS. 

ther,  he  completed  his  second  "Vindication  of  the  Sovereignty  of 
Grace." 

Foxcroft,  in  his  preface,  highly  commends  the  continuation. 
Dickinson  also  prepared  a  treatise  on  the  questions,  Whether  hlind- 
ness  of  mind  is  the  primary  cause  of  unbelief?  and  Whether  re- 
generation is  wrought  by  the  Holy  Ghost  operating  M"ith  the  gospel, 
whereby  the  sinner  is  enlightened  and  enabled  to  know  the  truth? 
lie  took  the  afiirmative  side,  in  opposition  to  the  new  theology  then 
coming  into  vogue.  It  was  read  before  the  Fairfield  County  As- 
sociation and  the  trustees  of  Yale,  and  was  approved  by  tliem. 

Early  in  1764,  he  sought  an  assistant  in  William  Tenncnt, 
Jr.,  the  son  of  the  patriarch  of  Freehold ;  but,  after  his  removal, 
during  the  closing  years  of  life,  he  pursued  his  work  unaided. 

He  died  May  1,  1778,  aged  eighty-three.  Dr.  Trumbull,  in  pre- 
paring his  "  History  of  Connecticut,"  had  access  to  his  manu- 
scripts; but  they  have  been  lost  or  destroyed. 


THOMAS  EVANS 


W^AS  received  by  Newcastle  Presbytery  as  a  student  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Caermarthen,  in  Wales;  and  they  recommended 
him,  (September  14, 1719,)  after  appointed  trials  of  his  ministerial 
gifts  and  high  satisfaction  in  his  blameless  life,  as  a  very  hopeful 
candidate.  They  licensed  him,  May  28, 1720.  The  congregation  of 
Welsh  Tract  (where  his  relatives  Avere  among  the  wealthiest  and 
most  highly-esteemed  people)  petitioned  for  him ;  but  the  pres- 
bytery persevered  in  efforts  to  reconcile  them  to  their  late  pastor, 
David  Evans.  The  call  was  placed  in  his  hands,  March  12, 1723; 
and  he  was  ordained  at  Pencader,  May  8.  Proclamation  was  made 
thrice  at  the  door  of  the  meeting-house,  by  David  Evans,  Esq., 
that,  if  any  had  allegations  to  make  against  his  life  or  doctrine, 
they  should  do  so  before  the  ordination. 

He  was  the  brother*  of  Nathaniel  Evans,  a  large  proprietor  in 
Delaware.  He  was  an  excellent  scholar  and  a  valuable  instructor. 
Among  his  pupils  were  Abel  Morgan, f  the  Baptist  minister  of 
Middletown,  New  Jersey,  with  whom  President  Davies  acquired 
the  rudiments  of  classic  lore,  and  who  maintained  a  discussion  on 
baptism  with  President  Finley.     Evans  was  a  bachelor,  a  book- 


*  So  I  am  informed  by  Joplina  EJwards,  Avhose  father  (Rev.  Morgan  Edwards) 
took  for  hi.s  second  wife  the  widow  of  Nathaniel  Evans, 
j-  M.  Edwards's  History  of  the  New  Jersey  Baptists. 


ALEXANDER   HUTCHESON.  875 

■worm,  possessed  a  fine  library,  and  was  continually  adding  to  his 
store.     He  was  esteemed  a  truly  pious  man. 

He  was  absent  from  the  synod  in  1741;  but  the  Old  Side  ap- 
pointed him,  with  two  others,  to  defend  the  "Protestation"  in  print, 
if  need  be.     He  died  in  1743. 


ALEXANDER  HUTCHESON. 

The  Rev.  Alexander  Hutcheson,  of  Saintfield,  county  Down, 
(Ireland,)  was  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  Synod  of  Ulster  to 
whom  Sir  Arthur  Forbes  first  spoke  of  the  project  of  the  Regium 
Donum.  He  died  in  1711.  Francis  Hutcheson,  Professor  of 
Moral  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Glasgow,  took  a  deep  in- 
terest in  our  infant  church,  and  proposed  to  Francis  Alison  that 
the  synod  should  establish  a  seminary  of  learning. 

When  Alexander  Hutcheson  was  received  by  Newcastle  Presby- 
tery as  a  probationer  from  Glasgow  Presbytery,  (September  10, 
.1722,)  they  transmitted  a  formal  vote  of  thanks  to  that  body  for 
sending  him  to  these  parts.  After  supplying  Drawyers,  he  was 
called  (March  12,  1723)  to  Bohemia  Manor  and  Broad  Creek,  in 
Cecil  county,  Maryland.  After  proclamation  made,  no  objections 
being  offered,  he  was  ordained,  June  6.  His  people  were  not 
numerous  or  wealthy,  and  he  asked  to  be  dismissed ;  but  the  pres- 
bytery declined,  and  gave  him  aid  out  of  the  fund,  and  left  him  at 
liberty  for  one-third  of  his  time  to  supply  vacancies  which  desired 
him. 

He,  with  Gillespie,  dissented  from  the  act  requiring  a  synodical 
examination  of  candidates  for  the  ministry ;  and  they  withdrew 
with  the  Brunswick  brethren.  Hutcheson  wrote  to  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia,  expressing  his  opinion  of  the  proceedings  of  both 
parties,  and  giving  his  advice. 

Augustin  Herman,  a  Bohemian,  a  large  land-purchaser,  was 
"the  first  founder  and  seater  of  Bohemia  Manor."  The  "Manor" 
covered  eighteen  thousand  acres.  In  Whitefield's  day,  it  was  one 
of  the  most  interesting  portions  of  our  country.  The  Bayard 
family  were  his  choicest  friends.  He  wrote  from  there,  April  26, 
1747,  "After  two  days'  abode  here,  I  purpose  taking  a  three 
weeks'  circuit  in  hunting  for  Maryland  sinners."  1754:  "Again 
I  have  got  into  Maryland,  and  into  a  family  out  of  which  five,  I 
trust,  have  been  born  of  God.  To-day  I  am  forty."  From  St. 
George's,  November  24,  1740: — "We  have  had  precious  times  at 


(  0 


376  ALEXANDER  HUTCHESON. 

Bohemia.  There  were  two  thousand  people  present.  I  have  not 
seen  a  more  solid  melting  since  my  arrival." 

There  is  no  mention,  in  print,  of  Hutcheson's  having  had  a  part 

i    in  this  good  -work ;    every  thing  was  swallowed  up  in  Whitefield. 

/    His  influence  was  like  the  long  summer-rain  on  the   field  where 

I     others    have    cleared    away  the    forest,  gathered   out  the    stones, 

i     ploughed  thoroughly,  and   cast  in  abundantly  and   in  season  the 

good  seed,  which  is  the  word  of  God.     The  rapid  bursting  forth 

of  vegetation  followed  the  rain :  other  men  had  laboured,  and  he 

entered  on  their  labours. 

In  1750,  soon  after  the  settlement  of  Dr.  Rodgers  at  St. 
George's,  Robert  Alexander  made  a  deed  of  a  lot  to  Peter 
3ayard,  James  Bayard,  Sluyter  Bouchell,  Benjamin  Sluyter,  Wil- 
liam Moore,  John  Moody,  James  Chew,  Thomas  Rothwell,  and 
John  Vandyke,  trustees  of  the  Forest  Congregation,  incorporated 
•^  as  the  "  Congregation  of  Bohemia  and  Appoquinimy."  The  ser- 
vices of  Dr.  Rodgers  attracted  to  the  Forest  Church  so  many  from 
Bohemia  and  Drawyers  that  they  were  in  danger  of  becoming  ex- 
tinct. Hugh  McWhorter,  who  had  been  an  elder  of  Hutcheson's, 
(the  father  of  Dr.  McWhorter,  of  Newark,)  became  an  elder  at 
the  Forest.     Hutcheson  died  in  October,  1766. 

Emigration  to  Virginia  and  North  Carohna  reduced  the  congre- 
gations rapidly.  In  April,  1770,  Bohemia  Manor  and  Back 
Creek*  petitioned  Newcastle  Presbytery  to  be  considered  as  a 
separate  congregation;  but  no  subsequent  mention  of  them  by 
name  is  made. 

The  Bohemia  Church  stood  near  Taylor's  Bridge,  and  remained 

until   1809;    only  the  tombstones    are  left  noAv.      Mr.  Foot,  of 

T     Port  Penn,  after   much  search,  could  not  learn  so  much   as  the 

name  of  Hutcheson,  or  hear  any  mention  of  Whitefield's  success 

in  Bohemia. 

An  elder  at  Bohemia,  on  Hutcheson's  settlement,  was  Dr.  Peter 
Bouchelle ;  another  was  John  Brevard,!  whose  son  Ephraim  is  so 
honourably  connected  with  the  movement  in  Mecklenburg,  North 
Carolina,  for  the  assertion  of  our  independence;  another  Avas 
Manasseh  Logue. 


*  Mr.  Foot,  of  Port  Penn,  says  the  Forest  Church  worshipped  at  Back  Creek 
and  St.  George's  till  1750. 

f  Brevard  and  Bouchelle  were  of  Huguenot  descent,  as  also  was  the  Bassot 
family  and  the  Bayards.  Mr.  Brevard,  on  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
fled  to  Ulster,  and  then  settled  on  Elk  River,  Maryland.  He  had  five  sons.  Of 
these,  John  married  a  sister  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Macwhorter,  of  Newark,  and  removed 
to  North  Carolina,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Centre  Church,  in  Iredell  county.  At 
the  close  of  his  day.s,  his  house,  with  its  contents,  were  burned  by  the  British,  as  a 
punishment  for  having  eight  sons  in  the  rebel  camp.  General  Davidson,  who  was 
killed  at  Cowan's  Ford,  on  the  Catawba,  was  his  son-in-law. —  Wheeler's  Sketches  of 
North  Carolina. 


ROBERT   LAING — JOHN   WALTOX.  377 


ROBERT  LAING, 

A  MINISTER  from  Great  Britain,  arrived  in  Maryland  in  1722, 
and  supplied  Snow  Hill.  In  March,  he  removed  to  Brandywine 
and  White  Clay.  In  August,  he  was  suspended  for  bathing  on 
the  Lord's  day,  and,  not  receiving  the  sentence  in  a  becoming 
manner,  he  was  deposed.  Thomas  Evans  and  Robert  Cross  ob- 
jected to  so  heavy  a  punishment ;  and  the  synod,  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  sought  relief  under  sickness  by  a  water-cure,  took  off 
the  sentence  and  rebuked  him.  In  1726,  he,  with  the  synod's 
advice,  demitted  the  ministry,  because  of  his  weakness  and  defi- 
ciency; aid  was  given  him  out  of  the  fund;  and  assurance  was 
given  that  any  minister  prudently  ministering  to  his  necessities 
should  be  reimbursed.     He  passed  out  of  notice. 


JOHN  WALTON 


Graduated  at  Yale  in  1720.  Morgan  wrote  to  Mather*  from 
East  Chester,  May  28,  1721,  that  there  had  formerly  been  no  Pres- 
byterian congregations  within  twenty  miles  of  Freehold  on  the 
north  and  sixty  on  the  south.  "  Our  ministrations  were  as  little 
desired  as  enjoyed ;  but  now,  new  congregations  (Allentown,  or 
Crosswicks,  and  Cranberry)  are  formed,  where  formerly  the  people 
thought  us  as  bad  almost  as  Papists.  I  engaged  Hook,  the  two 
Dickinsons,  and  Webb,  to  preach  to  them :  the  appearances  were 
encouraging.  I  also  prevailed  with  one  from  Yale,  of  my  own 
town  born,  (New  London,)  and  he  had  double  the  good  effect  of 
all  that  were  there  before ;  but  some  things  will  make  his  labour 
useless." 

Morgan  wrote  to  Mather,  October  31,  1722,  "Walton's 
preaching  was  admired.  People  heard  him  with  tears.  He  had 
like  to  have  brought  over  all  the  people  to  our  way;  and  his 
imprudencies  and  wickedness  are  much  to  be  admired,"  (won- 
dered at.) 

Andrews  wrote  to  Colman,  April  30,  1722,  "  One  from  Con- 
necticut, that  was  like  to  have  done  much  good  in  the  Jerseys, 
has,  by  his  nonsensical  importunities  and  madness,  lost  his  honour, 

*  Mather  MSS.  American  Antiquarian  Society. 


378  JOUN    WALTOX. 

and  is  gone."  He  had  l)ecn  preacliing  at  CrossAvicks;  and  tlie 
lVcs])yteiy  of  Philadelphia,  in  his  ahsence,  took  the  testimony, 
suspended  him,  and  published  the  sentence  from  the  pulpit  in 
■which  he  had  preached.  Subsequently  the  charges  against  him 
■were  regularly  adjudicated  and  proved.  His  conduct  to  the  pres- 
bytery, and  his  mode  of  speaking  of  them,  ■were  abusive  and 
unbecoming.  The  synod  had  a  conference  with  him  privately,  and 
allowed  him  several  days  to  consider  and  prepare  a  Avritten  ac- 
knowledgment of  his  misdemeanours.  His  paper  ■was  accepted 
pro  tcatto,  and  he  ■was  suspended  for  three  Sabbaths.*  His  con- 
fession -was  to  be  read  on  the  third  Sabbath  after  the  sentence, 
from  the  pulpit  in  Ne-wark,  in  part,  so  far  as  related  to  his  offences 
there.  lie  "was  to  o-wn  the  confession  publicly,  and  then  to  be  ab- 
solved. On  the  day  appointed,  no  minister  being  present,  he 
read  his  confession  and  absolved  himself.  The  synod  refused  to 
acknowledge  such  a  proceeding,  and  remitted  the  case  to  Long 
Island  Presbytery,  with  Dickinson,  Morgan,  and  Pierson  as  corre- 
spondents. Regardless  of  the  synod,  he  preached  at  East  Chester. 
The  committee,  in  October,  1723,  -were  informed  (by  letter  and 
otherwise)  of  several  scandalous  allegations  against  him,  and  con- 
tinued his  suspension.  When  Morgan  rose  to  give  him  an  exhor- 
tation, he  exclaimed  against  their  conclusion,  renounced  all  sub- 
jection to  them,  told  them  he  wanted  no  exhortation  from  them, 
and  rushed  away  in  an  angry  manner. 

Immediately  he  advertised  that  he  would  teach  in  New  York, 
on  Broad  Street,  near  the  Exchange,  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew; 
and  that  during  the  winter  he  would  keep  an  evening  school. 

In  1725,  he  requested  the  synod  to  leave  his  case  to  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Long  Island ;  but  they  consigned  it  to  the  same  com- 
mittee as  before. 

He  went  to  West  Chester  county,  and  preached  at  Eye  and 
White  Plains.  It  seems  probable  that,  during  the  ministry  of  the 
Kcv.  Christopher  Bridge,  Church  missionary  at  Bye,  there  was  a 
general  acquiescence  of  the  town.  On  his  death,  in  1719,  the 
people  desired  Poyer,  of  Jamaica,t  to  come  to  them :  he  requested 
the  Venerable  Society  to  send  him,  because  the  congregation  said, 
if  they  could  not  have  him,  they  knew  whom  they  would  have, — 
Mr.  Buckingham,  of  Norwalk. 

"The  humble  Memorial  of  the  Presbyterians  of  Rye  and  White 
Plains"  to|  the  Governor  of  Connecticut  and  the  Legislature, 
dated  May  11,  1727,  is  headed  by  John  Walton,  and  is  signed  by 


*  Morgan  says,   "We,  ■who    went    out,    (Philadelphia    Presbytery,)   ivoudereJ 
that  the  synod  restored  him.     Pious  INIr.  Gillespie  entered  his  dissent." 
I  MSS.  in  hands  of  Henry  Ondcrdonk,  Esq.,  of  Jamaica. 
X   MSS.  in  Secretary's  OtJice,  Hartford. 


WILLIAM  McMillan.  379 

fifty  others.  It  embraces  names  long  familiar  in  "West  Chester,  as 
Theall,  Brundige,  Lane,  Purdy,  Knapp,  Hyatt,  Bloomer,  Turner, 
Horton,  Travis,  Hacliiliah  Brown,  Sliarkoe,  Kuiffin,  Ilaiglit, 
Merrit,  and  Lyon.  They  were  obliged  to  pay  to  the  support  of 
the  Church  of  England, — "our  way  is  not  established;"  and  they 
were  opposed  by  the  Church  party,  who  lessened  their  number  and 
too  much  strove  to  discourage  and  hinder;  but  they  persevered 
because  of  their  love  of  God's  honour,  and  out  of  regard  of  the 
peace  of  their  immortal  souls.  They  formerly  had  hopes  of 
settling  a  meeting-house,  and  had  got  timber ;  but  through  long 
delay  it  rotted.  They  had  begun  a  meeting-house  at  White  Plains, 
and  had  covered  it,  but  were  in  debt  for  part,  and  unable  to  finish 
it.  Besides,  they  wished  to  build  a  meeting-house  at  Byetown,  six 
miles  from  White  Plains.  They  ask  that  a  brief  may  pass  through 
the  colony  for  their  relief,  and  that  the  collections  be  paid  to  Mr. 
Davenport,  of  Stamford. 

"  Oh,  consider  the  indefatigable  industry  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land to  help  poor  places Have  you  a  little  sister  without  any 

breasts  ?  What  shall  ye  do  for  your  sister  in  the  day  that  she  is 
spoken  for  ?  If  she  be  a  door,  will  ye  not  enclose  her  with  boards 
of  cedar?  ....  Is  not  one  soul  worth  ten  thousand  worlds ?  Can 
you  be  easy  while  we  perish?  Surely,  no."  They  add,  "We 
have  made  up  a  small  yearly  competent  salary  for  a  minister." 

The  Legislature  refused  the  request.  The  trustees  of  Yale 
encouraged  them  to  renew  their  application;  and  they  held  "an 
orderly  meeting,"  October  4,  1727;  and,  "as  we  have  no  law 
authorizing  us  to  appoint  a  moderator,"  the  proceedings  were  certi- 
fied by  "our  justice,  Caleb  Hyatt."  They  add,  that  they  are 
required  to  rebuild  the  Church  of  England.  The  trustees  of  Yale 
sent  the  Bev.  Mr.  Davenport,  of  Stamford,  to  present  the  petition 
to  the  house,  and  it  was  granted.  The  church  was  built  at  Bye, 
in  May,  1729 ;  and  Walton  disappears  from  view. 

Did  he  become  a  Baptist  minister,  and  settle  at  Morristown, 
New  Jersey,  and  die  there,  1768?* 


WILLIAM  McMillan. 

It  was  a  sad  thing  for  our  cause  in  Virginia  that  early  death 
should  overtake  our  labourers  there.  There  were  many  dis- 
couragements to  hinder  candidates  from  settling  among  the  few 
people  favouring  our  way  in  Bappahannock  and  York,  or  the  small 

*  Bills  of  Mortality  of  Morristown,  New  Jersey. 


880  WILLIAM  McMillan. 

congregation  on  Elizabeth  River.  The  former  had  obtained  the 
promise  of  Anderson's  service ;  but,  when  he  came  from  Scotland, 
he  felt  no  inclination  to  abide  with  them.  A  representation  was 
made  by  some  of  the  members  of  synod  in  1722,  "of  the  earnest 
desire  of  some  Protestant  Dissenting  families  in  Virginia,  together 
"with  a  comfortable  prospect  of  the  increase  of  our  interest  there." 
Conn,  of  Bladensburg,  Orme,  of  Marlborough,  and  Stewart,  of 
Monokin,  each  spent  four  weeks  there.  The  people  of  Virginia 
wrote  to  the  synod  in  1724;  Jonathan  Dickinson  was  recommended 
to  spend  some  Sabbaths  with  them,  and  the  three  brethren  in 
Maryland  were  appointed  each  to  preach  for  them  four  Sabbath 
days.  Jones  and  Andrews  wrote  to  the  people,  and  Dickinson  and 
Cross  prepared  an  address  to  the  Governor  of  Virginia.  Only 
Orme  went.  The  people  again  wrote,  and  the  synod  referred  the 
whole  affair  to  the  Presbytery  of  Newcastle.  That  body  had  met 
two  days  before,  on  the  14th  of  September,  1724;  and,  "a  repre- 
sentation* being  made  of  Mr.  Wm.  McMillan  to  the  presbytery,  as 
a  fit  and  hopeful  candidate  for  the  ministry,  they,  being  satisfied 
with  his  testimonials,  order  him  to  deliver  a  sermon  on  Gen.  xxxiii. 
2,  at  our  next,  and  till  then  defer  his  extemporary  trials. 

"  September  17. — Mr.  McMillan  delivered  a  popular  sermon  on 
Gen.  xxxiii.  2,  and  underwent  some  tryals  in  extemporary  questions, 
as  appointed,  in  both  which  .  he  was  approven :  the  further  con- 
sideration of  his  affair  is  deferred  till  our  next  sederunt  at  White 
Clay  Creek. 

"  September  22. — The  affair  of  Mr.  McMillan  being  reassumed, 
the  presbytery  took  tryal  of  him  in  the  learned  languages,  and 
were  highly  satisfied ;  and,  considering  the  difficulties  he  lies  under 
to  attend  another  dyet  for  further  tryals,  together  with  the  deso- 
lateness  of  the  people  at  Virginia,  and  being  fully  satisfied  with 
the  tryals  they  have  taken  of  him,  do  allow  and  license  him  to 
preach  the  gospel  of  Chjist."  He  then  subscribed  a  declaration 
of  his  adherence  to  the  Westminster  Confession,  being  the  first 
who  is  recorded  to  have  done  so. 

He  was  ordered  to  supply  the  people  of  Virginia  during  his 
abode  there, — Mr.  Stewart  to  give  them  one  Sabbath  in  October, 
and  Mr.  Conn  one  Sabbath  in  May. 

Of  him  we  know  nothing  further;  nor  has  the  locality  been 
ascertained,  which  is  designated  as  "Virginia."  In  the  March 
following  his  licensure,  the  people  of  Coventry  petitioned  for  sup- 
plies,— making  it  probable  that  it  was  Rehoboth,  on  Pocomoke,  in 
Coventry  parish,  with  Accomac  county,  which  contained  "the 
people  of  Virginia."    Occasional  supplies  were  sent  to  them  till  1727. 


*  Kindly  transcribed  for  me,  from  the  Records,  by  the  Rev.  R.  P.  Dubois,  of 
London. 


THOMAS   CREAGHEAD.  381 


'THOMAS  CREAGHEAD 

Is  said  by  some  to  have  been  a  native  of  Scotland.  He  was 
probably  the  son  of  Robert  Creaghead,  the  minister  of  Donough- 
more.  He  was  at  Londonderry  in  the  time  of  the  siege :  he  left 
the  city  in  the  midst  of  that  fearful  and  protracted  leaguer,  and 
removed  to  Glasgow.  His  little  work  for  communicants  is  practical, 
valuable,  and  still  frequently  reprinted. 

Thomas  Creaghead  is  said  to  have  studied  medicine  as  well  as 
divinity ;  and,  after  being  settled  in  Ireland  for  ten  or  twelve  years, 
he  came,  in  1715,  to  New  England.  He  was  employed  in  the  minis- 
try at  Freetown,  near  Fall  River,  Massachusetts.  Cotton  Mather* 
wrote  to  Mr.  Hathaway,  22nd,  Fifth  month,  1718,  regretting  that 
unkind  treatment  of  some  of  the  people  had  prevented  the  settle- 
ment of  that  gentleman's  gracious  and  worthy  relative  in  Freetown. 
"  You  will  excuse  me  that  I  earnestly  entreat  you  to  give  a  demon- 
stration of  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above,  and  encourage  Mr. 
Creaghead  in  the  work  in  which  he  is  now  engaged."  21st,  Fifth 
month,  1719:  "You  can't  be  insensible  that  the  minister  whom 
our  glorious  Lord  hath  graciously  sent  among  you,  is  a  man  of  an 
excellent  spirit,  and  a  great  blessing  to  your  plantation.  Mr. 
Ci'eaghead  is  a  man  of  singular  piety,  meekness,  humility,  and  in- 
dustry in  the  work  of  God.  All  that  are  acquainted  with  him  have 
a  precious  esteem  of  him,  and  if  he  should  be  driven  from  among 
you,  it  would  be  such  a  damage,  yea,  such  a  ruin,  as  is  not  with- 
out horror  to  be  thought  of."  These  entreaties  were  vain.  Creag- 
head left  in  1723,  and  is  said,  in  President  Stiles's  papers,  to  have 
gone  to  the  Jei'seys. 

Backus,  the  Baptist  historian,  said  that  he  treated  the  people  so 
abusively  for  their  neglect  to  clear  oflF  the  arrears,  that  they,  in 
disgust,  would  not  consent  to  settle  another  minister.  They  who 
wrong  a  minister  of  his  salary  are  never  slow  to  rob  him  of  his 
good  name.  They  continued  twenty-five  years  without  the  stated 
ministration  of  the  gospel,  chiefly  through  unwillingness  to  pay  a 
regular  salary.  A  Congregational  church  was  organized  in  1747, 
and  the  Rev.  Silas  Brett  was  settled,  his  support  not  being  col- 
lected as  a  tax,  but  contributed  at  each  man's  pleasure.  After 
thirty  years  of  faithful  labour,  he  was  dismissed.  The  church  never 
had  another  pastor,  and  became  extinct  after  the  Revolution. 

Creaghead  was  received  by  Newcastle  Presbytery,  Jan.  28, 1724, 
and  James  Smith  and  John  Hoge  appeared  as  commissioners  from 

*  Mather  MSS.  American  Antiquai-ian  Society 


i- 


882  THOMAS   CREAGIIEAD. 

Elk,  with  a  call  for  him.  The  next  month,  John  ^^ontgomery  and 
John  Cumpl)ell  presented  a  call  for  him  from  "White  Clay.  He 
accepted  it,  having  leave  to  supply  Brandywine  every  third  Sab- 
bath ;  he  was  installed,  Sept.  22,  Ilutcheson  officiating.  In  No- 
vember, 1728,  his  people,  being  now  able  to  make  up  his  full  sup- 
port, asked  for  the  whole  of  his  time :  the  request  was  granted ; 
but  he  was  directed  to  supply  Brandywine  every  fifth  Sabbath,  and 
to  catechize  there  as  formerly. 

He  removed  to  Lancaster  county,  and  in  September,  1733,  a 
call  from  Pequea  being  presented  to  Donegal  Presbytery  by  Patrick 
Moor,  commissioner,  he  accepted  it,  and  was  installed  on  Wednes- 
day, the  last  day  of  October. 

Donegal  Presbytery  always  speak  of  him  as  "Father  Creaghead," 
^  and  his  name  stands  first  on  their  book,  and  on  that  of  Newcastle, 
among  the  subscribers  to  the  Confession. 

His  people  having  besought  the  presbytery  to  meet  with  them 
and  hear  their  complaint  against  him,  the  case  was  opened  in  May, 
1736.  The  charge  was  that  he  had  suspended  his  wife  from  church 
privileges  without  consulting  the  session  :  he  replied  that,  the  reason 
for  this  being  known  only  to  himself,  the  session  were  not  compe- 
tent to  advise ;  besides,  he  had  not  resolved  on  it  till  the  Satur- 
day night  preceding  the  sacrament.  The  presbytery  judged  that 
he  was  under  a  delusion  or  delirium  of  the  head,  and  directed  him 
to  restore  her,  and  not  to  insist  on  having  his  son  John  and  his 
■wife  live  under  his  roof.*  His  usefulness  being  at  an  end,  he  was 
dismissed,  Sept.  7,  1736,  and  was  sent  to  supply  Monada,  (now 
Hanover,)  Paxton,  and  Conedoguinnet.  In  November,  Robert 
Henry  presented  a  call  for  him  from  Hopewell.  The  difficulties 
about  the  boundaries  of  Hopewell  and  Pennsborough  were  settled 
by  allowing  the  former  to  build  at  the  Great  Spring ;  from  which 
it  has  since  borne  the  name  of  Big  Spring.  Anderson  and  Thom- 
son objected  to  allowing  him  to  preach  until  the  trouble  in  his 
family  was  allayed.  After  considerable  discussion,  Mrs.  Creag- 
head, being  present,  was  asked,  and  she  said  she  had  no  cause  for 
complaint  against  her  husband.  Alexander  Creaghead  was  ap- 
pointed to  install  him ;  but,  failing  to  do  so,  the  service  was  per- 
formed by  Bertram,  of  Derry,  on  the  second  Friday  in  October, 
1738.  He  is  said  to  have  expired  in  the  pulpit,  dropping  dead 
after  pronouncing  the  benediction,  at  the  close  of  April,  1739. 
He  lies  without  a  monument,  being  buried,  it  is  said,  under  the 
corner-stone  of  the  present  meeting-house  at  Big  Spring. 

He  is  said  to  have  been  accompanied  from  New  England  by  his 
younger  brother,  who  settled  first  at  Donegal  and  Avas  one  of  the 
first  who  removed  to  the  vicinity  of  Carlisle.  His  family  is  ex- 
tensively spread  through  Western  Pennsylvania. 

*  Their  dwelling  at  the  Head  of  Pequea. 


JOSEPH    HOUSTON.  383 

Thomas  Creagliead  is  said  to  have  left  five  children, — George, 
Thomas,  John,  Margaret,  and  Jane,  ■wife  of  Rev.  Adam  Boyd. 
George  probably  remained  in  Delaware  when  his  father  removed 
to  Peqiiea,  and  was  a  judge,  and,  in  1770,  an  elder  from  Lower  -^ 
Brandywine.  He  was  speaker  of  the  Council  at  the  adoption  of 
the  Federal  Constitution.  His  son.  Captain  William  Creaghead, 
removed  to  Virginia,  was  an  elder  in  Davies's  Church  in  Hanover, 
and  died  at  an  advanced  age  in  Lunenburg  county, — a  man  of  great 
intelligence,  public  spirit,  and  piety.* 

Family  tradition  represents  one  of  Thomas  Creaghead's  sons  to 
have  been  a  minister  in  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania, — making 
it  probable  that  Alexander  Creaghead,  of  Middle  Octorara,  was 
his  son. 

Creaghead  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Irish  Presbyterians  in 
New  England  :  he  was  employed  by  our  presbyteries  to  correspond 
with  ministers  on  their  arrival  there.  He  wrote  to  the  Rev.  John 
McKinstry,  afterwards  of  Ellington,  Connecticut,  and  to  the  Rev. 
John  Campbell,  afterwards  of  Oxford,  Massachusetts,  to  come  to 
these  parts ;  he  also  wrote  in  1736,  in  the  synod's  name,  to  Boston, 
to  the  newly-formed  Presbyterian  congregation  there. 


JOSEPH  HOUSTON 


Came  from  Ireland  to  New  England  and  was  received  by  Newcastle  ^ 
Presbytery  as  a  probationer,  July  29, 1724,  was  employed  at  New 
London,  Connecticut,f  during  the  absence  of  Mr.  Hillhouse  in  his 
native  land.  After  preaching  for  a  few  months  at  Elk  River,  An- 
drew Steel  and  Roger  Lawson,  commissioners  from  that  congrega- 
tion, presented  a  call  for  him  in  September.  He  accepted  it,  Oct.  5, 
and  Robert  Finney,  with  two  other  commissioners,  petitioned  that 
he  might  be  ordained  speedily.     He  was  ordained  on  the  15th. 

In  March,  1726,  the  presbytery  proceeded  to  heal  the  difference 
which  had  arisen  on  "settlinjx  the  seats"  in  the  meetingc-house  on 
the  branches  of  Elk.  They  ordained  that  the  minister's  seat  should 
be  on  the  right  of  the  pulpit ;  that  William  Finney  should  have 
his  choice  of  the  seats  assigned  to  William  Hoge  and  Andrew 
Steel ;  and  that  Roger  Lawson  and  Abraham  Emmet  should  ex- 
change seats. 

*  Dr.  Alexander,  who  knew  him  well  and  valued  him  highly,  mentions  him  in  his 
History  of  Colonization  as  one  of  the  first  to  broach  the  idea  of  restoring  our  co- 
loured people  to  the  land  of  their  fathers. 

■j-  MSS.  in  Secretary's  office,  Hartford. 


384  ADAM    BOYD. 

A  long,  wearisome,  and  unwise  contest  grew  out  of  Houston's  un- 
willingness to  give  a  part  of  his  time  to  the  people  living  on  the 
northeast  of  Great  Elk.  He  and  the  body  of  his  people  opposed 
the  erection  of  a  meeting-house  there,  and  were  at  last  contented 
to  admit,  that  they  had  received  no  damage,  from  establishing  a 
separate  congregation  at  New  London. 

He  was  installed  pastor  of  Goodwill  or  Wallkill  congregation,  in 
Orange  county.  New  York,  before  May,  1740,  and  died  in  the  fol- 
lowing October,  aged  forty-eight.* 

In  1743,  the  synod  agreed  to  remit  his  bond,  dated  July  25, 
1740,  in  favour  of  his  widow  and  family.  His  descendants  still 
remain  in  Orange  county. 


ADAM   BOYD 


Was  born  at  Ballymoney,  Ireland,  in  1692,  and  came  to  New  Eng- 
land as  a  probationer  in  1722  or  '23 ;  and,  being  minded  to  return 
to  his  native  country,  he  was  furnished  by  Cotton  Mather  Avith  a 
commendatory  certificate,t  dated  June  10,  1724.  Having  formed 
an  attachment  to  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Creaghead's,  he  relinquished 
his  design,  and  was  received  under  the  care  of  Newcastle  Presby- 
tery in  July.  He  was  sent  to  Octorara,  with  directions  to  supply 
Newcastle  and  Conestoga.  In  September,  Arthur  Park  and  Cor- 
nelius Rowan  presented  a  call  for  him  from  Octorara  and 
"Pikquse,"  which  he  accepted  in  October,  and  Cornelius  Rowan 
and  John  Dever  appeared  as  representatives  to  solicit  his  ordi- 
nation. He  was  ordained  on  the  13th  at  Octorara,  Creaghead, 
Gillespie,  Hook,  Thomas  Evans,  and  Hutcheson,  with  his  elder, 
Dr.  Peter  Bouchelle,  being  present. 

Sadsbury  is  the  township,  and  Octorara  the  stream,  which  give 
names  to  the  congregation.  They  had  supplies  from  1721,  and  had 
been  directed  to  "gratify"  the  ministers  sent  to  them  and  not  let 
them  go  home  unpaid.  In  Oct.  1727,  the  families  on  the  west  side  of 
Octorara  asked  for  one-third  of  his  labours,  and  it  appeared  they  could 
raise  fifty-one  pounds.  It  being  shown  that  the  site  selected  for  their 
meeting-house  was  nine  miles  distant  by  one  road  and  eleven  miles 
by  another,  from  the  Octorara  house,  Boyd  was  directed  to  spend 
every  sixth  Sabbath  at  Middle  Octorara ;  Nottingham  being  called 
the  Mouth  of  Octorara,  or  Lower  Octorara.  The  Forks  of  Brandy- 
wine  composed  part  of  his  field  till  1734. 

*  Eager's  History  of  Orange  County, 
f  Mather  MSS.  Am.  Antiq.  Soc. 


ADAM    BOYD.  385 

Ten  days  after  his  ordination,  Oct.  23,  1725,  Boyd  married  Jane, 
ike  daughter  of  Creaghead,  of  White  Clay. 

Alexander  Creaghead,  her  relative,  if  not  her  brother,  became 
the  minister  of  the  adjoining  congregation  of  Middle  Octorara. 
In  the  progress  of  the  Great  Revival,  a  large  portion  of  Boyd's 
congregation  left  him  and  joined  the  Brunswick  brethren.  He 
therefore  asked  leave,  Aug.  11,  17-41,  to  accept  the  mvitation 
given  him  by  the  fraction  of  Brandywine  which  adhered  to  the  Old 
Side,  and  which  ofiered  him  twenty  pounds  for  half  of  his  time. 

At  this  period  commences  Boyd's  account-book,  full  of  minute 
memoranda,  extending  down  to  his  last  days.  He  had  used  the 
book  for  his  exercises  while  in  the  grammar-school;  it  contains 
several  sermons,  in  cramped,  abbreviated  letters.  The  first 
entry  is : — 

"Fforks  records,  &c.,  commencing  11th  August,  1741." 
It  embraces  the  payments  of  each  subscriber,  with  the  ofl'sets,  the 
time  of  their  death  or  removal,  and  the  attending  circumstances. 

He  says  his  relation  to  Forks  was  dissolved  "  most  irregularly  in 
in  1758,"  and  that  on  the  1st  of  September,  Octorara  engaged  to 
pay  for  two-thirds  of  his  time.  He  had  been  joined  by  the  synod 
to  Newcastle  Presbytery,  on  account  of  the  fewness  of  the  members  ; 
and  on  the  union,  he  seems  to  have  acted  harmoniously  and  com- 
fortably with  his  brethren,  though  the  majority  was  of  the  .New  Side. 

At  the  close  of  his  life,  he  asked  supplies  for  his  pulpit ;  and  the 
New-Side  congregation,  being  vacant  by  the  death  of  Sterling,  united 
with  his  people  in  calling  Foster.  Robert  Smith,  of  Pequea,  pre- 
sided on  this  occasion.  May  2,  1768 ;  and  it  was  agreed  to  pay 
Boyd  twenty-five  pounds  yearly  during  his  life.  He  was  able  to  be 
present  at  Foster's  ordination,  and  died  Nov.  23, 1768.  His  widow 
survived  till  Nov.  6,  1779.  He  left  five  daughters  and  five  sons. 
The  eldest,  John,  is  said  to  have  been  licensed,  and  to  have  died 
young ;  Thomas  settled  on  a  plantation,  given  him  by  his  father ; 
Andrew  remained  upon  the  homestead ;  Adam  resided  in  Wilming- 
ton, N.C.,  and  commenced  the  Cape  Fear  Mercury,*  in  Oct.  1767; 
he  was  a  true  friend  of  liberty,  "  much  respected,  and  was  a  leading 
member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety."  He  engaged  to  resume  the 
publication  of  his  paper,  Jan.  30,  1775,  and,  the  next  year,  ex- 
changed the  press  for  the  pulpit.  He  was  chaplainf  of  the  North 
Carolina  Brigade. 

Samuel,  the  youngest,  entered  Mr.  McDowell's  school  at  Elk  in 


*  Governor  Swain's  Sketch  of  the  Occupation  of  North  Carolina  by  the  British,  in 
the  North  Carolina  Union  Magazine.  Wheeler,  in  his  Sketches  of  Novtii  Carolina, 
calls  him  an  Englishman.  Colonel  Andrew  Boyd,  of  Octorara,  writing  to  his  mo- 
ther-in-law of  the  war  in  the  Southern  colonies,  mentions  the  report  that  the  Bri- 
tish have  seized  Wilmington,  "where  my  brother  Adam  is." 

t  Stiles  MSS.,  New  Haven. 

25 


886  NOYES    PAllRIS — NATHANIEL    HUBBELL. 

the  summer  of  1760,  and  became  a  student  in  the  College  of  Phila- 
delphia in  1704.  He  entered  on  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  re- 
moved to  Virginia. 

He  was  a  man  of  property,  and  of  great  exactness,  recording  in 
what  articles  his  salary  was  paid ;  thus,  John  Long  paid  by  publi- 
cations (as  a  magistrate)  of  marriages  and  estrays,  and  by  a  riddle. 
His  hearers  seem  to  have  been  uniformly  commendable  in  regard 
to  his  support :  several  remembered  him,  in  their  dying  testaments, 
by  small  bequests.  Many  of  them  removed  over  the  river,  and  to 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina. 

liis  marriage-portions  to  his  daughters  were  large,  according  to 

the  notions  of  that  day,  and  show  the  thoughtfulness  as  well  as  the 

liberality  of  the  parents.     A  few  of  his  sermons  are  in  my  hands. 

,      On  his  tombstone  is  engraved : — "  Forty-four  years  pastor  of  this 

church." 


NOYES   PARPJS 

Was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Parris,  of  Salem  village,  Massa- 
chusetts, so  mournfully  conspicuous  in  giving  life  and  vehemence  to 
the  delusion  and  the  judicial  murders  for  witchcraft.  He  was  born 
in  1692,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1721.  He  preached  at 
Cohanzy  from  1724  to  1729,  when,  having  fallen  under  serious 
imputations,  he  in  a  disorderly  manner  withdrew  to  New  England. 
Dickinson  was  directed  to  write  to  Boston  and  state  the  circum- 
stances. 


NATHANAEL  HUBBELL 

Graduated  at  Yale  in  1723,  and  became  the  pastor  of  "West- 
field  and  Hanover,  New  Jersey,  in  1727, — the  latter  including  the 
present  congregations  of  Morristown,  Chatham,  and  Parsippany. 
The  Westfield*  congregation  gave  him,  as  "a  settlement"  on  his 
accepting  their  call,  one  hundred  acres  of  their  parsonage-lands  in 
fee-simple.     "A  settlement"  in  land  or  money  was  the  uniform 

*  Rev.  Jas.  M.  Huntting's  Historical  Discourse  at  Westfield.  It  would  appear  that 
Hanover  did  the  same.  His  house  having  been  biirned,  Mr.  Cudd  made  a  new  deed. 
— Rev,  Jos.  F.  Tuttle,  Rockaway,  New  Jersey. 


GILBERT   TENNEXT.  387 

New  England  custom,  and  was  frequent  in  Pennsylvania,  it  being 
understood  that  the  minister  was  to  spend  his  days  in  their  service. 
At  Westfield,  all  who  chose  bound  themselves  by  a  covenant  to  be 
assessed  according  to  their  property,  to  make  up  whatever  was  de- 
ficient in  the  pastor's  salary. 

The  first  time  Hubbell  met  with  the  synod,  he  put  in  a  protest 
with  Webb  and  others,  and  seems  for  years  to  have  relinquished  all 
connection  with  it.  In  1732,  his  name  appears  again  on  the  Re- 
cords, but  generally  as  an  absentee.  In  1730,  he  gave  up  the 
charge  of  Hanover. 

He  was  present  as  a  correspondent  at  the  meeting  of  the  com- 
mission in  Hemphill's  case;  and,  in  one  of  the  pamphlets  in  defence 
of  that  unworthy  man,  it  is  said  that  Hubbell  avowed  that  "  any 
method  of  promoting  a  good  cause  was  innocent  and  lawful." 

He  prosecuted  a  claim  for  arrears,  which  led  to  his  dismission  in 
1745,  just  before  his  death. 


GILBERT   TENNENT, 

The  oldest  son  of  Tennent,  of  Neshaminy,  was  born  in  the  county 
Armagh,*  Feb.  5,  1703,  before  his  father  entered  into  orders. 

He  was  converted,  through  the  exertions  of  his  father,  at  the  age 
of  fourteen,  while  crossing  the  Atlantic.  He  was  educated  by  him, 
and  was  licensed  by  Philadelphia  Presbytery  in  May,  1725.  He 
received  in  the  fall  the  degree  of  A.M.  from  Yale.  The  honorary 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts  was  conferred  by  that  institution  for  the 
first  time  in  1774,  and  he  was  the  third  person  on  whom  it  was  be- 
stowed. He  was  called,  Dec.  29,  to  Newcastle,  and,  after  remain- 
ing some  time,  abruptly  left.  The  congregation  and  the  Presbytery 
of  Newcastle  complained  of  his  departure ;  and  a  letter  was  pro- 
duced, declaring  his  acceptance  of  the  call.  The  synod  concluded 
that  his  conduct  was  too  hasty  and  unadvised ;  and  the  moderator 
reproved  him,  and  exhorted  him  to  use  more  deliberation  and  cau- 
tion in  future.     The  rebuke  was  sharp,  and  he  took  it  meekly. f 

He  was  ordained  at  New  Brunswick,  by  Philadelphia  Presbytery, 
in  the  fall  of  1726.  He  would  have  been  called  soon  after  to  Nor- 
walk,  had  not  the  Fairfield  Association  interposed  their  judgment  that 
he  ought  not  to  be  taken  from  so  destitute  a  region  as  the  Jerseys. 

When  he  went  to  New  Brunswick,  he  found  there  several  excel- 
lent persons  who  had  been  converted  under  the  ministry  of  the 

*  Family  Record  in  Dr.  Alexander's  Log  College. 
\  MS.  Records  of  Newcastle  Presbytery. 


388  GILBERT   TENXENT. 

Rev.  Tlieodorus  Jacobus  Frelingbuyson.*  That  good  man  sent  him 
a  letter  on  the  necessity  of  rightly  dividing  the  word,  ^vhich  ex- 
cited in  him  a  greater  earnestness  of  labour.  He  was  distressed  at 
liis  want  of  success  :  though  greatly  admired  and  very  popular  as  a 
preacher,  there  was  no  instance  of  a  saving  change  in  any  of  his 
hearers  during  the  first  year  and  a  half  after  his  settlement.  A 
severe  fit  of  sickness  gave  him  affecting  views  of  eternity,  and  he 
was  exceedingly  grieved  that  he  had  done  so  little  for  God.  On 
recovering,  he  examined  many  professing  Christians,  and  found 
their  hope  to  rest  on  sand.  With  these  he  dealt  faithfully.  Some 
were  apparently  converted ;  but  others  turned  to  be  his  enemies. 
He  preached  much  on  original  sin,  repentance,  and  the  nature  and 
the  necessity  of  conversion :  a  considerable  number  around  were 
hopefully  converted,  and  at  sacramental  seasons  there  were  fre- 
quently signal  displays  of  the  divine  presence  and  power.  "  New 
Brunswick  did  then  look  like  a  field  the  Lord  has  blessed.  Alas  ! 
now  (1744)  the  scene  is  altered." 

At  Staten  Island, — one  of  the  places  where  he  statedly  laboured, — 
there  was,  in  1728  or  '29,  a  more  general  concern;  and  pretty  many 
were  converted.  Once,  while  preaching  from  Amos  vi.  1,  the  people, 
careless  before,  were  so  aff'ected,  that  they  fell  on  their  knees  to  cry 
for  mercy,and  the  general  inquiry  was, "  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  V 

In  1788,  he  laid  before  the  synod  "sundry  large  letters"  Avhich 
had  passed  between  him  and  Cowell,  of  Trenton,  on  the  subject  of 
the  true  motive  that  should  influence  our  obedience  to  God :  whether 
it  should  be  wholly  a  desire  for  God's  glory,  or  whether,  with  this 
desire,  there  should  be  a  desire  for  our  own  happiness :  Is  disinte- 
rested benevolence  the  essence  of  holiness  ?  The  large  committee 
to  Avhora  the  papers  were  referred,  heard  both  parties,  and  delayed 
their  decision  for  a  year.  They  presented  a  wise,  happy  statement 
of  the  true  doctrine  ;  but  it  did  not  satisfy  Tennent.  lie  again  in- 
troduced the  business  in  1740  ;  but  the  synod,  by  a  large  majority, 
refused  to  consider  it.  This  he  represented  in  his  paper,  which  he 
read  a  few  days  after,  on  the  deplorable  state  of  the  ministry,  as  a 
slighting  and  shuffling  the  late  debate  about  the  glory  of  God,  and 
as  sanctioning  the  doctrine  that  there  is  no  difference  between 
seeking  the  glory  of  God  and  our  own  happiness,  and  that  self- 
love  is  the  foundation  of  all  obedience. 

At  this  time,  he  corresponded  with  Ralph  and  Ebenezer  Erskine ; 
and  Whitefield,  in  giving  them  his  advice,  enforces  it  by  saying, 
"  Our  dear  brother  and  fellow-labourer,  Mr.  G.  Tennent,  thinks 
the  same,  and  said  he  would  write  to  you  about  it." 

On  hearing  Tennent  preach,  Whitefield  said,  "Never  before 
heard  I  such  a  searching  sermon.  He  went  to  the  bottom  indeed, 
and  did  not  daub  with  untempered  mortar.     He  convinced  me  more 

*  His  Letter  in  the  Christian  History. 


GILBERT   TENNENT.  389 

and  more  that  we  can  preach  the  gospel  no  further  than  we  have 
experienced  the  power  of  it  in  our  hearts.  I  found  what  a  babe 
and  novice  I  was  in  the  things  of  God,  He  is  a  son  of  thunder, 
whose  preaching  must  either  convert  or  enrage  hypocrites." 

Whitefickl  preached,  Nov.  20,  "about  noon,  for  near  two  hours, 
in  worthy  Mr.  Tennent's  meeting-house,  to  a  hirge  assembly  ga- 
thered from  all  parts ;  and  amongst  them,  as  he  told  me,  there  was 
a  great  body  of  solid  Christians  ;  and  again  at  three  and  seven. 
Several  were  brought  under  strong  convictions,  and  our  Lord's 
disciples  were  ready  to  leap  for  joy."  Tennent  sent  him  word, 
Dec.  1,  1739 : — "  Since  you  was  here,  I  have  been  among  my  people, 
dealing  Avith  them  plainly  about  their  souls'  state,  examining  them  as 
to  their  experience,  telling  natural  people  the  danger  of  their  state, 
exhorting  them  that  were  totally  secure  to  seek  convictions  and 
those  that  were  convinced  to  seek  Jesus.  I  reproved  pious  people 
for  their  faults.  There  are  hopeful  appearances  among  pretty 
many  in  the  place  I  belong  to."  In  April,  it  was  said  two  had 
been  savingly  converted  in  November. 

Whitefield  wrote  to  him  from  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  Dec.  15, 

1739,  "  Be  not  angry  because  you  have  not  heard  from  me.  In- 
deed, I  love  and  honour  you  in  the  bowels  of  Jesus  Christ.  You 
are  seldom  out  of  my  thoughts.  I  trust  the  work  goes  on  glo- 
riously in  your  parts:     the  hand  of  the  Lord   brought  wondrous 

things  to  pass  before  we  left  Pennsylvania Last  night  I 

read  the  aft'ecting  account  of  your  brother  John.  Let  me  die  the 
death  of  that  righteous  man.  Oh,  my  dear  friend,  my  brother,  en- 
treat the  Lord  that  I  may  grow  in  grace  and  pick  up  the  fragments 
of  my  time  that  nothing  may  be  lost.  Teach  me,  oh,  teach  me 
the  Avay  of  God  more  perfectly.  Rebuke,  reprove,  exhort  me  with 
all  long-suffering  and  doctrine  :  I  feel  I  am  but  a  babe  in  Christ. 
I  only  wish  I  was  more  worthy  to  subscribe  myself  your  affection- 
ate brother  and  servant  in  Christ." 

From  New  Brunswick,  April  28,  1740,  he  writes,  "  God  has  now 
brought  me  here,  where  I  am  blessed  with  the  conversation  of  Mr. 
Tennent.  Indeed,  he  is  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus ;  and  God  is  pleased 
in  a  wonderful  manner  to  own  him  and  his  brethren.  The  congre- 
gations where  they  have  preached  have  been  surprisingly  convicted 
and  melted  down.  They  are  unwearied  in  doing  good,  and  go  out 
into  the  highways  and  hedges  to  compel  poor  sinners  to  come  in." 

To  Mr.  Habersham  he  wrote  from  Savannah,  June  25,  1740, 
"  I  like  the  Messrs.  Tennent  for  preaching  in  this  manner.  They 
wound  deep  before  they  heal :  they  know  there  is  no  promise  made 
but  to  him  that  believeth,  and  therefore  they  are  careful  not  to 
comfort  overmuch  those  that  are  convicted.  I  fear  I  have  been 
incautious  in  this  respect,  and  have  often  given  comfort  too  soon." 

To  Mr.  R ,  in  Philadelphia,  he  wrote  from  Charleston,  July  11, 

1740,  "  Keep  close,  my  dear  friend,  keep  close  to  the  dear  Mr. 


g9(^  GILBERT   TENNENT. 

Tenncnts.  Under  God,  they  will  build  up  your  soul  oil  your  most  holy 
faith.     It  gladdens  my  heart  to  hear  of  their  success  in  the  Lord," 

Whitefield  went  to  New  Brunswick,  Nov.  6,  and  Tennent,  of 
Freehold,  met  him,  besides  other  ministers.  It  was  settled  that 
Gilbert  should  go  to  Boston,  though  he  pleaded  inability  for  so 
great  a  work.  Ilis  first  wife  had  lately  died;  and  he  was  so  much 
supported  that  he  was  able  to  preach  her  funeral  sermon  while  she 
lay  before  him  in  the  coffin. 

Whitefield  wrote  to  Governor  Belcher,  at  Boston,  from  Philadel- 
phia, Nov.  9,  "  Great  things  has  the  great  Immanuel  done  for  me  and 
for  this  people  by  the  way.  The  word  has  been  attended  with 
much  power.  Surely  our  Lord  intends  to  set  America  in  a  flame. 
This  week,  Mr.  Tennent  proposes  to  set  out  for  Boston;  to  blow  up 
the  divine  flame  lately  kindled  there.  I  recommend  him  to  your 
excellency  as  a  solid,  judicious,  excellent  preacher.  lie  will  be 
ready  to  preach  daily." 

Tennent  took  Long  Island  in  his  way ;  and  his  labours  were 
greatly  blessed.  At  Newport,  there  was  a  considerable  concern. 
He  preached  at  Westerly,  Rhode  Island,  from  Matt.  xi.  28,  in  going, 
and,  returning,  from  Gen.  iii.  9 ;  rousing  up  the  people,  and  filling 
Bome  with  great  Avrath.     He  waked  up  the  conscience. 

He  arrived  at  Boston,  Dec.  13.  His  first  sermon  was  on  "  The 
Righteousness  of  the  Scribes,"  and  was  speedily  printed.  It  was  a 
period  of  protracted  and  unexampled  cold  ;  Long  Island  Sound 
was  frozen  across.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Cutler,  Church  missionary  at 
Boston,  laments  to  the  Venerable  Society  that  "  Gilbert  Tennent* 
afflicted  us  more  than  the  most  intense  cold  and  snow.  Though 
vulgar,  crude,  and  boisterous,  yet  tender  and  delicate  persons  were 
not  deterred  from  hearing  him  at  every  opportunity.  The  ill 
effects  of  Whitefield's  visit  might  have  worn  off",  if  his  followers 
could  have  been  preserved  from  writing;  but  they  carried  on  his 
design  with  too  great  success."  Dr.  Cutler  said  to  Dr.  Zachary 
Grey,  (NichoUs's  Lit.  Anecdotes,)  "Whitefield  has  plagued  us  with 
a  vengeance,  especially  his  friends  and  followers.  Our  presses  are 
forever  teeming  with  books.  .  .  .  While  he  was  here,  the  town  was 
as  if  it  were  in  a  siege ;  the  streets  were  crowded  with  coaches 
and  chaises.  He  lashed  and  anathematized  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. After  him  came  one  Tennent,  a  minister,  impudent  and 
saucy,  and  told  them  they  were  damned.  This  charmed  them  ;  and, 
in  the  dreadfullest  Avinter  I  ever  saw,  people  wallowed  in  the  snow 
day  and  night,  for  the  benefit  of  his  Jjeastly  brayings.  Many 
ended  their  days  under  these  fatigues.  Both  W.  and  T.  carried  more 
money  out  of  these  parts  than  the  poor  could  be  thankful  for."  He 
preached  for  nearly  two  months.  The  assemblies  had  been  full  from 
the  time  Whitefield  preached ;  but  under  Tennent,  the  concern  be- 

*  Hawkins. — Albany  Documents. 


GILBERT   TENNENT.  391 

came  more  general  and  powerful.  From  the  deep  and  terrible  con- 
victions he  had  passed  tiirough,  he  had  such  a  lively  sense  of  the 
divine  majesty,  holiness,  and  justice,  that  the  very  terrors  of  God 
seemed  to  rise  in  his  mind  afresh  when  he  brandished  them  in  the 
eyes  of  unreconciled  sinners.  Some  of  the  most  stubborn  sinners 
were  made  to  fall  down  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  in  lowly  submission. 
The  Rev,  Thomas  Prince  says  that  "  in  private  he  was  seen  to  be  of 
considerable  parts  and  learning, — free,  gentle,  and  condescending : 
he  had  as  thorough  an  acquaintance  with  experimental  religion  as 
any  person  I  ever  conversed  with ;  his  preaching  was  as  searching 
and  rousing  as  any  I  ever  heard.  He  aimed  directly  at  the  heart 
and  conscience,  to  lay  open  numerous  delusions  and  show  the  many 
secret,  hypocritical  shifts  in  religion,  and  to  drive  out  of  every  de- 
ceitful refuge." 

His  preaching  produced  no  crying  out  or  falling  down :  he  did 
not  so  much  preach  the  terrors  of  the  law,  as  search  man's  delusive 
hopes,  show  their  utter  impotence  and  impending  danger.  He 
left  Boston,  March  2, 1741,  and  preached  his  farewell  from  Acts  xi. 
2o.  He  was  exceeding  strict  in  cautioning  against  running  into 
the  church.  Yet,  the  opposers  say,  the  congregations,  while  he 
preached,  expressed  their  religious  joy  by  a  hearty  laugh,  and  that 
Tennent  laughed  over  those  who  were  under  conviction. 

He  preached  eight  sermons  at  Plymouth,  in  March,  with  good  re- 
sults, on  the  sin  and  apostasy  of  mankind  in  Adam ;  on  the  blind- 
ness of  the  natural  man  in  the  things  of  God ;  on  the  utter  inability 
of  the  fallen  creature  to  relieve  itself;  and  on  justification  through 
the  imputed  righteousness  of  Christ. 

In  Maine,  he  preached  seven  sermons  at  Piscataqua,  and  three  at 
East  York,  going  from  thence  to  Hampton,  N.H.,  and  Greenland ; 
at  Portsmouth,  six  or  seven  times,  his  voice  drowned  by  the  cries 
of  the  people  in  distress.  In  Massachusetts,  he  preached  three 
sermons  at  Bridgewater,  one  from  Matt.  xi.  28,  at  Taunton,  which 
awakened  only  a  few,  and  was  deep  and  lasting  in  only  two  in- 
stances. At  Oxford,  the  Rev.  Peter  Thatcher,  then  under  great  de- 
pression, came  from  Middleborough  to  hear  him,  with  sensible  pre- 
judice, but  had  not  heard  three  sentences  of  his  prayer  before  he 
found  him  to  be  a  man  of  God.  "  I  desire  to  bless  God  for  that  ser- 
mon. I  never  saw  more  of  the  presence  and  power  of  God  in 
prayer  and  preaching,  and  never  felt  more  of  the  power  of  God  ac- 
companying the  word  on  my  own  heart.  Every  word  made  its  own 
way.  I  felt  the  Aveight  of  it.  This  revived  in  me  the  ministry 
I  sat  under  in  my  youth."  At  Middleborough,  he  preached  from 
Rom.  vii.  9,  and  said  he  was  never  so  shut  up  but  once  before  in 
his  life.  No  one,  however,  perceived  it.  There  was,  however,  no 
eft'ect  at  the  time ;  but  the  people  were  from  that  time  inclined  to 
hear,  and  half  a  dozen  were  awakened.  At  Lyme,  the  sermon,  from 
Ezek.  xxxviii.  9,  was  very  dull.     Parsons  was  afraid  several  times 


892  GILBERT  TENNENT. 

he  would  have  nothing  to  say.  One  was  convinced.  Next  day 
the  text  was  Luke  xiii.  24:  the  audience  very  attentive  and  deei)ly 
affected.  There  was  much  visible  concern  ;  but  the  effects  were  far 
more  extensive  than  at  the  time  appeared.  At  the  East  Parish  of 
Lyme,  the  two  sermons  were  excellent,  and  were  attended  by  a 
great,  if  not  general,  awakening.  At  Saybrook,  he  gave  a  jilain, 
searching  sermon.  At  New  Haven,  he  preached  seventeen  sermons. 
Several  were  in  the  college  hall.  The  concern  was  general  in  the 
college  and  in  the  town.  Among  the  pious  students  were  Brain- 
erd.  Bull,  and  David  Youngs.  They  visited  every  room  and  con- 
versed with  every  student.  Dr.  Sproat,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Dr. 
Hopkins,  of  Newport,  were  brought  to  the  Saviour.  Hopkins  was 
about  twenty, — had  lately  heard  Whitefield :  he  thouglit  Tennent 
the  greatest  and  best  man  and  the  best  preacher  he  ever  saw  or 
heard.  "His  words  were  to  me  like  apples  of  gold  in  pictures 
of  silver.  I  thought,  when  I  should  leave  college,  I  would  go  and 
live  with  him,  wherever  I  could  find  him."  A  large  number  of 
three  upper  classes  entered  the  ministry :  John  Grant,  Thomas 
Lewis,  Caleb  Smith,  Job  Prudden,  Aaron  Richards,  and  Thomas 
Arthur  became  '  pastors  in  our  church.  Tennent  regretted,  in 
1744,  having  kept  no  journal  of  this  tour, — the  brokenness  of 
his  memory  preventing  his  drawing  up  a  full  account  of  it.* 

It  being  assumed  that  he  had  gone  into  New  England  on  the 
supposition  of  the  unregeneracy  and  uselessness  of  the  ministers, 
he  said  that  the  reason  of  his  undertaking  the  tour  was  to  promote 
his  "progress  in  the  Christian  course,  by  that  continual  train  of 
labours  and  hardships  I  foresaw  I  should  be  engaged  in  and  ex- 
posed to."  He  said  it  was  admitted  on  all  hands  there  was  a 
lamentable  decline  in  that  region  :  but,  if  there  were  not,  "  do  not 
general  rules  admit  of  exceptions?  In  extraordinary  times,  when 
the  Spirit  of  God  is  poured  out,  may  not  extraordinary  methods  be 
pursued  without  censure  V 

He  reached  home  just  before  the  division  of  the  synod,  and  preached 
in  Philadelphia,  May  31,  1741,  five  times,  and  baptized  eight  adults. 
The  next  day  the  Protest  was  introduced.  He  published  at  once 
"An  Examination  and  Refutation  of  the  Protest."  He  soon 
lamented  the  rupture  and  the  sad  aspect  of  the  churches  through- 
out the  colonies,  and  yet  suffered  a  new  edition  of  the  Nottingham 
Sermon  to  appear.  The  rise  of  the  Moravians  troubled  him 
greatly ;  and  he  preached  against  them  at  New  York,  and  printed 
the  sermons  on  Rev.  iii.  3 ;  and  Colman  prefixed  a  preface.  To 
this,  "  Philalethes"  replied,  contrasting  Gilbert  with  Tennent,  and 

*  Gillies.  He  preached  frequently  three  times  a  day.  Thirty  of  the  students 
f(illowed  him  on  foot  to  Milford,  and  for  this  were  fined  by  the  rector.  The  unscru- 
pulous author  of  the  Account  of  the  State  of  Religion  in  New  England  since  Mr. 
Whitefield's  Visit  says,  "  The  college  in  Connecticut  is  nearly  broke  up."  Tenueul'd 
laboui-b  at  Harvard  College  were  blessed. 


GILBERT   TENNENT.  393 

placing  in  opposite  columns  his  self-contradictions,  accusing  him 
of  raising  a  hue  and  cry  after  Pharisees,  and  countenancing  such 

unlearned    exhorters    as    D 1    R s,    S 1    K-h-r,  and 

Jj-j-r  P e.  He  without  delay  published,  "  The  Examiner  Exa- 
mined; or,  Gilbert  Tennent  harmonious." 

In  1744,  he  removed  to  Philadelphia  and  took  charge  of  the 
Second  congregation :  his  feet  were  blistered  in  traversing  the 
streets  and  visiting  such  numbers  of  distressed  souls.  He  called 
on  Franklin  to  point  out  suitable  persons  from  whom  to  solicit  aid 
in  erecting  a  house  of  worship.  The  philosopher  told  "  the  enthu- 
siast" to  call  on  everybody :  he  did  so,  and  built  the  church.  He 
ceased  his  former  method  of  uttering  his  discourses,  and  read  them. 
He  lamented  his  "  extravagancy  in  discarding  a  wig  and  wearing 
his  hair  loose  and  unpowdered,  with  a  large  greatcoat  fastened 
with  a  leathern  belt  for  his  outer  garment."  His  ministry  in  Phila- 
delphia was  in  the  main  unattended  with  encouraging  success. 
Andrews  said  to  Samuel  Mather,  April  17,  1745,  "  We  are  pretty 
quiet  at  present.  Tennent  lets  me  alone,  and  is  generally  mode- 
rate ;  but  many  of  his  followers  grow  weary  of  him,  and  wish  for 
Whitefield's  return."  Tennent  now  assumed  that  persons  of 
moral  life,  possessed  of  a  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  should  be  admitted  to  the  communion,  and  argued  stre- 
nuously against  his  own  former  practice. 

In  1749,  he  preached  and  printed  his  "  Irenicum,  a  Plea  for  the 
Peace  of  Jerusalem,"  to  effect  a  union  between  the  synods  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia.  He  did  full  justice  to  the  brethren  he  had 
so  bitterly  assailed,  and  especially  holds  up  Thomson — once  the 
object  of  his  unsparing  invective — as  a  worthy  representative  of  the 
excellent  and  estimable  principles  of  his  Old-Side  associates.  He 
freely  justifies  them  from  the  charge  of  being  opposers  of  the  work 
of  God  or  heart-enemies  to  vital  godliness, — doing  it  as  cordially  as 
if  he  had  not  been  foremost  and  loudest  in  creating  these  unfavour- 
able impressions  of  them. 

Davenport  wrote  to  Bellamy,  May  29,  1753,  "  Blessed  be  the 
great  and  good  God  for  a  remarkable  reviving  and  quickening 
given  lately,  about  the  beginning  of  March,  to  Mr.  William  Tennent, 
and,  about  a  fortnight  after,  to  Mr.  G.  Tennent,  before  his  wife's 
death  and  since." 

His  second  wife,  Cornelia  Depeyster,  widow  of  Matthew  Clark- 
son,  made  a  hasty  flight,  March  19,  1753,  aged  fifty-seven ;  and 
early  in  May  he  buried  his  mother. 

His  family  being  taken  from  him,  he  consented  to  go  to  Great 
Britain,  in  conjunction  with  Davies,  to  solicit  aid  for  the  college. 
The  expectation  of  so  accomplished  a  companion  in  the  embassy 
was  an  encouragement  to  Davies  to  undertake  the  arduous  task. 

Whitefield  writes   in  June,  1753,    "I  am  glad  Mr.  Tennent  is 


S94  GILBERT   TENNENT. 

coming  over  with  Mr.  Davies.  If  they  come  with  their  old  fire,  I 
trust  they  will  be  enabled  to  do  wonders."  lie  sailed  Nov.  17,  and 
reached  London  on  Christmas  day. 

Davies  was  "  deeply  sensible  of  the  kindness  of  Heaven  in  ordering 
his  father  and  friend  to  be  his  companion,  not  only  for  the  right 
management  of  the  undertaking,  but  for  his  social  comfort." 

Tennent  was  cheerful  and  courageous  on  the  voyage,  and  preached 
from  John  iii.  5  of  a  Sabbath  evening.  The  sermon  was  judi- 
cious, plain,  pungent,  searching,  and  well  adapted  to  do  good.  Hav- 
ing no  opportunity  to  address  the  people  at  another  time,  he  said, 
"  Where  there  is  no  good  to  be  done,  the  door  is  not  opened." 

The  next  evening  after  their  arrival  was  spent  with  "Whitefield. 
Tennent's  heart  was  all  on  fire  ;  and,  after  having  gone  to  bed,  he 
suggested  to  Davies  that  they  should  watch  and  pray :  they  rose 
and  prayed  together  till  three  in  the  morning. 

"  Tuesday,  Jan.  22. — Observing  at  Mr.  Chandler's  that  our  col- 
lege would  be  a  happy  expedient  to  unite  the  German  Calvinists 
with  the  English  Presbyterians,  Mr.  Smith,  afterwards  Provost  of 
the  University  of  Philadelphia,  replied  that  a  union  would  not  be 
desirable.'  Tennent  immediately  answered,  '  Union  in  a  good  thing 
is  always  desirable.'  Mr.  Chandler  said,  'I  have  seen  a  very  ex- 
traordinary sermon  against  union,'  and  reached  him  his  Notting- 
ham Sermon.  Chandler  had  also  read  the  examination  of  Tennent's 
answer  to  the  Protest.  All  that  we  could  say  had  no  effect.  He  told 
us  he  would  do  nothing  for  us.  The  next  day  we  waited  on  him, 
and  Tennent  made  honest,  humble  concessions : — that  the  sermon 
was  written  in  the  heat  of  his  spirit,  w^hen  he  apprehended  a  re- 
markable work  of  God  was  opposed  by  a  set  of  ministers ;  that 
some  of  the  sentiments  were  not  agreeable  to  his  present  opinions ; 
that  he  had  painted  sundry  things  in  too  strong  colours.  He  plead 
that  it  was  now  thirteen  years,  and  he  had  used  all  his  influence  to 
promote  union  between  the  synods.  He  produced  his  'Irenicum,' 
and  the  minutes  of  the  synod,  to  show  the  state  of  the  debate.  He 
urged  that,  if  the  sermon  was  faulty,  it  was  the  fault  of  one  man, 
and  should  not  be  charged  on  the  whole  body."  Davies  exerted 
all  his  powers  of  pathetic  address ;  and,  in  the  end,  Chandler  gave 
them  his  name  and  co-operation. 

The  sermon  had  been  officiously  dispersed  through  London  from 
hand  to  hand,  and  Tennent  was  sadly  discouraged ;  and  his  success 
in  obtaining  funds  amazed  him  and  delighted  him,  as  a  gracious 
*' regarding  of  the  cry  of  the  destitute." 

Having,  at  Edinburgh,  succeeded  in  obtaining  from  the  Assembly 
an  order  for  a  national  collection,  Tennent  went  to  Glasgow  and 
to  Ireland.  He  attended  the  General  Synod;  and  they  agreed  to 
make  a  collection  through  all  their  bounds.  The  Presbytery  of 
Antrim,  "the  New  Light,"  Non-subscribers,  fast  sinking  into  Arian- 


GILBERT   TENNENT.  395 

ism,  did  the  same.  He  was  advised  to  make  private  collections  in 
Dublin.  He  returned  to  London  early  in  October,  having  received, 
in  Ireland,  above  five  hundred  pounds.  He  received  three  hundred 
and  sixty  pounds  for  the  education  of  pious  youth  for  the  ministry. 
He  sailed  November  13,  and  reached  home  safely. 

Burr*  wrote  to  Erskine,  in  May,  1755,  that  the  labours  of  Ten- 
nent  had  been  blessed  in  Philadelphia ;  in  June,  "  he  was  more 
than  ordinarily  engaged,"  and  there  was  much  to  encourage  him. 

He  joined  with  Alison,  and  the  Presbyterians  generally,  in  op- 
posing the  throwing  off  of  the  Proprietary  government. 

In  1762,  he  began  to  need  an  assistant;  and,  the  congregation 
being  regularly  summoned,  he  presided,  and,  by  a  considerable  ma- 
jority, a  call  was  made  out  for  Duffield,  of  Carlisle ;  yet  he,  with  the 
trustees  of  the  building,  objected  to  the  presbytery's  considering  the 
call,  until  the  question  between  the  trustees  and  the  congregation 
had  been  submitted  to  arbitration.  The  presbytery  decided  that 
the  call  was  in  order,  and  gave  the  commissioners  leave  to  prose- 
cute it.  Donegal  Presbytery  declined  to  place  it  in  Duffield's 
hands.  The  Rev.  John  Murray,  from  Ireland,  was  then  called 
and  ordained ;  but  the  synod  would  not  acknowledge  him,  and  he 
was  soon  cast  off. 

He  died  January  23, 1764.  President  Finley  preached  at  his 
funeral. 

He  made  his  will  October  20, 1763,  giving  three  hundred  pounds 
and  his  library  to  his  son  Gilbert,  and  directing  that  he  should  be 
put  to  learning,  in  the  hope  that  God  Avould  prepare  him  for  the 
ministry.  He  provides  also  for  his  daughters  Elizabeth  and  Cor- 
nelia. He  constituted  his  wife,t  his  brother  William,  and  the  wor- 
shipful John  Lyal,  of  New  Brunswick,  the  guardians  of  his  children, 
they  being  very  young.  His  son  was  lost  at  sea.  One  daughter 
married  Dr.  William  Smith,  of  Philadelphia  ;  the  other  died  young. 

As  he  drew  near  his  end,  every  symptom  of  dissolution  filled 
him  with  comfort.  His  disposition,  naturally  calm,  was  sweetened 
by  piety. 

Tennent  was  taller  than  most  men,  and  every  way  proportion- 
able ;  grave  and  venerable ;  affable,  condescending,  and  communi- 
cative. He  was  endeared  by  his  openness  and  undisguised  ho- 
nesty, eminent  for  public  spirit  and  great  fortitude  ;  his  mind  was 
enriched  by  much  reading,  and  his  heart  was  laden  with  a  rich  ex- 
perience of  divine  grace.  As  a  preacher,  he  was  equalled  by  few ; 
his  reasoning  was  strong,  his  language  forcible  and  often  sublime ; 
his  manner,  warm  and  earnest.  Most  pungent  were  his  addresses 
to  the  conscience.  With  admirable  dexterity  he  exposed  the  false 
hope  of  the  hypocrite,  and  searched  the  corrupt  heart  to  the  bot- 
tom.    He  said  of  some  of  his  earliest  sermons,  that  he  begged 

*  Gillies's  Collections,  Bonar's  edition.  •}•  Mrs.  Sarah  SpaflFord,  widcw. 


396  GILBERT   TENNENT. 

them  with  tears  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  A  ladv  asked  him,  at  the  close 
of  his  life,  concerning  his  mode  of  preaching  while  in  New  Eng- 
land, during  the  Revival.  He  replied,  he  hardly  knew  what  he 
preached ;  he  had  no  time  to  study.  The  many  years  he  had  spent 
in  diligent  preparation,  and  his  prevailing  ahsorption  in  divine 
things,  nobly  qualified  him  to  preach  without  effort.  The  drop- 
pings of  his  lips  were  as  choice  silver. 

He  was  a  mark  for  many  archers.  They  emptied  their  quivers 
on  him;  he  was  sore  wounded  by  their  calumnies;  but  he  "shook 
off  the  venomous  beasts,"  and  lived,  serving  Christ,  approved  of 
God  and  acceptable  to  men. 

The  publications  of  Tennent,  like  "the  fourth  part  of  the  dust 
of  Jacob,"  are  not  to  be  numbered.  The  earliest  seems  to  have 
been  a  sermon  preached  in  New  York  in  March,  1734  ;  in  1735, 
*'A  Solemn  Warning  to  a  Secure  World  from  the  God  of  terrible 
majesty;  or,  the  Presumptuous  Sinner  detected,  his  Pleas  consi- 
dered, and  his  Doom  displayed;"  to  which  is  added  the  life  of  his 
brother,  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Tennent.  "  The  Necessity  of  Religious 
Violence  to  Durable  Happiness,"  preached  at  Perth  Amboy,  June 
29,  1735;  two  sermons  on  the  nature  and  necessity  of  sincere 
sanctification,  contrition,  and  an  acceptable  appreciation  of  a  suf- 
fering Saviour,  preached  at  New  Brunswick  in  July  and  August, 
1736.  A  volume  of  his  sacramental  discourses  was  printed  in 
Boston,  in  1739;  his  sermon  on  an  "Unconverted  Ministrj^"  in 
1740;  on  the  "Priestly  Office  of  Christ,"  preached  at  New  Bruns- 
wick, in  1741 ;  on  the  death  of  Captain  Grant,  in  175G;  on  "Pub- 
lic Fasting,"  in  1749;  on  "Religious  Zeal,"  in  1750;  on  the  "Duty 
of  being  Quiet,"  and  at  the  opening  of  the  synod,  in  1759.  He 
was  struck  by  lightning ;  and  the  eagerness  of  some  to  proclaim  it 
as  a  judgment  led  him  to  preach  a  sermon  and  print  it,  on  the 
"Righteousness  of  the  Scribes,"  in  1740;  his  Moravian  sermons, 
in  1742;  "The  Examiner  Examined,"  in  1743;  on  a  thanksgiv- 
ing, and  on  another  public  occasion,  and  a  third  on  Admiral  Mat- 
thews's  victory,  in  1744;  on  the  success  of  the  expedition  against 
Louisburg,  in  1745. 

He  published,  in  1746,  a  volume  of  twenty-three  sermons  on  import- 
ant subjects,*  embracing  "Man's  Chief  End,"  "The  Divine  Authority 
of  the  Scriptures,"  "The  Divine  Attributes,"  and  "The  Trinity." 

A  French  privateer  came  into  Delaware  Bay  in  December,  1747. 
The  citizens  of  Philadelphia  met  in  the  New  Meeting-house,  and 
formed  an  association  for  defence.  Tennent  preached  to  them 
from  Exodus  xv.  3: — "The  Lord  is  a  man  of  war."  A  large  num- 
X  ber  of  copiesf  lay  unsold  when  the  British  held  the  city,  and  were 
torn  up  for  cartridges.     The  sermon  being  attacked,  he  published, 

*  It  is  said  to  have  had  "a  florid  preface"  affixed  by  six  divines, 
f  Day's  Pennsylvania  Historical  Collections. 


ARCHIBALD   McCOOK — EBENEZER    PEMBERTON.  397 

within  a  month,  "Defensive  War  consistent  with  Christianity," 
— the  animadversions  on  which  he  repelled,  in  1748,  by  a  third 
pamphlet: — "Defensive  War  Defended." 

In  1748,  he  printed  a  Fast-sermon,  and  one  preached  before  a 
sacramental  solemnity ;  in  1749,  on  the  "  Display  of  Divine  Jus- 
tice in  the  Propitiatory  Sacrifice  of  Christ;"  in  1756,  one  before 
Captain  Vanderspiegel's  company ;  in  1758,  several  on  important 
subjects;  and,  amid  his  closing  days,  he  issued  an  "Address  on  the 
Lkite  Invasion  of  American  Liberty  by  the  Stamp  Act."  Most  of 
these  are  very  rare,  being  scattered  in  public  libraries.  They  are 
all  creditable  to  his  abilities,  were  serviceable  in  their  time,  and, 
having  served  their  generation,  have  passed  into  oblivion. 


ARCHIBALD  McCOOK 


Was  received  as  a  student  from  Ireland,  by  Newcastle  Presby- 
tery, in  March,  1726,  and  was  licensed,  September  13,  having  sub- 
scribed the  Westminster  Confession.  He  was  sent  to  Kent,  in  y^ 
Delaware,  embracing  Dover,  St.  Jones,  and  Mother  Hill,  was  called 
March  28,  1727,  and  ordained  June  7.  Houston  proclaimed,  and 
Thomson  preached.     He  died  before  September. 

The  desolate  condition  of  the  people  in  Kent  attracted  the  atten-  n^ 
tion  of  the  presbytery  in  1714.  Anderson  was  sent  as  a  monthly 
supply ;  Gelston  went  as  a  candidate,  in  1715 ;  and  the  next  year 
they  had  occasional  supplies  in  connection  with  Cedar  Creek,  in 
Sussex.  Cross  preached  for  them  monthly  for  several  years, 
and  Hook,  Thomas  Evans,  Steward,  and  Hutcheson  visited  them. 
They  had  also  Mr.  Peter  Finch,  probably  from  England,  for  a  sea- 
son.    After  McCook's  death,  they  had  supplies  for  several  years. 


EBENEZER  PEMBERTON, 

The  son  of  one  of  the  pastors  in  Boston,  was  born  in  1704,  and 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1721.  When  licensed,  he  was  employed 
as  chaplain  at  Castle  William.* 

*  Robbins's  Second  Church,  Boston. 


EBEXEZER    PEMBERTON. 

On  the  dismission  of  Anderson,  he  was  sent  by  the  Boston  minis- 
ters to  New  York  ;  and,  at  the  request  of  the  congregation,  made 
in  April,  they  ordained  him  in  his  native  town,  August  9,  1727. 
Colman  preached  the  sermon,*  from  Mark  ix.  38.  He  dwelt  on  the 
young  man's  leaving  his  beloved  mother,  and  the  city  in  which  his 
father  had  laboured ;  on  his  being  called  to  the  head-city  of  a  pro- 
vince ;  and  on  the  goodness  of  God  in  having  formed  and  endowed 
him  for  his  service,  and  inclined  and  spirited  him  for  this  distant 
and  important  Avork.  He  reminded  him  of  the  hand  of  God  in 
uniting  the  affections  of  the  flock  on  him,  and  presents,  as  a  motive 
to  faithfulness,  the  piety  of  his  parents  and  grandparents.  He 
bids  him  prepare  the  beaten  oil  and  the  sweet  incense  for  the  sanc- 
tuary, contend  earnestly  against  the  common  errors  of  the  day, 
maintain  the  doctrine,  worship,  and  discipline  established  from  the 
beginning,  assert  expressly  the  Trinity,  the  true  and  real  Godhead 
of  Jesus,  and  justification  by  faith,  insist  on  the  observance  of  the 
Lord's  day,  and  urge  the  duty  of  family  worship  and  family  govern- 
ment. He  concludes,  "  The  God  of  New  England,  before  whom 
our  fathers  walked,  go  with  you  and  give  the  blessing  of  Abraham 
to  thee  and  to  thy  seed." 

The  New  York  congregation  informed  the  synod  that  they  were 
satisfied  with  all  Dr.  Nicoll's  proceedings,  and  desired  them  to  ad- 
mit Pemberton  as  a  member.  This  they  declined  to  do,  but  not 
out  of  any  disrespect  to  him.  They  appointed  a  committee  (all 
New  Englanders)  to  settle  the  difference  between  the  Presbytery 
of  Long  Island  and  the  congregation.  The  difficulty  was  settled 
by  causing  Inglis,  Blake,  and  Leddell  to  make  over  by  deed  all 
their  right  to  the  meeting-house  to  the  ministers  of  Edinburgh,  and 
to  Dr. Nicoll,  in  trust  for  the  congregation;  and  by  requiring  NicoU 
to  release  those  three  from  all  bonds  and  obligations  they  were 
under  to  him  on  account  of  that  property ;  and  by  exacting  of  him 
a  bond  of  two  thousand  pounds  to  the  ministers  of  Edinburgh,  not 
to  alienate  his  right  therein,  and,  when  reimbursed,  to  transfer  all 
his  right  to  them.  They  required  also  a  bond  from  him  of  two 
thousand  pounds  to  Pierson,  Cross,  and  Dickinson,  obliging  him- 
self to  concur  with  persons  appointed  b}"  Edinburgh  Presbytery,  in 
selling  such  pews  as  the  majority  of  the  congregation  chose.  The 
congregation  was  allowed  to  choose  five  representatives  or  managers 
of  the  property.  Pemberton,  at  his  request,  was  received  as  a 
member,  by  the  committee,  without  hearing  what  the  presbytery 
had  to  offer.  The  synod  refused  to  sanction  his  reception,  and 
then  proceeded  unanimously  to  receive  him,  leaving  it  to  him  and 
the  congregation  to  join  what  presbytery  they  pleased. 

In  1735,  he  was  moderator  of  the  commission  at  the  trial  of 

*  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Library. 


EBENEZER   PEMBERTON.  399 

Hemphill ;    and  his   sermon   on  that  occasion,  from  Luke  vii.  35, 
being  cavilled  at,  he  published  it. 

IVhitefield  came  to  New  York  in  November,  1739,  and  was 
denied  the  use  of  the  court-house.  The  commissary,  before  being 
asked,  refused  him  the  church.  Dominie  Boel  declined  to  admit 
him  to  the  Dutch  Church,  and  Whitefield  would  not  oflBciate  in 
the  meeting-house  tendered  by  the  Presbyterians.  He  attended 
Trinity  Church  in  the  morning,  and  preached  in  the  afternoon  in 
the  fields,  and  in  the  evening  in  the  Presbyterian  meeting-house. 
Pemberton  wrote  to  him,  that  he  had  left  the  town  under  a  uni- 
versal concern ;  and  that,  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  people,  he  had 
appointed  a  lecture.  Many  were  deeply  affected;  and  some  of 
the  loose  and  profligate  were  ashamed,  and  set  on  reformation. 

Whitefield*  wrote  to  him,  November  28,  1739,  "  I  have  been 
much  concerned,  since  I  saw  you,  lest  I  behaved  not  with  that 
humility  towards  you  which  is  due  from  a  babe  to  a  father  in 
Christ ;  but  you  know  how  difficult  it  is  to  meet  with  success  and 
not  be  pufied  up  with  it ;  and,  therefore,  if  any  such  thing  was  dis- 
cernible in  my  conduct,  oh,  pity  me,  and  pray  to  the  Lord  to  heal 
my  pride.  All  that  I  can  say  is,  that  I  desire  to  learn  of  Jesus 
to  be  meek  and  lowly  in  heart ;  but  my  corruptions  are  so  strong, 
and  my  employ  so  dangerous,  that  I  am  afraid." 

He  wrote  from  Upper  Marlborough,  December  8,  "Till  now  I 
have  had  neither  time  nor  leisure  to  answer  your  kind  letter. 
Blessed  be  God,  who  has  opened  the  heart  of  some  of  his  people 
at  New  York  to  receive  the  word !  May  he  enable  you  to  waterf 
what  his  own  right  hand  hath  planted,  and  grant  to  your  labours  a 
divine  increase !  Oh  that  the  Lord  Avould  be  pleased  to  send  forth 
experimental  labourers  into  his  harvest !  for  I  fear,  among  you,  as 
well  as  in  other  places,  there  are  many  who  are  well  versed  in  the 
doctrines  of  grace, — having  learned  them  at  the  university, — but 
notwithstanding  are  heart-hypocrites  and  enemies  to  the  poAver  of 
godliness.  I  use  this  freedom,  because  I  love  simplicity.  I  con- 
fess I  am  but  a  child  in  grace  as  well  as  years. 

At  his  second  visit,  October,  1740,  "  the  Holy  Ghost  came 
down  as  a  mighty  rushing  wind." 

Dr.  NicollJ  wrote  to  Nicholas  Spence,  agent  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  that  "  the  effects  were  visible  in  the  town,  particularly 
in  our  congregation  and  in  my  own  family.  Little  children  fol- 
lowed Mr.  Pemberton  to  his  lodgings,  weeping,  and  anxiously  con- 

*  Whitefield's  Letters. 

•)•  Pemberton  had  set  up  a  lecture,  on  account  of  the  increased  desire  for  re- 
ligious instruction.  Steward,  in  his  published  journal,  scoffs  at  this,  and  says, 
"  Some  pretend  to  water  what  God  has  planted,  by  setting  up  lectures:  they  daub 
with  untempered  mortar,  and  say  thefe  is  no  need  of  giving  an  account  of  your 
conversion." 

j  Gillies's  Collections. 


400  EBENEZER    PEMBERTON. 

cerncd  about  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  The  good  Lord  hath 
stirred  up  Gill)ert  and  William  Tcnnent,  Burr,  Mills,  (of  Kipton,) 
Leonard,  (of  Goshen,)  and  Davenport,  and  spirited  them,  in  his 
mercy,  to  water  it;  but  Satan  is  using  (May  20,  1741)  his  utmost 
endeavours  to  drive  some  of  them  to  extremes."  Pemberton  was 
sent  for  to  Connecticut  College,  and  preached  twice  a  day  while 
absent.  He  printed  his  sermon  preached  at  Yale,  April  19, 
1741,  immediately  after  Tennent's  visit.  The  subject  was,  "Know 
Christ." 

In  May,  he  attended  the  synod,  with  his  elder,  Nathaniel 
Hazard;*  and  both  signed  the  protest  against  the  exclusion  of 
the  New  Brunswick  party.  Hazard  sat  in  synod  as  an  elder  in 
1728.  His  place  of  business  was  at  the  store  of  Thomas  Noble, 
at  the  "Old  Slip:"  he  advertises  "likely  negroes,  and  a  prime  lot 
of  old  Cheshire  cheese." 

Pemberton  preached,  September  13,  1742,  at  Stratfield,  Con- 
necticut, on  the  duty  of  committing  our  souls  to  God,  from 
2  Tim.  i.  12.  This  discourse  was  printed,  as  also  the  funeral  ser- 
mon of  Dr.  Nicoll,  his  valued  friend,  the  church's  benefactor. f 

A  petition  was  addressed  by  the  congregation,  March  12,  1746, 
to  the  associated  ministers  of  Boston,  seeking  aid  to  enlarge  the 
church.  A  copy  of  this  document  is  preserved  in  Dr.  Stiles's 
papers,  signed  by  J,  Royal,  William  Smith,  Jeremiah  Owen,  Wil- 
liam Eagles,  Joseph  Millikin,  P.  Jackson,  and  P.  V.  B.  Livingston. 
They  state  that,  when  the  church  was  first  built,  there  were  not 
more  than  seventy  or  eighty  belonging  to  it;  that  dififerences  grew 
up  among  the  original  undertakers  of  the  building,  and  that  for 
four  years  after  Pemberton's  settlement,  the  congregation  con- 
tinued small:  after  a  time,  six  of  the  eight  windows  w^ere  glazed, 
having  before  been  boarded.  In  1739,  showers  of  heavenly  influ- 
ence descended,  with  an  increase  of  gifts  in  the  minister.  The 
congregation  grew  till  the  floor  was  filled  and  three  galleries  ;  and 
now  they  needed  to  repair,  enlarge,  and  add  a  steeple  and  bell. 
Being  about  to  engage  an  assistant  minister,  they  would  be 
unable,  if  not  aided,  to  bear  the  whole  expense  of  refitting  the 
house. 

The  years  from  1740  to  '50  were  years  of  rapid  increase. 
Mr.  Cumming  was  settled  as  assistant  minister.  W^hitcfield  was 
in  New  York  eight  days  in  the  summer  of  1747.  "  People  flock 
rather  more  than  ever;  the  Lord  vouchsafes  us  solemn  meet- 
ings." 

*  A  native  of  Newtown,  Long  Island,  and  descendant  from  one  of  the  early  set- 
tlers there.  His  son,  Nathaniel  Hazard,  was  the  friend  and  constant  correspondent 
of  Dr.  Bellamy ;  his  second  son,  Samuel,  was  a  merchant  in  Philadelphia,  and  a 
steadfast  and  invaluable  member  of  the  Second  Church. 

•j-  Dr.  Sprague's  Collection  at  Princeton. 


EBENEZER    PEMBERTON.  401 

He  wrote  to  Pemberton  from  London,  November  14,  1748, 
urging  him  to  come  thither  and  solicit  funds  for  Nassau  Hall.  In 
llS'i),  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  had  endeavoured  to  prevail  on 
him  to  "go  home  to  Europe"  to  obtain  funds  for  erecting  a  semi- 
nary. The  Synod  of  New  York,  in  1751,  proposed  it  to  him :  he 
had*  no  family  at  the  time,  and  was  willing  to  go ;  and  a  com- 
mittee was  sent  "immediately"  to  treat  with  his  people. 

It  was  hisf  settled  purpose  to  have  gone ;  but  his  people  and 
Mr.  Gumming  hindered  it.  His  intention  of  going  caused  great 
uneasiness  among  his  people,  and  created  dissatisfaction  towards 
him  in  the  minds  of  some. 

By  death  and  removal,  J  he  was  left  without  an  elder  or  deacon. 
•Mr.  Hazard  removed  to  Philadelphia.  On  the  death  of  Dr.  Nicoll, 
trustees  were  chosen  to  manage  the  affairs,  by  those  who  were 
bound  for  the  payment  of  the  church  debts,  and  out  of  their  own 
number.  Troubles  arose.  The  trustees  complained  because  Pem- 
berton insisted  on  having,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  a  seat  in  their 
board  and  a  voice  in  the  temporal  affairs.  The  matters  in  contro- 
versy passed  from  the  presbytery  to  the  synod  in  1752.  They 
decided  that  the  church  property  belonged  to  those,  without  dis- 
tinction of  name  or  nation,  who  conformed  to  the  general  plan  of 
the  Scottish  Church,  as  practised  by  the  New  York  Synod ;  that 
the  pastors  had  no  right,  by  virtue  of  their  office,  to  preside  over 
the  board  of  trustees,  and  that  Gumming  was  imprudent  in  insist- 
ing on  doing  so ;  that  the  trustees  had  acted  faithfully  and  much 
to  the  advantage  of  the  church.  They  commended  Gumming 
for  insisting  that  parents  who  present  children  for  baptism  shall 
pray  in  their  families,  and  condemned  the  plan  of  carrying  round 
a  paper  to  get  subscriptions  to  introduce  a  new  version  of  Psalms. 
Davies,  Finley,  and  Beatty,  as  a  committee,  after  careful  inquiry, 
nominated  Israel  Horsefield  and  David  Vanhorne;§  and  they  were 
elected  elders.  Though  empowered  to  recommend  Watts's  Psalms 
if  they  thought  proper,  the  committee  declined  to  do  so,  recom- 
mending to  both  parties  moderation  and  forbearance. 

In  1753,  Pemberton  was  blamed  by  some  of  the  people  for 
neglecting  family  visiting,  the  session  for  introducing  Watts  of 
their  own  accord,  and  both  ministers  for  neglecting  to  recommend 
the  Gatechism  in  baptism,  and  for  praying  when  asked  at  funerals. 
This  was  a  -matter  of  intolerable  offence  to  the  Scotsmen :  they 
could  not  endure  "  orations"  at  funerals.  The  committee  dis- 
missed these  charges,  and  lamented  the  injurious  and  contemptuous 

*  Mrs.  Catharine  Pemberton   died  in  June,  1751,   having,  in  her   last  years, 
passed  through  "very  melancholy  scenes  of  affliction  and  pain." 
f  Jonathan  Edwards  to  Erskine. 

j  MS.  Piecords  of  Trustees  of  New  York  Congregation, 
j  David  Van  Home  died  November  13,  1775,  aged  sixty-three. 

26 


402  EBENEZER    PExMBERTON. 

treatment  on  both  sides.  No  one  opposed  Cumming's  request  to 
be  dismissed ;  but  a  number  of  gentlemen  strongly  remonstrated 
against  giving  up  Pemberton.  The  committee  advised  him  to 
stay  for  a  while,  and  make  a  further  trial ;  and,  if  at  the  end  of  a 
month  he  had  no  success  in  healing  the  divisions,  he  was  to  be 
released. 

Visiting  Boston,  he  received  a  unanimous  call  to  the  New  Brick 
Churcb,  and  immediately  Avrote*  to  the  synod,  desiring  that  he 
might  be  set  at  liberty.  lie  was  dismissed ;  and  the  Presbytery 
of  New  York  addressedf  a  letter  of  high  commendation  in  his 
favour  to  the  ministers  of  Boston.  lie  was  installed,  March  6, 
1754.  He  was  greatly  admired,  and  his  preaching  was  largely 
attended.  But,  towards  the  approach  of  the  Revolution,  his 
people,  being  zealous  Whigs,  were  pained  by  the  sight  of  Governor 
Hutchinson  in  the  front  pew,  and  standing  high  in  the  esteem  of 
their  minister.  They  withdreAv;  but  the  favour  of  Hutchinson 
preserved  the  church  edifice  from  the  desecration  and  ruin  which 
befell  the  other  places  of  worship.  His  salary  was  poorly  paid, 
and  he  generously  forgave  the  arrears.  The  Baptists,  being  with- 
out a  house,  were  welcomed  to  an  equal  use  of  the  church, — Dr. 
Stillman  preaching  alternately  with  the  pastor.  A  vain  attempt 
had  been  made  to  secure  the  Rev.  William  Tennent,  Jr.,  after- 
wards of  Charleston,  as  a  colleague.  The  want  was,  in  a  mea- 
sure, supplied  by  the  Rev.  John  Lathrop,  of  the  New  North 
Church,  whose  congregation  had  been  despoiled  of  their  sanctuary 
by  the  British ;  and,  on  the  death  of  Pemberton,  the  two  societies 
united.  The  pastoral  relation  of  Pemberton  was  virtually  dis- 
solved in  February,  1774: :  from  that  date  he  received  no  salary. 
During  the  war  he  retu-ed  to  Andover,  and  died,  September  U, 
1779. 

Dr.  Chauncey  told  President  Stiles  that  Pemberton  would  go 
to  the  death  for  Edwards's  distinguishing  tenet: — refusing  church 
privileges  to  the  unregenerate. 

He  published  his  sermons  at  the  ordination  of  Wilmot  and 
Brainerd.  In  1750,  he  printed  a  memoir^  of  his  mother,  as  a 
preface  to  her  "  Meditations,"  and  dedicated  it  to  her  third  hus- 
band,— Henry  Lloyd,  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Queen's  Village.  Her 
second  husband  was  John  Campbell,  of  Boston,  the  publisher  of 
the  first  newspaper  in  that  town. 

He  corresponded  with  Doddridge.  One  of  his  letters,  dated 
December  16,  174o,§  is  preserved;  it  was  in  answer  to  an  inquiry 


*  MS.  Records  of  the  Trustees. 
j-  Dr.  Robbins's  History  of  Second  Church,  Boston. 
j  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Library. 
I  Doddridge  Correspondence,  by  Humphreys. 


DANIEL    ELMER.  403 

concerning  tlie  injustice  said  to  have  been  done  to  the  Moravians 
by  the  Dissenters  in  America.  He  denies  that  there  was  any 
ground  for  such  a  story.  "  With  us,  they  are  evidently  en- 
deavouring to  draw  oflF  the  affections  of  the  people  from  the 
soundest  and  most  zealous  ministers  in  these  parts."  His  valued 
friend,  Mr.  Noble,  had  already  forsaken  him. 

Davies  said,  "  Mr.  Price  is  by  far  the  best  orator  I  have 
heard  in  London.  He  is  an  affable,  affectionate  gentleman,  and 
is  the  likest  man  to  Mr.  Pemberton,  both  in  conversation  and  in 
the  pulpit,  that  I  have  seen."  The  Hon.  William  Smith,  father 
of  the  historian,  said,  "  His  deficiency  in  delivery  was  natural, 
but  surprisingly  mended  with  great  pains  taken." 


DANIEL  ELMER 


Was  born  in  Fairfield,  Connecticut,  in  1690,  and  graduated  at 
Yale  in  1713.  He  married  soon  after,  and,  "for  some  time,  car- 
ried on  the  work  of  the  ministry"  in  Brookfield,*  Massachusetts. 
The  General  Court  allowed  the  town  twenty  pounds  for  three 
years,  to  aid  in  sustaining  the  gospel.  Elmer  received  only  half 
of  this  encouragement,  having  left  before  1715.  Where  he  spent 
the  next  twelve  years  is  not  known.  In  1728,  he  settled  at  Fair- 
field, in  Cohanzy.  At  the  declaring  for  the  Confession,  in  1729, 
he  was  the  only  minister  who  professed  himself  unprepared  to  act. 
Time  was  granted  him  to  consider;  and  the  next  year  he  in- 
formed the  synod  that  he  had  declared  before  the  presbytery  his 
cordial  adoption  of  the  Confession  and  the  Catechism. 

Whitefield  visited  West  Jersey  in  the  spring  of  1740.  Gilbert 
Tennent  was  there  in  the  summer;  and,  while  Whitefield  was 
preaching  (November  19)  on  Wednesday,  the  Holy  Ghost  came 
down  "like  a  mighty  rushing  wind"  at  Cohanzy.  Some  thou- 
sands were  present.  The  whole  congregation  was  moved,  and  two 
cried  out. 

At  the  separation  in  1741,  Elmer  and  his  elder,  Jonathan 
Fithian,  though  present  at  the  opening  of  the  sessions,  seems  to 
have  gone  home  before  the  Pi'otest  was  introduced.  He  ad- 
hered to  the  Old  Side.  The  congregation  divided:  even  his  own 
son  occasionally  went  to  Greenwich  to  hear  Andi'ew  Hunter. 

Finley  spent  much  time  in  the  vicinity ;    and  New  Brunswick 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  J.  Foot's  Historical  Discoui'se  at  Brookfield. 


404  HUGH   STEVENSON. 

Preshytcry  was  constantly  importuned  for  supplies,  and  their  most 
promising  candidates  were  sent  to  Cohanzy. 

At  Elmer's  request,  Cowell,  McHenry,  and  Kinkaid  were  sent 
by  the  synod,  in  September,  1754,  to  endeavour  to  remove  the 
difficulties  he  complained  of  in  his  congregation ;  but  all  proceed- 
ings were  stayed  by  his  death.  He  lies  buried  in  the  Old  New 
England  town-graveyard,  with  this  inscription : — 

"  In  memory  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Elmer,  late  pastor  of  Christ's 
Church  in  this  place,  who  departed  this  life,  January  14,  1755, 
aged  sixty -five  years." 

Dr.  Alison  wrote  to  President  Stiles,  July  20,  1755,  informing 
him  that  the  two  parts  of  Elmer's  congregation  had  united  on  his 
death,  and  introducing  Mr.  Thomas  Ogden,  whom  they  had  sent  as 
their  messenger  to  Connecticut  to  procure  a  minister. 

Elmer  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Ebenezer  Parsons,  of 
West  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  and  sister  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan 
Parsons,  of  Newburyport ;  she  was  the  mother  of  three  sons  and 
four  daughters.  Ilis  second  wife  was  a  Webster,  the  mother  of 
two  sons  and  three  daughters. 

His  son  Daniel  was  born  in  1714,  and  was  the  father  of  Dr. 
Jonathan  and  General  Ebenezer  Elmer. 


< 


HUGH   STEVENSON, 

A  STUDENT  of  theology  from  Ireland,  was  received  under  the 
care  of  Newcastle  Presbytery,  May  11,  1726,  and  was  licensed, 
September  13.  He  was  sent  from  time  to  time  to  supply  Lower 
Octorara  (now  Nottingham)  and  Newcastle  and  Lewestown.  He 
was  called  to  Snow  Hill,  Maryland,  March  26,  1728,  Edmund 
Cropper  being  the  commissioner.  He  accepted  the  call  in  June ; 
Anderson,  Thomson,  and  Houston  were  appointed  to  examine  his 
discourse,  and  Thomson,  Stewart,  and  McCook  to  proceed  with 
his  trials.     He  was  ordained  before  June,  1729. 

In  1733,  while  preaching  in  Virginia,  he  received  harsh  and 
injvu'ious  treatment  from  some  gentlemen.  A  copy  of  his  repre- 
sentation was  sent  by  the  synod  to  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and 
aid  was  asked  to  maintain  some  itinerant  ministers  in  Virginia  and 
elsewhere ;  and  especially  was  that  venerable  body  urged  to  use 
its  influence  with  the  Government  to  lay  "a  restraint  upon  some 
gentlemen  in  said  neighbouring  province  as  may  discourage  them 
from  hampering  our  missionaries  by  illegal  prosecutions." 


JOHN   WILSON — EBENEZER   GOULD.  405 

In  1739  or  '40,  he  opened  a  grammar-school  in  Philadelphia, 
being  a  teacher  of  high  reputation.*  Just  before  the  introduction 
of  the  Protest  in  1741,  he  was  suspended  by  the  synod,  having 
omitted  his  ministry  and  fallen  into  some  irregularities.  He  died 
before  May,  1744. 


JOHN  WILSON, 

A  MINISTER  from  Ireland,  "  coming  providentially  into  these 
parts,"  presented  his  credentials  to  the  synod  in  1729,  and  was 
unanimously  received.  He  preached  at  Lower  Octorara,  and  made 
a  strong  party  in  his  favour.  The  Presbytery  of  Newcastle  received, 
January  27,  1730,  a  letter  from  Armagh  Presbytery  concerning 
him ;  and  they  resolved  not  to  employ  him.  He  was  then  preach- 
ing at  Newcastle  with  much  acceptance,  and  a  misunderstanding 
sprung  up  between  the  congregation  and  the  presbytery  in  regard 
to  him.  Robert  Gordon,f  Judge  of  Newcastle  County  Court,  and 
Probate  of  Wills,  wrote  to  the  synod  to  interpose  in  the  breach. 
This  brought  under  review  the  presbytery's  action,  and  the  synod 
judged  that  they  had  not  acted  with  any  severity  towards  him,  but 
rather  the  contrary.  He  removed  soon  after  to  Boston,  and  died 
there,  January  6,  1733,  aged  sixty-six. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  Rev.  John  Wilson  was  his  son,  who  was 
born  in  Ulster  and  ordained  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in 
Chester,  New  Hampshire,  in  1734,  and  who  died  there,  February 
1,  1779,  aged  seventy-six. 


EBENEZER  GOULD 


A  NATIVE  of  New  England,  graduated  at  Yale  m  1723,  and 
became  the  minister  of  Greenwich,  in  Cohanzy,  about  the  time 
Elmer  settled  in  Fairfield,  in  1727. 

In  1736,  Philadelphia  Presbytery  was  informed  of  difficulties  in 
his  congregation ;  and,  he  being  absent  at  the  time  set  for  consider- 
ing the  case,  they  heard  the  complainants  on  two  points : — 

1.  Whether  it  be  lawful  in  any  case  to  have  evidence  which  is 
to  be  used  in  an  ecclesiastical  case,  sworn  before  a  magistrate  ? 


*  Miller's  Life  of  Rodgers. 

f  He  died,  September,  1735,  "a  man  much  beloved. 


406  ELEAZER   WALES. 

2.  Whether  a  congregation  or  a  private  member  may,  after 
proper  means  uscfl,  complain  of  their  minister  to  tlie  presbytery  ? 

An  affirmative  answer  was  given,  and  the  comphiinants  went 
home;  and,  the  day  after,  Gouhl  came.  The  others  were  sent  for 
to  return,  but  in  vain.  It  was  all  happily  reconciled  soon  after, 
having  grown  out  of  Gould's  saying  that  if  he  had  money  he 
would  go  to  England.  No  notice  was  taken  of  it  at  the  time,  and 
when  he  afterAvards  expressed  his  scruples  freely  about  "the 
Presbyterian  way"  in  some  things,  it  was  surmised  that  only 
poverty  kept  him  from  going  to  England  and  taking  orders. 

Further  difficulties  occurred  in  the  summer  of  1739,  and  he 
removed  without  being  dismissed,  and  was  installed  in  1740  at 
Cutchogue,  Suffolk  county.  Long  Island. 

He  united  in  April,  1747,  with  Ebenezer  White,  of  Bridge- 
hampton,  Nathaniel  Mather,  of  Acquebague,  Ebenezer  Prime,  of 
Huntingdon,  Sylvanus  White,  of  Southampton,  and  Samuel  Buell, 
of  East  Hampton,  in  forming  Suffolk  Presbytery.  A  member*  of 
Gould's  church  was  present,  and  approved  of  the  plan,  though  not 
delegated  by  the  brethren.  The  majority  being  rigid  Congrega- 
tionalists,  a  crisis  ensued :  separations,  divisions,  and  alienations 
left  him  wdth  no  prospect  of  support  or  of  usefulness.  He  and 
they  mutually  agreed  to  part. 

No  intimation  is  given  that  the  Great  Revival  was  felt  at 
Cutchogue ;  it  doubtless  was,  and  the  separation  was  owing  not  to 
the  matter  of  church  government,  but  to  the  peculiar  views  of 
those  who  were  carried  away  by  Davenport  in  the  outset  of  his 
career,  and  who  abjured  him  when  he  renounced  his  errors.  They 
formed  separate  churches  throughout  the  east  end  of  the  island, 
which  bear  to  this  day  the  name  of  Strict  Congregational  churches ; 
the  strictness  being  in  the  maintenance  of  the  pui'ity  and  exact- 
ness of  discipline  of  the  primitive  era. 

He  removed  to  Middlefield,  the  southwest  part  of  Middletown, 
then  newly  organized  into  a  society,  and  was  installed,  October  10, 
1747.  He  removed  in  1756,  and  died  in  Granville,  Massachusetts, 
in  1778. 


ELEAZER  WALES 


Is  not  mentioned  in  the  published  genealogy  of  the  Wales 
family,  though  undoubtedly  sprung  from  it. 

Nathaniel  Wales,  who  settled  at  Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  in 
10o6,  was  the  father  of  Timothy,  whose   son  Eleazer  was   born 

*  Prime's  History  of  Long  Island. 


RICHARD    TREAT.  40t 

"25th,  Tenth  month,  1657."  He  was  probably  either  the  father 
or  grandfather  of  Eleazer  Wales,  who  graduated  at  Yale  in  1727, 
and  settled  at  Allentown,  New  Jersey,  in  1730. 

Crosswicks,  or  Ci'ossAveeksung,  was  an  early  Quaker  settlement. 
An  Episcopal  church  was  proposed  to  be  erected  there  in  1702. 
Morgan  probably  refers  to  it  when,  in  his  Latin  letter  to  Mather, 
in  1721,  he  speaks  of  two  congregations  suddenly  grown  Up  twenty 
miles  from  Freehold,  and  where  formerly  were  only  seven  Presby- 
terian families.  He  began  to  preach  there  in  May,  1720,  and 
prepared  the  way  for  Walton.  The  Presbyterians  had  a  meeting- 
house before  1722.  In  1730,  the  synod  considered  a  supplication 
from  Crosswicks,  and  directed  Andrews  to  reply.  Wales  soon 
after  settled  there;  but  he  asked  leave,  September  19,  1734,  of 
Philadelphia  Presbytery,  to  resign,  on  account  of  inadequate  sup- 
port :  his  statement  being  confirmed  by  the  representative  of  the 
congregation,  Mr.  Ingliss,  he  was  dismissed.  He  was  directed  to 
join  with  Andrews  in  writing  to  the  Rector  of  Yale  for  a  minister 
to  visit  the  destitutions  of  West  Jersey.  He  was  called  to  Mill- 
stone, September  19,  1735,  and  joined  East  Jersey  Presbytery, 
wtthin  the  bounds  of  which  it  lay. 

He  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  New  Brunswick  Presby- 
tery, and  the  only  New  Englander,  besides  Treat,  who  was  ex- 
cluded by  the  Protest.  He  is  mentioned  incidentally,  once  or 
tAvice,  in  Whitefield's  Journal,  as  having  come  to  Amwell  and  New 
Brunswick  to  meet  him.  His  name  is  also  seen  in  Brainerd's 
diary,  among  the  contributors  to  the  support  of  his  mission. 
I^ingston  is  entered  as  giving  £5  lis. 

No  notice  appears  of  Kingston  or  Millstone  among  the  con- 
gregations highly  favoured  during  the  Revival. 

Wales  died  in  1749. 


EICHARD  TREAT, 


Born  at  Milford,  Connecticut,  September  25,  1708,  was  a  de- 
scendant or  near  relative  of  Governor  Robert  Treat,  an  early  set- 
tler of  that  town.  He  graduated  at  Yale  in  1725,  and  was  or- 
dained by  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  and  installed  pastor  of  Abing- 
don, Pennsylvania,  December  30,  1731.  David  Evans  preached 
on  the  occasion,  showing  that  it  was  a  wonder  to  see  a  godly,  con- 
siderate man  in  the  ministry. 

Treat,  in  1739,  while  hearing  Whitefield  preach,  was  convinced 
of  his  formal  state,  notwithstanding  he  held  and  preached  the  doc- 
trines of  grace. 


408  RICHARD    TREAT. 

WhitefielJ*  was  at  Abingdon,  April  17,  1740,  and  says,  "  God 
has  lately  shown  mercy  to  him.  He  was  deeply  convinced,  when  I 
was  here  last,  that  he  had  not  experienced  the  saving  power  of  the 
gospel.  Soon  after  I  went  aAvay,  he  attempted  to  preach,  but 
could  not,  and  told  his  people  how  miserably  he  had  deceived 
himself  and  them.  He  desired  them  to  pray  for  him,  and  has 
ever  since  continued  to  seek  Jesus  Christ,  sorrowing.  He  is  now 
under  deep  convictions  and  a  very  humbling  sense  of  sin.  He 
preaches  as  usual,  though  he  has  not  a  full  assurance  of  faith, 
because,  he  said,  it  was  best  to  be  found  in  the  way  of  duty.  I 
believe  the  Lord  is  preparing  him  for  great  services.  I  observed 
a  great  presence  of  God  in  our  assembly,  and  the  word  came  with 
a  soul-convincing  and  comforting  power  to  many." 

He  had  before  acted  with  the  majority  of  the  synod ;  but  now, 
becoming,  in  their  judgment,  "a  ringleader  in  destroying  learning 
and  good  order,"  he  was  excluded  in  1741.  With  his  neighbour 
Tennent,  of  Neshaminy,  he  joined  New  Brunswick  Presbytery. 
A  division  in  the  congregation  ensued;  and,  when  Philadelphia 
Presbytery  met  (March  19,  1742)  at  Abingdon,  Treat  demurred  to 
their  jurisdiction,  and  they  referred  the  matter  to  synod.  In 
May,  Benjamin  Jones,  Malachi  Jones,  Archibald  McClean,  Ben- 
jamin Armitage,  and  others,  asked  the  presbytery  for  advice ;  and 
they  were  directed  to  settle  the  matter  as  should  be  most  for  the 
glory  of  God.  The  next  spring,  the  papers  were  laid  before  the 
synod ;  and,  on  their  recommendation,  the  presbytery  sent  supplies 
to  Abingdon  as  often  as  they  could. 

Whitefield  often  preached  in  the  graveyard  to  a  great  con- 
course from  all  the  region  round.  Treat's  labours  were  also 
largely  blessed. 

When  the  Presbyterians  at  Milford,  Connecticut,  asked  New 
Brunswick  Presbytery  to  ordain  Jacob  Johnson  for  their  minister, 
they  declined,  but  sent  Treat  to  heal  the  difference.  He  failed ; 
for  they  of  Milford,  instead  of  succumbing  to  Congregational 
despotism,  made  out  a  call  for  him,  August  10,  1743.  The  pres- 
bytery advised  him  not  to  accept  it,  and  sent  them  Sackett,  of 
Bedford,  Lamb,  of  Baskingridge,  and  Youngs,  of  Southold.  New 
Haven  Associationf  retaliated  by  closing  their  pulpits  against  all 
the  members  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery. 

Treat  published  his  sermon|  preached,  in  1747,  at  the  ordina- 
tion of  Lawrence,  in  the  Forks  of  Delaware,  and  on  the  death  of 
President  Finley. 

In  1751,  Abingdon  Presbytery  was  formed,  for  the  convenience  of 
the  ministers  of  Brunswick  Presbytery  residing  in  Pennsylvania  nnd 
West  Jersey.  It  was  merged  in  Philadelphia  Presbytery  on  the  union. 

*  Wliitefield's  Journal.  f  Tracy's  Great  Awakening. 

J  Connecticut  Histoi-ical  Society. 


ROBERT   CATHCART.  ^  409 

He  died,  NoA^ember  20,  1778,  surviving  many  years  all  who  had 
been  in  our  ministry  before  him,  and  being  reverenced  as  a 
peace-maker  and  a  man  full  of  good  works.  He  laboured  to  the 
close  of  his  days,  having  preached  on  "  the  West  Branch  of  the 
Forks"  (Allen  township)  shortly  before  his  decease. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Treat,  colleague  with  Dr.  Rodgers  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  was  his  son.  Another  of  his  sons  was  settled  there 
as  a  physician. 


ROBERT  CATHCART, 

A  LICENTIATE  ;^wn  Ireland,  was  received  by  Newcastle  Presby- 
tery, April  15,  ITHOT-aKd^was  sent  to  supply  MidjtUetown,  Dela- 
ware county,  Pennsylvania,  and  Brandywine,  Kent,  and  Lewes,  in 
Delaware.  In  December,  he  was  called  to  Xent,  but  declined, 
and  settled  at  Brandywine,  and,  probably,  at  Middletown. 

In  1720,  an  address  from  some  people  in  Birmingham,  on 
Brandywine,  was  read  in  synod,  and  McGill  was  appointed  to 
preach  to  them.  The  next  year  they  were  directed  to  apply  to 
Newcastle  Presbytery,  and  are  described  as  people  on  Brandywine, 
White  Clay,  and  the  north  side  of  Red  Clay.  Laing  was  the  sup- 
ply of  White  Clay  and  Brandywine  in  the  spring  and  summer  of 
1723 ;  and  the  22d  of  August  is  noted  by  the  presbytery  for  a  re- 
markable freshet  of  White  Clay  Creek,  as  though  it  had  risen  in 
its  might  to  wash  aw^ay  all  remembrance  of  Laing's  Sabbath-day 
bathing.  In  the  fall,  McGill  was  there;  and  then  Creaghead 
served  them  for  several  years.  In  1727,  they  called  the  Rev. 
Patrick  Vance,  of  Burt,  Ireland ;  and  the  presbytery  sent  the  call 
to  him  in  Ireland.  In  1729,  they  had  the  services  of  John  Ten- 
aent.  A  meeting-house  being  contemplated  by  the  people  of 
Brandywine  and  Middletown,  the  fears  of  White  Clay  Congrega- 
tion were  aroused,  and  the  intervention  of  the  presbytery  was  in- 
voked.    Leave  was  given  them  to  build. 

In  1740,  Cathcart  began  to  preach  in  'Wilmington.*  The 
undertakers  of  the  meeting-house,  Captain  Chambers  and  Captain 
Hutchinson,  obtained  a  gift  from  the  synod's  fund  of  fifty  pounds, 
and  a  loan  of  thirty  pounds. 

Cathcart    signed   the    Protest    in   1741 ;     and,   as  •  Whitefield 

*  Thomas  Chalkley,  a  Friend,  in  September,  1736,  being  there,  says,  "It  is  a 
newly-settled  town  on  Christiana  Creek,  which,  I  believe,  will  be  a  flourishing  place 
if  the  inhabitants  take  care  to  live  in  the  fear  of  God." 


410  WILLIAM   ORR. 

often  preached  at  Wilmington  and  tlio  vicinity,  his  congregation 
divided,  and  the  New-Side  Church  of  Lower  Brandywine  was 
formed, — his  own,  in  process  of  time,  having  taken  the  name  of 
Red  Chiy. 

lie  died  in  1754. 


WILLIAM  ORR 


Was  received  by  Newcastle  Presbytery,  as  a  student  from  Iiie- 
land,  November  15,  1730,  and  was  licensed:  before  1732,  they 
ordained  him  pastor  of  Lower  OctOrara  or  Nottingham. 

The  Mouth  of  Octorara  began  to  receive  supplies  in  1725, 
and  asked  for  Stevenson  in  1727:  it  soon  after  obtained  one-third 
of  Hutcheson's  time.  It  is  frequently  styled  Lower  Octorara, 
and  is  named  Nottingham  for  the  first  time  in  April,  1730.  Un- 
pleasant disputes  seem  to  have  grown  out  of  the  location  of  the 
meeting-house,  and  still  more  from  the  desire  of  some  to  have 
John  Wilson  settled  over  them.  There  were  some  who  "scru- 
pled our  way  of  adopting  the  Confession,"  being  shocked  at  the 
possibility  of  having  a  minister  admitted  into  our  connection  who 
had  a  difficulty  concerning  an  iota  of  it. 

Donegal  Presbytery  forbade  its  members,  in  1732,  to  baptize  or 
preach  among  the  people  living  between  Nottingham,  Chestnut 
Level,  Donegal,  and  Swatara. 

Nottingham  informed  the  presbytery,  in  1733,  that  they  had 
agreed  on  the  following  persons  for  elders,  and  they  were  ap- 
proved : — Hugh  Kirkpatrick,  John  Kirkpatrick,  James  Buchanan, 
John  Luckie,  John  Moor,  Hugh  Fulton,  David  Patterson,  John 
Smith,  and  John  Mackadoo. 

John  Kirkpatrick  accused  his  minister  (April  2, 1733)  of  preach- 
ing false  doctrine  concerning  election, — alleging  that  he  had  used 
against  it  the  common  Arminian  flings.  His  explanations  were 
accepted ;  and  a  new  complaint  was  made  against  him  for  having 
married  the  Rev.  Mr.  Campbell  with  a  license,  which  seemed  to 
acknowledge  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  London.  More 
serious  complaints  Avere  made;  and  Gillespie,  Thomas  Evans,  and 
Houston  were  invited  to  sit  as  correspondents  in  considering  them. 
To  this  Or-r  objected ;  but  they  proceeded,  and  acquitted  him, 
though  they  blamed  his  conduct  during  process  as  insulting,  iu- 
docent,  and  reproachful. 

The  synod  sent  a  committee  to  adjudicate  on  the  spot  an  ajjpeal 
from   this   sentence   of  acquittal.      Gillespie,   Hutcheson,  Treat, 


WILLIAM   BERTRAM.  411 

Thomas  Evans,  and  Andrews  met  in  November,  1734.  They  ob- 
tained from  the  presbytery  an  acknowledgment  that  they  had 
erred  in  refusing  to  hear  John  Kirkpatrick's  supplication  and  to 
give  him  copies  of  certain  papers.  Though  these  refusals  had 
been  owing  to  want  of  time,  and  disturbance  among  the  people, 
they  entered  their  acknowledgment  on  the  records,  and  all  of  them 
signed  it.  Orr  and  his  session  made  an  acknowledgment  of  harsh- 
ness to  some  and  undue  lenity  to  other  offenders.  The  committee 
restored  Kirkpatrick  and  his  adherents  to  church  privileges,  on 
their  acknowledgment  of  rashness  and  imprudence  in  representing 
their  minister's  doctrine  as  false,  and  in  abruptly  and  irregularly 
breaking  off  from  the  session. 

The  presbytery  in  the  following  year  declared  that  they  could 
not  give  Orr  a  certificate  of  good  standing :  he  ceased  to  preach, 
and  said  he  would  not  be  at  the  trouble  of  carrying  their  certificate. 
He  then  sued  Paton  and  Steel,  the  representatives  of  the  congre- 
gation, on  the  bond  for  his  salary,  and  harassed  them  sorely. 
The  presbytery  blamed  his  action  as  irregular,  unaccountable,  pro- 
fane, and  disagreeable  to  the  Christian  character.  Being  dismissed 
from  his  charge,  he  deserted  the  bounds  of  the  presbytery  as  a 
fugitive  from  discipline.  He  was  ordained*  by  Gibson,  Bishop  of 
London,  as  a  deacon,  September  19,  1736,  and  was  admitted  to 
priests'  orders  ten  days  after.  He  arrived  in  South  Carolina,  from 
England,  in  1737,  and  took  charge  of  St.  Phihp's  and  St.  Paul's. 
In  March,  1743,  he  reported  that  the  Indian  tribe  of  Cushoes,  once 
numbering  a  thousand,  were  reduced  to  sixty-three ;  and  that  the 
number  of  his  communicants  in  his  church  had  increased  from 
eight  to  thirty-fom*.  In  1746,  he  took  charge  of  St.  Helena  parish, 
in  Beaufort,  and  removed,  in  1750,  to  St.  John's,  Colleton.  He  died 
there,  in  1755. 

He  was  one  of  the  ecclesiastical  court  which,  with  Commissary 
Garden  at  its  head,  cited  Whitefield  in  1740,  condemned  him  for 
canonical  irregularities,  suspended  and  denounced  him. 


WILLIAM    BERTRAM 


Presented  to  the  synod,  in  1782,  most  ample  testimonials  from 
the  Presbytery  of  Bangor,  in  Ireland,  of  his  ordination,  ministerial 
qualifications,  and  regular  Christian  conversation ;  and,  having  de- 
clared his  full  and  free  assent  to  the  Confession  and  Catechism, 

*  Dalcho's  History  of  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  South  Carolina. 


412  WILLIAM  BERTRAM. 

was  unanimously  received,  and  joined  to  Donegal  Preshytevy.  At 
the  same  time,  George  Kenick  (Renwick)  presented  him  an  invita- 
tion to  settle  at  Paxton  and  Derry,  and  at  the  first  meeting  of 
Donegal  Presbytery  he  declared  his  acceptance  of  it.  No  regular 
call  was  made ;  but  he  was  satisfied  with  the  paper  of  subscriptions 
put  into  his  hands.  He  was  installed,  November  15,  17-32,  at  the 
meeting-house  on  Swatara.  The  congregation  then  appointed  re- 
presentatives : — "  on  this  side,  Thomas  Foster,  George  Renick,  Wil- 
liam Cunningham,  and  Thomas  Mayes ;  on  the  other  side,  Rowhmd 
Chambers,  Hugh  Black,  Robert  Campbell,  John  Williams,  William 
Williams,  James  Quigley,  William  McCord,  and  John  Sloan."' 
They  executed  to  Bertram  the  right  and  title  to  the  Indian  town 
they  had  purchased.  He  informed  the  presbytery  that  his  wants 
had  been  tenderly  regarded. 

Rowland  Chambers*  appeared  before  Newcastle  Presbytery  in 
behalf  of  the  settlements  towards  Susquehanna,  in  September,  1722. 
John  Harris,  from  Yorkshire,  settled  at  the  mouth  of  Paxton  Creek 
in  172(3;  and  soon  after  James,  Robert,  Joseph,  and  Bcnjumin 
Chambers,  from  county  Antrim,  took  up  land  at  the  mouth  of 
Fishing  Creek.  In  1729,  Swatara  had  been  allowed  one-fifth  of 
Anderson's  time,  and  the  next  year  Fishing  Creek  asked  for  sup- 
plies. Swatara  called  the  Rev.  John  McKinstry,  a  minister  from 
Scotland;  but  he  returned  the  call,  and  settled  at  Ellington,  Con- 
necticut. 

On  the  settlement  of  Bertram,  the  congregation  on  Swatara  took 
the  name  of  Derry,  and  the  upper  congregation  on  Fishing  Creek 
was  styled  Paxton.  They  gave  the  presbytery  the  list  of  the 
elders  they  had  selected,  and  their  choice  was  approved. 

Bertram  complained,  in  1735,  of  "the  intolerable  burden"  he 
was  under  with  the  two  congregations,  and  desired  leave  to  confine 
himself  to  one.  Derry  engaged  to  pay  sixty  pounds  in  hemp,  corn, 
linen  yarn,  and  cloth,  and  he  was  released  from  the  care  of  Pax- 
ton, September  13,  1736. 

He  died  May  3,  1746,  aged  seventy-two ;  and  "  his  tombf  may 
be  seen  by  leaving  the  main  road,  near  Hummellstown,  and  tra- 
versing the  cool,  clear,  spring  creek  to  Dixon's  Ford :  there  stands 
the  venerable  Derry  meeting-house  on  the  banks  of  the  Swatara." 

Bertram's  son  was  surveyor-general  of  Pennsylvania. 

*  "1734,  3d  of  10th  month.  Both  of  the  proprietaries  present.  At  the  request 
of  Rowland  Chambers  and  Thomas  Armstrong,  one  hundred  acres  each  were  granted 
to  the  congregations  of  Paxton  and  Derry,  at  a  half-penny  sterling  yearly,  for  meet- 
ing-houses."— Huston's  Land  Titles. 

•j-  Mark  Bancroft's  Stories :  iu  Atkinson's  Casket. 


JOHN   CROSS.  413 


JOHN  CKOSS, 

Styled,  by  Dr.  Brownlee,  "  a  Scottish  worthy,"  was  received  as  a 
member  of  synod  in  1732,  and  settled  at  a  place  "  called  The  Moun- 
tains, back  of  Newark."  The  remarkable  revival  in  his  congrega- 
tion there,  in  1734  and  '85,  is  noticed  in  Edwards's  "Thoughts  on 
Revivals."  East  Jersey  Presbytery  blamed  him,  in  1785,  for  not 
attending  their  meetings,  and  for  moving  from  one  congregation  to 
another  without  their  consent.  He  was  the  minister  of  Basking- 
ridge  and  Statcn  Island,  and  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  New 
Brunswick  Presbytery.  He  distinguished  himself  greatly  by  his 
zeal  and  his  success  during  the  Great  Revival.  Whitefield  was 
refreshed  by  meeting  him  and  Gilbert  Tennent  on  Staten  Island, 
in  1740,  and  by  hearing  from  him  of  the  wonderful  things  often 
seen  under  his  ministry. 

He  had  been  absent  from  home,  and  had  left  Davenport  to 
preach  to  his  people.  Whitefield  went  with  him  to  Baskingridge, 
and  found,  on  his  arrival,  Davenport  with  three  thousand  people 
assembled.  Whitefield  preached,  standing  in  a  wagon.  Some  cried 
out,  and  others  wept.  When  this  vehemence  of  feeling  abated, 
Cross  saw  a  little  boy  weeping  as  if  his  heart  would  break,  and 
lifted  him  into  the  wagon.  Whitefield  was  touched  with  the  sight, 
and  turned  from  his  subject  to  dwell  on  the  sovereignty  of  God,  in 
melting  a  child  and  leaving  so  many  in  security.  A  universal  con- 
cern immediately  appeared:  fresh  persons  dropped  down,  and  the 
cry  increased.  At  night  Tennent  preached  in  a  barn  on  "  Spi- 
ritual Desertion;"  Whitefield  prayed  and  exhorted,  and  there  was 
a  great  commotion. 

The  next  day  they  went  to  New  Brunswick,  followed  by  a  throng 
of  persons  from  distant  places.  A  deaf  and  dumb  man  from  New 
Germantown  lost  no  opportunity  of  being  present  on  any  of  these 
occasions ;  and  to  the  end  of  life  he  amazed  and  delighted  those 
who  Avitnessed  his  delineations,  by  looks  and  motions,  of  those 
memorable  scenes. 

Cross  told  Whitefield,  in  1739,  of  the  wonderful  things  often 
seen  in  his  assembly :  at  first,  only  eight  or  nine  had  been  afi'ected ; 
but  afterwards,  upAvards  of  three  hundred  of  his  congregation, 
which  is  not  large,  were  effectually  brought  home  to  Christ.  He 
had  remarkable  success  on  Staten  Island,  in  1741. 

When  Whitefield  preached  at  Nottingham,  the  heavenly  influence 
descended  as  the  dew.  Tennent  followed;  and,  the  meeting-house 
b-eing  closed  against  Cross,  he  preached  in  the  woods,  amid  an 
astonishing  outcry,  swooning,  and  overwhelming  concern. 


^- 


414  BENJAMIN   CAMPBELL. 

Wliitefield  wrote  to  Noble,  of  New  York,  September  22,  1742, 
who  had  expressed  his  high  admiration  of  Cross,  "  I  do  not  won- 
der; lie  is  a  dear  soul,  and  one  that  the  Lord  delights  to  honour." 
He  said  of  him  also,  "He  is  indeed  one  that  I  believe  would  re- 
joice to  suffer  for  the  Lord  Jesus.  Oh  that  I  might  be  like- 
minded  !"  Tennent,  on  seeing  these  things  in  print,  wrote  to 
Whitefield,  who  replied,  "I  shall  write  to  some  friends  about  Mr. 
C.'s  principles.  I  thank  you  for  your  kind  caution.  My  mistakes 
often  humble  me." 

Thomson,  of  Chestnut  Level,  charges  him  with  having  required 
parents,  on  presenting  their  children  for  baptism,  to  own  the 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant  of  Scotland's  Reformation. 

More  serious  charges  than  this  were  laid  against  him,  in  April, 
1739,  and,  new  complaints  being  made,  he  was  called  up  by  his 
presbytery  and  suspended,  June  23,1742.  Dickinson  says,  "Ilis 
dreadful  scandals  came  to  light  in  the  midst  of  the  Revival,  and  his 
previous  high  character  for  zeal  and  piety  caused  the  enemies  of 
God  to  blaspheme  and  triumph."  Dickinson  regarded  his  princi- 
ples as  wholly  Antinomian.  A  large  body  of  people  adhered  to 
him  and  welcomed  his  ministrations.  In  October,  1746,  he  asked 
to  be  restored ;  but  the  presbytery  refused,  on  the  ground  that  they 
had  not  sufficient  evidence  of  his  repentance. 

In  the  tirae"^  of  the  great  land-riots,  he  was  accused,  by  the  par- 
ties who  brought  the  ejectment  suits,  of  being  the  counsellor  of  the 
people  who  resisted  the  process,  and  of  having,  in  connection  Avith 
the  Rev.  Daniel  Taylor, —  the  Independent  minister  of  Newark 
Mountains, — encouraged  them  to  liberate  the  prisoners,  and  to  the 
like  deeds  of  violence.  The  actual  s-ettlers,  it  was  said,  pretended 
a  just  title,  having  purchased  of  those  who  had  obtained  a  tract  fif- 
teen miles  square,  of  the  Indians,  for  a  five-shilling  bill  and  a  bot- 
tle of  rum.  A  New  York  paper,  of  December,  1747,  suggests  the 
publication  of  "Sermons  to  Violent  Men,"  founded  on  Proverbs 
xxix.  7. 


BENJAMIN   CAMPBELL, 

^  A  STUDENT  of  divinity  from  Ireland,  was  received  by  Newcastle 

^         Presbytery,  November  5, 1729,  and  was  licensed  and  ordained  to  a 

charge  in  their  bounds  before  September,  1733.     He  married  be- 

*  New  York  Papers. 


JOHN   NUTMAN.  415 

fore  January,  1734;  and  his  death  "vras  reported  to  the  synod  in 
September,  1735. 

Mr.  Legate,  Avho  came  over  with  him,  a  fellow-student,  is  not 
mentioned  after  his  being  taken  on  trials  by  Newcastle  Presby- 
tery. 


JOHN   NUTMAN 


Was  a  native  of  Newark,  New  Jersey.  His  father  (James*  Nut- 
man)  was  from  Scotland,  and  married  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John 
Prudden.  Dr.  Alden,  in  his  "Epitaphs,"  says,  "  The  old  rule  at 
Yale  was  to  rank  the  scholars  on  the  roll  according  to  the  relative 
position  of  their  family."  As  Nutman  stands  at  the  head  of  the 
graduates  of  1727,  we  may  understand  that  he  was  of  a  family  of 
distinguished  consideration. 

He  was  licensed  by  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  and  ordained 
pastor  of  Hanover,  New  Jersey,  in  1730.  Dr.  Alden  calls  the 
congregation  Whippany:  it  included  at  first  West  Hanover  and 
South  Hanover.  He  appeared  in  synod,  in  1733,  to  lay  before 
them  the  difficulties  of  his  situation.  A  lot  had  been  cast,  with 
sacred  solemnity,  to  determine  the  site  of  the  meeting-house :  the 
people  of  West  Hanover  or  Morristown,  being  dissatisfied  with  the 
lot,  formed  a  separate  congregation,  and  left  Nutman  with  only  a 
portion  of  his  people  and  a  proportionate  diminution  of  support. 
The  synod  blamed  the  resorting  to  the  lot  as  unnecessary,  and 
directed  the  Presbytery  of  East  Jersey  to  travail  with  the  people 
to  reunite,  at  least  till  they  be  better  able  to  subsist  apart ;  failing 
in  this,  to  grant  him  a  dismission  on  his  application.  They  did 
not  succeed;  and  West  Hanover  applied  to  the  synod,  in  1734,  for 
the  ordination  of  Mr.  Cleverly.  The  matter  was  left  to  Phila- 
delphia Presbytery;  and  they  met  at  Hanover,  August  8, 1737, — 
many  delays  having  occurred, — and  declined  to  ordain,  though  not 
judging  the  candidate  unfit.  The  next  year,  the  synod  was  in- 
voked by  Mr.  Budd,  a  commissioner,  to  consider  whether  West 
Hanover  was  bound  by  the  lot,  which  had  been  cast  in  the  lap  five 
years  before,  to  abide  by  a  decision  of  a  committee  of  East  Jersey 
Presbytery.  The  matter  was  ended  by  appointing  a  committee  of 
ministers  to  proceed  to  Hanover  and  hear  both  parties. 


Dr.  Stearns's  History  of  First  Church,  Newark. 


416  SAMUEL  nEMPnriL. 

On  the  20th  of  July,  1738,  Gilbert  Tennent  opened  the  com- 
mittee with  a  sermon  on  Ezek.  xi.  19 : — "  I  will  give  them  one 
heart."  Andrews,  Treat,  and  Cowell  were  there,  with  John  Cross, 
Gilbert  Tennent,  and  his  brother  William.  It  appeared  that, 
since  the  lot  was  cast,  West  Hanover  was  one-half  abler  than 
before;  and  that  Hanover  was  also  much  stronger,  and,  though 
"  it  was  hard  with  them  at  present  to  support  Mr.  Nutman,  yet 
they  were  in  growing  circumstances,  and  able  to  support  of  them- 
selves. They  had  no  mind  to  unite  with  the  whole  of  the  western 
part,  nor  on  any  of  the  former  terms."  The  committee  decided, 
that  it  was  now  impracticable  to  comply  with  the  engagements 
under  the  lot,  and  that  every  good  purpose  would  be  much  better 
answered  by  there  being  two  separate  societies.  All  parties  ex- 
pressed their  satisfaction  with  this  decision. 

Nutman  resigned  the  charge  in  1745,  and  engaged  in  teaching 
in  Newark.  He  died,  September  1,  1751,  aged  forty-eight.  His 
daughter  was  the  first  wife  of  Jonathan  Sergeant,  and  the  mother 
of  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ewing,  of  Philadelphia. 


SAMUEL  HEMPHILL, 


While*  a  probationer  in  Ireland,  preached  to  the  vacant  con-r 
gregation  of  Burt,  and  gave  offence  by  his  doctrine  to  the  Rev, 
Patrick  Vance.  When  Hemphill's  name  was  published  in  the 
synod  in  the  usual  manner  before  ordination,  Vance  was  present, 
but  made  no  objections ;  but  in  private  he  spoke  of  him  freely  as 
erroneous  in  his  sentiments.  When  Hemphill  came  to  America, 
Vance  wrote  to  his  brother-in-law,  John  Kilpatrick,  (probably 
Kirkpatrick,  the  elder  at  Nottingham,)  intimating  his  opinion  of 
the  man.  Hemphill  produced  ample  credentials  to  the  synod 
from  the  Presbytery  of  Strabane;  and,  having  adopted  the  West- 
minster Confession  and  Catechisms  as  "  the  rule  of  his  faith  and 
the  guide  of  his  practice,"  he  was  received  as  a  member.  He 
/  preached  at  New  London  with  acceptance;  but,  Kirkpatrick  hav- 
ing  showed  Vance's  letter  to  the  ministers  of  Newcastle  Presby- 
tery and  to  other  persons,  an  investigation  was  made  by  that 
body,  and  they  declared  themselves  satisfied  with  his  teachings. 

*  Hemphill's   Remarks   on   Minutes  of    the  Commission:    Old  South   Church 
Library. 


SAMUEL   HEMPHILL.  417 

Andrews*  wrote  to  Colman  from  Philadelphia,  June  14,  1735, 
"  There  seems  to  be  now  a  more  dreadful  plot  laid  by  Satan  to 
root  Christianity  out  of  the  world  than  ever  was  known  before,  so 
that  all  Christ's  friends  have  reason  to  be  awakened,  and  to  do 
what  they  can  to  save  the  sinking  ship.  It  has  been,  since  last 
November,  the  most  trying  time  with  me  that  ever  I  met  with. 
There  came  from  Ireland,  at  that  time,  one  Mr.  Hemphill,  to 
sojourn  in  town  for  the  winter,  as  was  pretended,  till  he  could  fall 
into  business  with  some  people  in  the  country;  though  some  think 
he  had  other  views  at  first,  considering  the  infidel  disposition  of 
too  many  here.  Some  desiring  that  1  should  have  assistance, — ■ 
and  some  leading  men  not  disafi'ected  to  that  way  of  Deism,  as 
they  should  be, — that  man  was  imposed  on  me  and  the  congrega- 
tion. Most  of  the  best  of  the  people  were  soon  so  dissatisfied 
that  they  would  not  come  to  meeting.  Freethinkers,  deists,  and 
nothings,  getting  a  scout  of  him,  flocked  to  hear.  I  attended  all 
winter,  but,  making  complaint,  brought  the  ministers  together, 
who  acted  as  is  shown  in  the  books  I  send  you." 

Hemphill  said,  Andrews  invited  him  to  preach  once  a  day,  and, 
being  grieved  at  seeing  multitudes  come  to  hear  him,  went  from 
house  to  house  to  prejudice  the  people  against  him.  He  called 
the  commission;  and  they  met,  April  17,  IBoS.f 

Pemberton  was  moderator:  the  members  present  were  Creag- 
head,  Cross,  Pierson,  Anderson,  Gillespie,  and  Thomson.  The 
correspondents  were  Tennent,  of  Neshaminy,  David  Evans,  Treat, 
Boyd,  Hutcheson,  Houston,  Archibald,  Jameson,  Thomas  Evans, 
Cathcart,  Hubbell,  and  Gilbert  Tennent. 

"  Never  was  there|  such  a  trial  known  in  the  American 
World.  I  was  obliged,  though  with  great  regret,  to  article 
against  him." 

The  articles  were,  in  substance,  these  :§ — 

1.  The  gospel  is  a  revival,  or  new  edition,  of  the  law  of  nature, 
except  two  positive  precepts,  and  the  worship  of  God  by  a  medi- 
ator.    Taught  in  a  sermon  on  Horn.  viii.  8. 

2.  The  Lord's  supper  is  a  means  of  promoting  a  good  life;  but 
in  it  the  believer  has  no  communion  with  Christ.  Sermon  on 
Gal.  vi.  15. 

3.  He  declaimed  against  salvation  by  the  merits  of  Christ,  as 
representing  God  as  stern  and  inexorable.  He  said  Christ  is 
preached  up  as  a  charm  to  work  up  enthusiasm.  Sermon  on  Acts 
xxiv.  25. 


*  MSS.  of  American  Antiquarian  Society. 

■j-  Franlilin  wrote  a  most  artful,   insidious  dialogue,  and  published  it,  anony- 
mously, in  his  "  Gazette,"  a  few  days  previously. 
J  Andrews  to  Colman. 

2  Minutes  of  the  Commission :  Old  South  Church  Library. 

27 


1. 


418  SAMUEL   HEMPHILL. 

4.  Faith  is  a  persuasion,  founded  on  natural  grounds.  Mys- 
teries Avcre  only  for  those  times  in  -SNliich  the  apostles  lived. 
Faith  and  obedience  are  the  same  thing.  Sermon  on  Mark 
xvi.  16. 

5.  Cornelius  was  a  heathen  when  the  angel  appeared  to  him. 
Sermon  on  Acts  x.  24. 

6.  In  preaching  on  Ps.  xli.  4, — "  Ileal  my  soul," — he  made  no 
mention  of  original  sin.  He  said,  the  passions  and  affections  were 
right  in  themselves ;  he  did  not  include  the  blood  of  Christ  among 
the  remedies  of  the  soul,  and  advanced  a  peculiar  notion  concern- 
ing hell. 

7.  In  preaching  from  Eph.  ii.  8,  he  said,  it  referred  to  the  hea- 
then, and  not  to  us ;  and  asked.  Is  not  James  as  good  as  Paul  ? 

8.  In  prayer,  he  prays  for  mankind,  and  not  for  the  church, 
and  thanks  God  that  he  has  given  us  reason  for  a  rule. 

"  If  I  am  mistaken,"  said  Andrews  to  .the  commission,  "I  shall 
be  abundantly  more  ready  to  retract  than  to  accuse." 

Hemphill  objected  to  Thomson  and  Gillespie,  as  having  avowed 
their  opposition  to  him ;  but  the  objection  was  overruled. 

Though  he  had  promised  to  produce  his  notes,  yet  he  fell  back, 
and  put  Andrews  on  proof  of  his  articles. 

Hemphill  said  he  had  promised  to  show  Andrews  his  notes  in 
private ;  that  he  was  not  bound  to  furnish  accusation  against  him- 
self;  and  that  it  was  contrary  to  the  practice  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland  to  require  it  of  him.  He  adds,  but  "they  had  prejudged 
the  case  already." 

Teunent  and  his  son,  however,  testified  that  he  had  told  them 
he  would  produce  his  notes  to  the  commission. 

Andrews  said,  "I  was  put  to  a  difficulty;  for  those  that  would 
have  been  evidences  did  not  attend,  and  I  could  not  persuade  them 
to  it;  and  others  that  could,  would  not." 

Hemphill  says,  "Andrews  did  produce  two  men;  but  their  evi- 
dence was  of  no  value."  One  of  them,  it  is  said,  testified  that  he 
had  heard  many  of  the  things  specified  by  Andrews,  but  he  could 
not  repeat  the  exact  words  in  which  they  were  uttered,  or  name 
the  text  of  the  sermon  in  which  they  occurred. 

"  Thus  the  first  week,  from  Thursday,  p.m.,  was  spent." 

On  Sabbath,  Pemberton  and  Cross  preached,  and,  Hemphill 
alleged,  with  the  design  of  holding  him  up  as  a  heretic  to  the 
people.     They,  in  self-defence,  printed  their  sermons. 

On  Monday,  he  consented  to  bring  his  notes.  "Then,"  said 
Andrews,  "  I  left  all  to  the  ministers  and  meddled  no  more.  As 
Providence  ordered,  all  my  charges  came  out  fair." 

The  notes  were  publicly  read  on  Monday.  Under  the  first 
article,  he  admitted  he  had  said,  "  This  is  no  more  than  to  live  ac- 
cording to  our  nature,  and  have  the  government  of  oui'selves  in 


SAMUEL    HEMPHILL.  419 

our  own  hands.     The   gospel,  as  to  its  ultimate   end  and  most 
essential  parts,  is  implanted  in  our  very  nature  and  reason." 

The  commission  unanimously  felt  themselves  obliged  to  declare 
his  teachings  unsound  and  dangerous,  and  suspended  him. 

They  printed  their  minutes,  and  appointed  persons  to  defend 
what  was  done,  who  published  a  vindication  of  the  commission 
from  Hemphill's  remarks  on  their  minutes. 

"  Since  then,"  said  Andrews,  in  July,  "  there  have  been  many 
discourses  of  doing  this  and  that;  and,  though  some  are  so  angry 
as  to  stay  away,  yet  most  give  their  attendance.  There  is  in  the 
press  an  answer  to  the  'Abstract  of  the  Minutes  and  a  Vindication 
of  his  Sermons;'  what  it  will  be,  I  know  not.  Upon  the  whole,  I 
am  weary  of  these  things,  though  all  carry  fair;  and,  though  the 
best  of  the  people  dread  the  thing,  I  intend  to  get  away  and 
leave  them." 

Franklin  was  a  pewholder  in  the  Presbyterian  church,  and 
attended  with  much  pleasure  on  Hemphill's  preaching ;  and, 
finding  that,  though  a  fluent  preacher,  he  could  not  write,  he  pre- 
pared one  or  two  pamphlets  in  his  defence,  besides  several  columns 
in  the  newspapers. 

One  of  these  was  probably  "  Some  Observations  on  the  Pro- 
ceedings against  Mr.  Hemphill,  with  a  Vindication  of  his  Ser- 
mons." A  second  edition  of  this  pamphlet  appeared  in  1735. 
The  first  issue  was  delayed  by  the  illness  of  the  printer.  It  is 
claimed  that,  in  all  his  discourses,  Hemphill  enforced  Christian 
charity  and  the  necessity  of  a  good  life.  "  The  old  man  [Andrews] 
admitted  that  he  was  of  an  excellent  temper." 

The  commission  having  expressed  surprise  at  his  adopting  the 
Confession,  he  replied,  he  had  done  so  only  so  far  as  the  funda- 
mental articles  were  concerned.  That  he  asked  the  commission 
how  many  articles  they  esteemed  fundamental,  and  they  said  they 
could  not  tell ;  but,  his  defender  says,  "  they  would  make  all 
fundamental  to  serve  a  turn."  The  commission  had  said,  they 
"were  obliged  to  declare  him  unsound  and  dangerous;"  he  insinu- 
ates that  the  declaration  was  made  solely  to  save  Andrews's 
character,  and  that  they  had  "  no  pattern  for  their  proceedings 
but  that  hellish  tribunal,  the  Spanish  Inquisition." 

A  manuscript  note  on  one  of  the  pamphlets*  states,  that  a 
Quaker  woman  appeared  hefore  the  commission  and  insisted  on 
being  heard  in  Hemphill's  behalf. 

The  synod  approved  of  the  doings  of  the  commission;  and 
Hemphill  sent  a  silly  message,  in  writing,  with  a  postscript: — "I 
shall  think  you  do  me  a  deal  of  honour  if  you  entirely  excom- 
municate me." 

*  Old  South  Church  Library. 


420  ANDREW    ARCHBOLD. 

In  July,  1735,  he  preached  twice  to  a  very  numerous  assembly, 
where  the  congregation  generally  met. 

His  pamphlet  was  soon  answered;  but,  to  the  shame  of  his 
friends,  it  appeared  that  the  sermon*  on  Mark  xvi.  16  was  in  the 
published  Avorks  of  Dr.  Clarke,  the  Arian,  and  those  on  Gal.  vi. 
15,  Rom.  viii.  8,  and  Ps.  xli.  3,  in  the  works  of  Dr.  Ibbots,  his 
colleague ;  Dr.  James  Foster,  also  an  Arian,  being  the  author  of 
the  one  on  Acts  xxiv.  25. 

Franklinf  says,  "  Hemphill  admitted  that,  by  reading  over  a 
discourse  two  or  three  times,  he  could  remember  it  so  as  to  repeat 
it  fluently  from  the  pulpit  as  if  extempore."  "  This,  like  a  frost, 
nipped  his  popularity,  and  his  adherents  fell  off"  like  withered 
leaves,  at  once.  Franklin  upheld  him,  out  of  dislike  to  the  old 
synod,  and  because  he  preferred  hearing  a  man  preach  the  fine 
compositions  of  others  instead  of  his  own  ordinary  or  insipid  pro- 
ductions." 

Another  defence  of  Hemphill  from  Franklin's  pen  appeared, 
with  this  motto : — 

"  I  never  knew  any  good  to  come  from  the  meetings  of 
priests." — Tillotson. 

"Wherefore,  rebuke  them  sharply." — Paul. 

Andrew  Bradford,  of  New  York,  printed,  in  1735,  a  satirical 
refutation  of  this  piece: — "Remarks  on  Hemphill's  Defence  of  his 
Observations,  showing  his  orthodoxy,  the  excellency  and  meek- 
ness of  his  temper,  and  the  justice  of  his  complaints :  by  Obadiah 
Jenkins." 

The  horrid  profaneness  of  his  book  is  censured,  and  his  rude- 
ness in  styling  the  synod  men  of  impenetrable  stupidity  and 
reverend  asses.  He  had  said,  that  "  original  sin  was  as  ridiculous 
as  imputed  righteousness,"  that  there  was  "no  need  of  spiritual 
pangs  and  convulsions,"  and  that  "good  works  put  men  in  God's 
way  and  reconciles  God  to  them." 

His  plagiarism  overwhelmed  him :  he  slunk  away  into  deserved 
obscurity. 


ANDREW  ARCHBOLD 

Was  ordained  by  Newcastle  Presbytery  in  1733,  and  was  sus- 
pended in  1735.  Two  i-nstances  of  his  gross  wickedness  being 
discovered,  he  "wholly  absconded." 

*  Obadiah  Jenkins's  Remarks  on  Hemphill's  Defence. 
I  Memoirs. 


JOHN  TENNENT.  42l 


JOHN  TENNENT, 

s 

The  third  son  of  Tennent,  of  Neshaminy,  was  born  in  county 
Armagh,  (Ireland,)  November  12,  1707.*  His  anguish  when 
awakened  was  violent  in  degree.  He  had  been  subject  to  rash 
anger,  and  was  for  four  days  "a  rack  of  acute  and  continued 
anguish  under  dismal  apprehensions  of  impending  ruin  and  end- 
less misery  from  vengeance  of  a  just  and  holy  God."  His  con- 
solations were  eminent  and  conspicuous. 

He  was  educated  by  his  father,  and  was  taken  on  trial  by  New- 
castle Presbytery,  November  21,  1728,  when  he  delivered  "a 
homily  to  universal  satisfaction."  He  was  licensed  September  18, 
1729,  and  went  as  supply  to  Brandywine,  Middletown,  Newcastle, 
and  Middle  and  Lower  Octorara.  Reports  being  raised  of  his 
having  spoken  unwisely,  Creaghead,  Thomson,  and  Hutcheson 
confeiTcd  with  him,  and  were  satisfied  that  the  rumour  was  un- 
founded. 

About  this  time  Freehold  became  vacant,  and  the  people  were 
so  grievously  divided,  that  there  seemed  no  hope  of  their  ever 
settling  a  minister.  Walter  Kerr  left  his  harvest-fieldf  and  went 
to  Neshaminy  to  persuade  Tennent  to  go  home  with  him.  He 
totally  refused ;  but  Kerr  told  him,  on  leaving  him,  that  he  knew  he 
would  soon  decide  differently.  He  sent  after  Kerr  to  say  he  would 
come ;  but,  on  coming,  he  expressed  his  regret  in  having  consented 
to  visit  a  people  who  seemed  given  up  by  God  for  their  abuse  of 
the  gospel. 

There  was  a  German  sect  that  styled  themselves  "  The  New 
Born,"  and  were  widely  spoken  of  for  their  follies  and  their  sins. 
In  Monmouth,  this  name  Avas  applied  in  derision  to  those  who  pro- 
fessed to  experience  religion  under  the  faithful  labours  of  Freliug- 
huysen  and  the  English  ministers. 

Tennent  stayed  only  four  or  five  Sabbaths ;  but  the  Lord  so 
blessed  his  labours^  that  he  was  thoroughly  persuaded  Christ  had 
a  full  harvest  to  bring  home  there.  He  said  that,  should  they  call 
him,  he  would  settle  with  them,  poor  and  broken  though  they  were, 
and  though,  by  so  doing,  he  should  be  put  to  beg  his  bread.  He 
had  a  unanimous  call,  April  15,  1730,  and  was  ordained  by  Phila- 
delphia Presbytery,  November  19.     Rightly  dividing  the  word  of 

*  Quoted  by  Dr.  Alexander,  from  his  life  by  Gilbert  Tennent. 

I  On  his  return,  he  found  that  his  neighbours  had  cut  his  grain  and  stacked  it. 
A  very  general  loss  of  the  crop  followed  through  some  accident  aftor  housing  it. 
Kerr's  escaped,  and  furnished  seed  to  those  who  had  so  kindly  reaped  his  field. 
This  tradition  was  mentioned  to  me  by  the  Rev.  Job  F.  Halsey. 

j  William  Tennent,  of  Freehold,  in  the  Christian  History. 


i^22  WILLIAM   TENNENT. 

truth,  he  avoided  t'l  c  "bane  of  preaching,*  setting  a  common 
mess  before  his  he.rrs  and  lea^dng  to  them  to  divide  it  among 
themselves  as  fancy  and  humour  directed."  Wonderful  success 
attended  him;  the  place  of  worsliip  was  usually  crowded  Avith 
persons  of  all  classes  and  persuasions,  listening  as  for  their  lives. 
Sometimes  the  body  of  the  congregation  was  moved,  minister  and 
people  being  Avet  with  tears,  many  sobbing,  and  some  carried  out 
as  if  they  were  dead.  There  Avas  "no  public  outcry."  A  great 
reformation  folloAved ;  "  all  talked  of  religion,  though  all  did  not 
approve  of  the  power  of  it." 

He  died  April  23,  1732,  aged  twenty-five;  for  six  months  before 
he  was  unable  to  preach,  his  pulpit  being  supplied  by  his  brother 
"William.  During  his  sickness,  many  came,  inquiring  Avhat  they 
must  do  to  be  saved ;  but  the  blessing  on  his  labours  to  the  con- 
viction and  conversion  of  souls,  was  more  discernible  after  his 
death.  Almost  in  every  neighbourhood  were  sin-sick  souls,  longing 
for  Christ,  the  dear  physician. 

His  brother  Gilbert  appended  to  his  "Presumptuous  Sinner  De- 
tected," a  life  of  his  brother,  with  his  tAvo  sermons  on  the  "Nature 
of  Regeneration,  and  its  absolute  necessity  in  order  to  Sah'ation 
demonstrated."  Whitefield,  on  reading  it,  exclaimed,  "Let  me  die 
the  death  of  that  righteous  man  !"  Dickinson  prepared  an  epitaph 
for  his  tomb.  Dr.  Alexander  speaks  of  his  sermons  as  in  no  Avay 
remarkable,  bjit  sensible,  solemn,  and  earnest. 


WILLIAM  TENNENT 


The  second  son  of  the  minister  of  Neshaminy,  was  born  in 
county  Antrim,  June  3,  1705. 

He  was  early  led  to  the  Saviour,  and,  upon  finishing  his  classical 
course  Avith  his  father,  he  began|  the  study  of  divinity  Avith  his 
brother  Gilbert.  While  preparing  for  examination  before  the 
presbytery,  he  fell  ill  Avith  a  pain  in  his  breast  and  a  slight  hectic 
fcA'er.  His  flesh  dropped  away  till  little  hope  of  life  remained ; 
his  spirits  sunk,  and  his  hope  of  salvation  was  wellnigh  gone. 
While  couA^ersing  Avith  Gilbert  in  Latin  on  his  fears  for  his  soul,  he 
fainted,  and  every  sign  of  life  departed  except  a  scarcely-percept- 
ible tremour  under  the  left  arm.     He  Avas  laid  on  a  cooling-board  ; 


*  Gilbert  Tennent. 

t  Memoir  of  Tenueut,  of  FrceliolJ,   by  Dr.  Henderson,  and  commonly  ascribed 
to  Elias  Bouiliuot. 


WILLIAM   TENNENT.  423 

but  the  physician,  a  young  man,  his  intimat«!j5fl'iend,  having  put  his 
own  hand  in  warm  water,  felt  the  heart  and  •sif'jrmed  that  there  was 
an  unusual  warmth.  The  eyes  were  sunk,  the  lips  discoloured. 
Gilbert,  hearing  a  hope  expressed  that  he  Avas  not  yet  dead,  ex- 
claimed, "What !  a  man  not  dead  that  is  as  cold  and  stiff  as  a  stake !" 
The  body  was  restored  to  a  warm  bed,  and  all  probable  means  used 
without  success.  On  the  third  day  the  tongue  was  swollen  and 
ready  to  crack;  the  physician  moistened  the  lips,  and  Gilbert 
blamed  him  for  "feeding  the  dead."  Suddenly  the  eyes  opened, 
and,  with  a  dreadful  groan,  the  body  sunk  as  if  twice  dead.  In 
about  an  hour  the  6yes  again  opened,  the  dreadful  groan  followed, 
and  then  all  w'as  deathlike.  In  an  hour,  however,  there  wa&  a  re- 
vival of  the  vital  action :  for  six  weeks  he  was  so  low  that  his  life 
was  despaired  of;  in  a  twelvemonth  he  regained  his  health. 

His  own  account,  as  given  to  his  elder.  Dr.  Henderson,  and  to 
his  successor.  Dr.  Woodhull,  was,  that  the  three  days  seemed  like 
twenty  minutes ;  that  he  felt  himself  wafted  along  under  the  guid- 
ance of  a  superior  being,  till  at  a  distance  he  beheld  an  unutterable 
glory;  he  saw  an  innumerable  host  of  happy  beings,  and  heard 
their  songs  of  praise  with  rapture.  He  thought,  "Well,  blessed  be 
God,  I  am  safe  at  last,  notwithstanding  all  my  fears."  He  was 
about  to  join  the  happy  company,  when  one  came  to  him  and  said, 
"You  must  go  back."  It  was  like  a  sword  through  his  heart: 
with  the  shock  he  awoke,  and  saw  his  brother  disputing  w^ith  the 
doctor. 

He  had  lost  all  his  knowledge ;  he  did  not  know  the  Bible,  nor 
how  to  read,  nor  what  reading  meant.  When  he  became  capable 
of  attention,  he  was  taught  to  read,  like  a  child,  and,  when  reciting 
Nepos,  it  appeared  to  him  he  had  read  the  book  before.  Gradually 
his  knowledge  and  his  health  were  fully  restored. 

He  was  licensed  by  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  and,  being  called  to 
succeed  his  brother  John,  he  was  ordained  by  Philadelphia  Presby- 
tery, October  25,  1733. 

His  salary  was  not  large,  but  there  was  an  excellent  plantation 
attached  to  the  parsonage:  leaving  the  care  of  it  entirely  to  an 
overseer,  he  became  clogged  with  debt.  He  married  the  widow 
of  Mr.  John  Noble,  of  New  York,  and  left  to  her  the  manageinent 
of  all  his  affairs.  When  his  oldest  child  was  about  three  or  four 
years  of  age,  his  views  of  duty  changed,  and  he  saw  the  propriety 
of  a  minister's  making  reasonable  provision  for  his  household. 

After  the  remarkable  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  on  his  brother's 
labours,  God  continued  to  bless  his  ordinances  to  the  conviction, 
conversion,  and  consolation  of  precious  souls,  so  that  every  year 
more  or  less  were  converted;  but  there  were  fewer  from  1742  to 
'44  than  formerly.     Some,  however,  were  awakened  in  1744. 

Whitefield  preached,  in  his  journeys  across  the  State,  on  week- 


424  WILLIAM   TENNENT. 

days,  in  Freehold:  "the  new  meeting-house"  is  mentioned  in  1729. 
In  the  next  April,  Tcnnent  refreshed  Whitefield  by  telling  him 
what  God  was  doing  for  hundreds  in  the  Highlands  of  New  York, 
where  he  had  lately  been. 

Ilis  brother  Gilbert  mentions,  in  1740,  that  his  labours  at  that 
time  were  remarkably  blessed  in  Burlington  county.  Several  reli- 
gious societies  were  formed  there. 

In  1757,  a  revival  was  granted  to  Freehold,  equal  in  power  to 
that  which  was  then  descending  on  the  College  of  New  Jersey. 
Burr  speaks  of  it,  in  June,  as  a  remarkable  revival : — 

"We  have  reason  to  remember  it  as  the  most^glorious  day  of  the 
Son  of  man.  The  assembly  was  large.  The  manner  of  administra- 
tion did  particularly  engage  their  attention.  It  appeared  as  one 
of  the  days  of  heaven  to  some  of  us,  and  we  "wished  that,  "svith 
Joshua,  we  could  have  delayed  the  revolutions  of  the  heavens  to 
prolong  it." 

In  March,  1753,  there  was  a  remarkable  revival  and  quickenings. 

During  the  exciting  scenes  in  the  synod,  he  appears  to  have  been 

a  silent  but  steady  supporter  of  his  brother;  in  all  the  fierceness 

of  the  pamphlet-warfare,  not  a  syllable  was  uttered  against  him. 

-  /    He  visited  Virginia,  in  company  with  Samuel  Blair,  and  assisted  iu 

'  ^   dispensing  the  Lord's  Supper  in  Hanover. 

In  company  with  Rowland  and  two  elders  from  Hopewell,  in 
A  New  Jersey,  he  attended  a  sacramental  occasion  in  Maryland,  in 
^ j  1741  or  '42.  Not  long  after,  Rowland  Avas  indicted  for  having  stulen 
a  horse  in  Hunterdon  county.  New  Jersey.  The  time  when  the 
theft  was  committed  being  the  time  when  he  was  with  them  in 
Maryland,  Tennent  and  the  elders  came  forward  and  proved  that 
he  was  a  hundred  miles  distant  at  the  period  alleged.  Rowland 
was  acquitted,  but  was  assailed  with  a  storm  of  invective,  as  having 
escaped  by  perjury.  Tennent  was  indicted,  and  the  elders ;  one 
was  convicted,  and  the  other  escaped  only  by  taking  advantage  of 
some  error  on  the  part  of  the  prosecution.  Able  counsel  appeared 
for  Tennent ;  but,  instead  of  sending  for  the  minister,  or  others 
from  Maryland,  to  sustain  his  veracity,  they  proposed  that  he 
should  avail  himself  of  a  flaw.  This  he  would  not  do ;  and,  just 
before  the  case  came  on,  a  man  and  his  wife  presented  themselves 
to  him,  having  come  from  Maryland  in  consequence  of  dreams  of 
danger  portending,  which  only  their  presence  could  avert  from  him. 
They  must  have  been  persons  known  in  Trenton ;  for  their  testi- 
mony was  admitted,  and  the  prosecution  abandoned. 

"  His  manner  was  remarkably  impressive,  and  his  sermons, 
though  seldom  polished,  were  generally  delivered  with  indescrib- 
able power ;  what  he  said  seldom  failed  to  instruct  and  please. 
He  was  remarkable  for  a  pointed  attention  to  the  particular  cir- 
cumstances of   the  afilicted  in   body  and  mind.      Eminent   as  a 


WILLIAM    TENNENT.  425 

peacemaker,  all  were  charmed  with  his  converse.  His  hospi- 
tality and  domestic  enjoyments  were  proverbial. 

"  More  than  six  feet  high,  of  a  spare,  thin  visage,  erect  carriage, 
with  bright,  piercing  eyes,  his  countenance  was  grave  and  solemn, 
yet  at  all  times  cheerful.  He  lived  above  the  world,  with  such 
clear  views  of  heavenly  things  as  seemed  to  give  him  a  foretaste  of 
them." 

Tennent  took  a  deep  interest  in  Brainerd's  mission,  and  for  a 
season  took  the  oversight  of  it.  When  Whitefield  visited  him,  he 
saw  with  delight  the  school,  and  marked  the  proficiency  of  the 
pupils  under  Tennent's  fatherly  care.  The  life  of  Tennent  was 
long.  He  devoted  much  time  to  the  education  of  youth,  and 
trained  several  in  philosophy  and  divinity.  Among  others  who 
studied  theology  with  him  were  Gumming,  McWhorter,  and  Oliver 
Hart,  pastor  of  a  Baptist  church  in  Charleston.  He  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  his  sons,  John  and  William,  awakened  during 
the  revival  at  Princeton,  under  Dr.  Finley ;  and  of  seeing  another 
of  great  promise,  but  of  loose  habits,  graciously  brought  back,  on 
a  bed  of  sickness,  to  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  his  soul.  This 
son  died  soon  after.  Another  died  in  the  West  Indies;  and  his  son 
William,  a  distinguished  minister  and  patriot  in  South  Carolina, 
was  suddenly  called  from  earth,  not  long  after  his  father's  decease. 

Unlike  Gilbert,  he  published  but  one  sermon, — a  plain,  judicious 
discourse  on  Galatians  v.  25.  It  was  printed  in  Boston,  in  1739, 
in  the  "Sacramental  Discourses." 

Many  striking  incidents  in  his  life  are  so  universally  known, 
that,  beyond  all  the  ministers  of  his  day,  he  lives  in  the  memory  of 
the  people. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  he  was  a  sleep-walker,  from  his 
having 

"  gone  to  bed  with  ten  toes  on, 
And  when  he  waked  up,  one  was  gone  ;" 

as  is  smartly  said  of  him,  by  one  who  ridiculed  his  undertaking  to 
give  advice  to  "His  Grace  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury."  The 
toe  disappeared ;  whether  cut  off  by  treading  on  glass  in  a  som- 
nambulism,* or  gnawed  off  by  rats,  or  how  else,  may  be  disputed. 
Can  it  be  that  Tennent  believed  that  he  who  contended  with 
Michael  for  the  body  of  Moses  strove  also  for  his,  and,  failing, 
wrenched  off  the  great  toe?     Such  is  the  tradition. 

*  As  supposed  by  Dr.  Alexander. 


426  SAMUEL  BLAIR. 


SAMUEL   BLAIR 

Was  born  in  L-elanJ,  June  14,  1712,  and  came  to  tliis  country 
when  a  lad.  Where  his  parents*  resided  is  not  mentioned.  "  lie 
•\vas  blcstf  with  early  piety,  and  on  his  death-bed  could  recollect, 
with  delight,  various  evidences  of  gracious  influence  in  his  tender 
years,  lie  was  made  sensible,  betimes,  of  his  guilty  state  by  na- 
ture and  practice,  felt  his  total  inability  to  deliver  himself,  saw 
plainly  that  he  lay  at  mercy,  and  that  it  was  entirely  at  God's 
good  pleasure  to  save  or  reject  him.  lie  was  restless  till  he  saw 
the  way  of  life, —  that  God  could  save  in  consistence  with  the 
honour  of  governing  justice,  for  that  the  obedience  and  sufferings 
of  Christ  in  the  room  of  sinners  have  made  sufficient  atonement 
for  sin.  His  soul  approved  of  the  divine  glorious  plan.  Strict 
holiness  was  his  choice.     He  grew  in  stature  and  in  grace." 

He  studied  at  the  Log  College,  became  conversant  with  the 
original  languages  of  the  Scriptures,  and  had  much  critical  learn- 
ing, with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  divinity.  He  was  licensed, 
November  9,  1738,  at  Abingdon,  by  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  at 
their  first  meeting  after  the  Presbytery  of  East  Jersey  was  set  off; 
he  preached  his  trial  sermon  before  them,  on  Romans  iv.  5.  He 
was  called,  May  24,  1734,  to  Middletown  and  Shrewsbury,  and 
also  to  Millstone  and  Cranberry.  He  accepted  the  former,  Sep- 
tember 19,  and  was  dismissed  to  East  Jersey  Presbytery,  and  was 
soon  after  ordained.  When  licensed,  and  when  ordained,  he  de- 
clared his  acceptance  of  the  Westminster  Confession,  Catechisms, 
and  Directory. 

Middletown  and  Shrewsbury  were  among  the  towns  first  settled 
in  East  Jersey.  A  Baptist  church  was  organized  at  the  former 
place  in  1689.  There  was  a  Presbyterian  church  there  before 
1711, J  and  "  the  spirit  of  mixed  communion  prevailed  in  both 
societies.  The  divisions  among  the  Baptists  rose  very  high ;  and, 
as  a  healing  measure,  they  agreed  "to  keep  their  own  places,  and 
not  wander  to  other  societies."  Blair  met  with  little  success,  the 
people  in  both  of  his  congregations  "being  very  irreligious."  His 
pastoral  relation  was  dissolved,  September  5,  1739,  and  he  was  dis- 
missed by  Brunswick  Presbytery,  October  12,  to  join  Newcastle 
Presbj^tery.  A  sermon  of  his  was  published,  about  this  time,  in 
Boston,  in  a  volume  of  Tennent's  "Sacramental  Discourses." 


*  The  name  ofWilliam  Blair  occurs  as  an  elder  in  1729,  and  1732,  from  Brandy- 
wine  or  Red  Clay.  f  Finley's  sermon  at  his  funeral. 
J  Morgan  Edwards's  History  of  New  Jersey  Baptists. 


SAMUEL   BLAIR.  4-u 

His  three  sermons  on  Justification  were  also  published,  and  are 
commended  by  Seward,  in  17-iO,  as  full  of  solid  divinity. 

At  the  earnest  invitation  of  the  people  of  Fagg's  Manor,  he 
removed  thither  in  the  beginning  of  November,  accepted  their  call 
in  the  winter,  and  was  installed  in  April.  The  place  was  newly 
settled,  from  Ireland;  the  congregation  had  been  formed  in  1730, 
but  had  never  had  a  minister.  Some  of  them  applied*  to  the  As- 
sociate Presbytery  in  Scotland,  in  1735,  but  without  success.  It 
was  a  great  encouragement  to  Blairf  to  find  some  hopefully-pious 
people  among  them  at  his  first  coming ;  but  religion  lay  as  it  were 
dying,  and  ready  to  ixpire  its  last  breath.  "Having  some  view 
and  sense  of  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  land  in  general,  the 
scope  of  my  preaching  for  the  first  winter  was  mainly  calculated 
for  persons  in  a  natural  unregenerate  state.  I  dealt  solemnly  and 
searchingly:  four  or  five  were  brought  under  deep  convictions. 
Leaving  home  in  March,  I  obtained  a  neighbouring  minister  to 
preach  a  Sabbath  in  my  absence."  This  was,  in  all  probability, 
Alexander  Craighead,  of  Middle  Octorara.  "He  seemed  to  be 
earnest  for  the  awakening  and  conversion  of  secure  sinners.  He 
preached,  from  Luke  xiii.  7,  on  the  dangerous  and  awful  case  of 
such  as  continue  unregenerate  and  unfruitful  under  the  means  of 
grace.  Under  that  sermon  there  was  a  visible  appearance  of  much 
soul-concern;  some  burst  out  with  an  audible  noise  into  bitter  cry- 
ing,— a  thing  unknown  in  those  parts  before."  "A  pretty  light, 
merry  sort  of  a  youth"  came  to  Blair,  on  his  return,  under  deep 
trouble.  The  sermon  had  not  impressed  him;  but,  the  next  day, 
when  he  went  to  grubbing  in  order  to  clear  new  land,  as  he  saw  a 
pretty  large  tree  with  a  high  top  fall,  the  words  "  Cut  it  down : 
w^hy  cumbereth  it  the  ground?"  came  to  his  remembrance,  and 
went  as  a  spear  to  his  heart.  "  So  must  I  be  cut  down  by  the  jus- 
tice of  God  for  the  burning  of  hell,  unless  I  get  into  another  state 
than  I  am  now  in."  He  came  under  deep  and  abiding  distress : 
"his  conversation  since  becomes  the  gospel  of  Christ." 

Blair's  first  sermon,  on  coming  back,  was  from  Matthew  vi.  33. 
In  pressing  the  injunction,  he  urged  that  they  had  already  too,  too 
long  neglected  to  seek  the  kingdom.  This  cut  like  a  sword;  and 
several  could  not  contain,  but  burst  out  into  the  most  bitter  weep- 
ing. He  besought  them  to  moderate  their  passions,  but  so  as  not 
to  stifle  convictions,  and  to  avoid  hindering  themselves  and  others 
from  hearing  what  was  spoken.  The  number  of  the  awakened 
increased  very  fast ;  scarcely  a  sermon  or  a  lecture  through  the 
whole  summer  failed  to  produce  impressions. 

Often  these  impressions  were  very  great  and  general :  some  were 


*  McKerrow's  History  of  the  Secession  Chmxh. 
■J-  Letter  in  Clu-istiau  History. 


\ 


426  SAMUEL   BLAIR. 

overcome  and  fainting,  others  deeply  sobbing;  some  crying  in  a 
most  dolorous  manner,  many  more  silently  weeping;  a  solemn  con- 
cern on  every  face.  Comparatively,  a  few  were  affected  with  some 
strange,  unusual  bodily  motions.  Very  few  in  the  congregation 
were  without  solemn  thoughtfulness  about  their  souls.  The  awa- 
kened had  a  rational,  fixed  conviction  of  their  dangerous  perishing 
state;  they  were  much  given  to  reading  the  Scriptures  and  good 
books.  Excellent  works,  which  had  lain  neglected,  were  perused, 
and  lent  from  one  to  another.  Blair  preached  on  Fridays,  through 
the  spring  and  summer,  his  great  aim  being  to  lay  open  the  de- 
plorable state  of  man,  by  nature,  since  the  f;»ll,  and  the  way  of  the 
sinner's  closing  with  Christ  by  faith,  and  obtaining  a  right  peace 
to  an  awakened,  wounded  conscience. 

Many  afforded  very  hopeful,  satisfying  evidence  that  the  Lord 
had  brought  them  to  a  true  closure  with  Jesus  Christ :  several  had 
had  remarkable  and  sweet  deliverances. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  summer,  there  seemed  to  be  a  stop  put 
to  the  awakening  and  conviction  of  sinners ;  and,  for  the  next  four 
years,  there  were  few  instances  of  persons  convinced.  Blair  makes 
no  mention  of  the  two  visits  of  Whitefield.  He  made  a  torn*  of 
preaching  through  New  England  in  the  summer  of  1744. 

Of  the  rupture  of  1741,  Blair  spoke  when  near  his  end,  "It 
pleased  God  to  make  me  and  a  number  of  my  brethren  instru- 
mental in  promoting  what  I  always  believed  was  a  work  of  his 
power  and  grace ;  but,  somehow  or  other,  our  mother's  children  were 
angry  with  us  who  were  instrumental  in  carrying  it  on,  and  unjustly 
excluded  us  from  communion  with  them." 

Blair  published  a  "Vindication  of  the  Excluded  Brethren,"  an 
answer  to  Thomson  on  the  "  Government  of  the  Church,"  and  to 
Creaghead's  "Reasons  for  Forsaking  our  Church;"  also,  a  "Trea- 
tise on  Predestination." 

His  school  produced  such  men  as  Davies,  Rodgers,  Gumming, 
James  Finley,  Robert  Smith,  and  Hugh  Henry.  "Each  one  re- 
sembled the  children  of  a  king."  As  scholars,  preachers,  pastors, 
patriots, — in  their  piety  and  their  success, — a  noble  company,  a 
goodly  fellowship,  showing  the  church  what  manner  of  men  the 
apostles  and  martyrs  were. 

Blair  spoke*  as  one  who  knew  the  worth  of  souls,  and  felt  in 
himself  the  sweet  constraint  of  the  love  of  God  and  man.  He 
was  grave  and  solemn,  yet  cheerful,  even  pleasant,  facetious, 
witty. 

Davies  spoke  of  him  as  the  incomparable  Blair.  "When,  in 
1763,  I  passed  the  meeting-house  where  I  had  so  often  heard  the 
great  Mr.  Blair,  I  could  not  help  crying  out,  '  Oh,  how  dreadful  is 

*  Finley. 


SAMUEL    BLAIR.  429 

this  place !  this  is  no  other  than  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the 
gate  of  heaven.' " 

He  was  a  man  of  great  weight  in  judicatories :  "  they  waited  for 
him  as  the  rain."  His  zeal  for  the  college  made  him  journey  when 
sick  to  promote  its  interests.  After  severe  sickness  in  Philadel- 
phia, he  was,  beyond  his  expectation,  restored  to  health  and  home ; 
he  then  laboured  as  one  near  his  end  to  awaken  the  perishing,  but, 
failing,  he  changed  his  strain ;  "  only  he  publicly  reminded  them  of 
a  certain  day,  March  25, 1744,  when  he  was  enabled  to  set  eternal 
things  before  them  with  more  than  ordinary  solemnity  and  pun- 
gency." 

He  then  entered  on  a  new  course  of  sermons  for  the  edification 
and  establishment  of  the  people  of  God,  wherein  he  clearly  ex- 
plained and  satisfyingly  confirmed  the  whole  system  of  gospel  doc- 
trine, from  the  state  of  innocence  to  the  consummation  of  all 
things.  He  concluded  the  course  with  a  sermon  on  1  Corinthians  xv. 
24,  with  which  he  may  be  said  to  have  closed  his  public  ministry;  for, 
though  he  afterwards  preached  twice,  it  was  with  so  little  strength 
and  efiicacy,  that  he  called  them  "supernumerary  sermons." 

On  the  7th  of  April,  1751,  apprehending  his  end  to  be  near,  he 
sent  for  the  elders  and  two  out  of  every  quarter  of  the  congrega- 
tion, and  gave  them  his  parting  counsels.  He  asked  them  to  col- 
lect the  remnant  of  his  debts  and  give  their  good  countenance  to 
.his  widow  and  his  half-a-score  of  children.  "Adhere  to  your  own 
presbytery ;  but,  if  the  synods  unite,  be  not  obstinate  and  separate." 
In  seeking  a  successor,  he  bids  them  not  to  expect  from  a  young 
man,  at  the  outset,  all  that  they  saw  in  him  after  many  years  of 
experience.  His  son-in-law,  Robert  Smith,  of  Pequea,  published 
his  dying  counsels,  with  several  of  his  sermons. 

Blair  had,  through  a  long  course  of  years,  an  habitual  assurance 
of  his  interest  in  the  favour  of  God.  His  last  words,  a  minute  or 
two  before  his  departure,  were,  "  The  Bridegroom  is  come,  and 
now  we  shall  have  all  things;"  and,  under  a  gleam  of  heaven,  he 
breathed  his  last,  on  July  5,  1751. 

His  son  Samuel  was  early  in  life  elected  to  the  presidency  of 
JS^assau  Hall,  and  was  settled  in  the  Old  South  Church  in  Boston. 
His  daughters  married  the  Rev.  George  Dufiield,  Robert  Smith, 
David  Rice,  of  Kentucky,  William  Foster,  of  Octorara,  and  John 
Carmichael,  of  the  Forks  of  Brandywine. 

He  was  above  the  middle  stature,  comely,  and  well  set ;  in  aspect 
grave  and  venerable,  with  a  clear  understanding,  quick  apprehen- 
sion, prompt  elocution,  solid  judgment,  strong  and  lively  imagina- 
tion, and  tenacious  memory.  His  voice  was  clear  and  command- 
ing; his  pronunciation  distinct  and  deliberate;  his  style  natural, 
elegant,  pure.  He  studied  plainness,  being  naturally  poetic,  copi- 
ous, and  florid ;  preaching  without  notes,  but  seldom  or  never  ex 


430  SAMUEL    BLAIR. 

tempore.  Ilis  advise  to  Dr.  Rodgcrs  was,  "  Speak  slow ;  speak 
low;  be  short." 

Finley  speaks  of  him  as  gentle,  prudent,  cautious ;  as  having  a 
glorious  arousing  view  of  God's  power,  the  wisdom  of  his  govern- 
ment, and  the  riches  of  his  grace,  with  a  particular  appropriation 
of  them  to  himself  and  his.     His  was  a  divine  calmness. 

Davies  said  to  Bellamy,  "  The  greatest  light  in  these  parts  is 
just  about  to  take  wing."  In  his  travels  in  Great  Britain,  he 
heard  no  one  equal  to  his  instructor ;  not  one  whom  he  thought,  in 
any  way,  to  resemble  or  approach  to  him  in  the  matter  or  the  de- 
livery of  his  discourses. 

In  his  elegiac  verses*  he  says : — 

"Blair  is  no  more!  then  this  poor  ■world  has  lost 
As  rich  a  jewel  as  her  stores  could  boast. 
^Vhile,  hovering  on  the  verge  of  life,  he  lay 
Eager  for  flight,  and  yet  resigu'd  to  stay, 
How  oft  did  we,  in  agonies  of  prayer. 
Wrestle  with  Heaven  his  sacred  breath  to  spare ! 
But,  ah!  his  worth  but  cherish'd  our  despair, 
And  threaten'd  the  denial  of  our  prayer. 
So  great,  so  heavenly,  so  mature  a  mind 
Re'quired  employment  of  a  nobler  kind. 
Too  much  refiued  in  this  dark  world  to  bear 
The  humble  place  of  Zion's  minister, 
Heaven  call'd  him  to  sustain  some  nobler  function  there.    . 

An  intellect  as  clear  as  blaze  of  daj', 
Sedate  as  midnight,  boundless  as  the  sea, 
Free  as  the  wind,  yet  steady  as  the  pole. 
Passive  to  truth,  impatient  of  control 
From  vulgar  error ;   regular  and  smooth 
As  genuine  reason  and  harmonious  truth ; 
Truth  link'd  to  truth  and  thought  to  thought  conjoin'd 
Spontaneous  rose  in  his  harmonious  mind  ; 
His  rude,  unstudied  thoughts  in  order  sprung, 
Express'd  in  equal  order  by  his  tongue ; 
Clusters  of  ripen'd  sense  on  each  young  period  hung. 
His  passions  vigorous,  j'et  by  reasim  ruled. 
By  calmest  reason  kindled,  temper'd,  cool'd ; 
His  heart  reserved  as  prudence,  and  confined, 
And  yet  as  truth  sincere,  as  weeping  friendship  kind. 

His  life,  a  fix'd,  unerring  walk  with  God, 
A  constant  progress  in  the  heavenly  road ; 
His  heart,  the  rest  of  constant  peace  and  love  ; 
There  glow'd  the  passions  seraphs  feel  above; 
There,  plcaseil  and  unmolested,  dwelt  the  heavenly  dove. 
His  breath,  like  grateful  incense,  to  the  skies 
Did  daily  in  refined  devotions  rise. 
His  soul  exerted  with  his  praying  breath 
The  almighty  importunity  of  faitli ; 
Hence  guilty  heads  escape  the  falling  blow. 
And  blessings  to  unworthy  millions  flow. 
Nations  partook  the  bounty  of  his  prayer 
And  future  times  the  benefit  shall  share." 

*  Printed  in  the  collection  of  his  sermons  published  after  his  death,  containing 
Fiuley's  funeral  sermon,  and  Robert  Smith's  account  of  his  closing  days. 


JAMES    MARTIN — ROBERT   JAMISON.  431 


JAMES  MARTIN, 

From  Ireland,  was  the  pastor  of  Lewes,  in  Delaware,  in  1734,        <^ 
and  died  there  in  1743.     He  is  said  to  have  organiz,ed  the  church 
at  Cool  Spring. 

Whitefield  landed  about  five  (o'clock)  in  the  evening  of  October 
3,  1739,  at  Lewestown;  and,  in  reference  to  this  event,  he  ob- 
serves, "  We  had  not  been  long  in  the  inn  but  two  or  three  of 
the  chief  inhabitants,  being  apprized  of  his  arrival,  came  and 
spent  the  evening  with  us,  and  desired  me  to  give  them  a  sermon 
on  the  morrow." 

He  preached  there,  in  1740,  to  "  as  unaffected  a  congregation 
as  he  had  seen  in  America.  They  wept,  next  day,  Avhen  he  por- 
trayed the  trial  of  Abraham's  faith.  Alas  !  when  I  turned  from 
the  creature  to  the  Creator,  and  to  talk  of  the  love  of  God  in 
sacrificing  his  only  Son,  I  observed  their  tears  dry  up.  I  told 
them  of  it ;  and  could  not  but  infer  hence  the  dreadful  depravity 
of  human  nature,  that  can  weep  at  the  suff"erings  of  a  martyr, — a 
man  like  ourselves ;  but  when  are  we  afi'ected  at  the  relation  of 
the  sufferings  of  the  Son  of  God?" 

The  Church  missionary  gives  a  different  view.  He  says  White- 
field  pi'eached  from  a  balcony,  and  that  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
people  was  violent,  but  after  a  time  it  abated. 

Martin  signed  the  Protest  in  1741.  His  death  is  mentioned  in 
May,  1743. 


ROBERT   JAMISON, 


From  Ireland,  settled  in  Delaware,  and  was  a  member  of  synod 
in  1734. 

From  a  manuscript  of  Joshua  Evans,*  an  Independent,  it 
appears  that  there  were  Welsh  Baptists  at  Duck  Creek ;  and  that 
the  first  name  of  their  meeting-house  was  Bryn-Sion,  i.e.  Zion 
Hill.  The  Presbyterian  meeting-house  was  built  in  1733,  on  land 
given  by  Mr.  Dickinson.     Thomas  Evans  preached  the  first  ser- 

*  Quoted  by  Morgan  Edwards,  in  his  MS.  History  of  the  Baptists  in  Delaware; 
of  whicli  only  a  fragment  remains. 


432  ISAAC    CHALKER. 

mon  in  it,  August  12,  1733,  and  administered  the  communion, 
November  9."  At  first  the  Baptists  used  the  house,  but  after- 
wards worshipped  in  private  houses.  There  was  a  great  mortality 
in  that  region  in  the  spring  of  1737.  Jamison  began  to  preach, 
December  20,  1734. 

lie  died  in  1744;  and,  the  congregation  having  neglected  to 
have  the  property  conveyed  to  them  by  deed,  it  reverted,  during 
the  long  vacancy  that  followed,  to  the  Dickinsons,  and  was  made 
over  to  the  Baptists  in  1771. 


ISAAC  CHALKER, 


Of  the  family  of  Chalkers  in  Saybrook,  Connecticut,  graduated 
at  Yale  in  1728 ;  and,  after  being  licensed,  he  married,  and  re- 
sided on  Long  Island.  He  was  ordained,  in  1734,  by  East  Jersey 
Presbytery,  pastor  of  Bethlehem  and  Wallkill,  in  the  Highlands 
of  New  York.  John  Smith,  an  elder  from  Bethlehem,  sat  with 
him  in  the  synod  in  1735,  and  is  almost*  the  only  elder  who,  for 
fifty  years,  asked  to  have  his  dissent  entered  against  a  synodical 
decision.  The  presbytery  had  ordained  Chalker  at  a  distance 
from  his  congregations;  and  he  found  himself  in  great  difficulty 
at  Wallkill,  through  a  wide-spread  report  of  his  not  having 
adopted  the  Westminster  Confession.  He  had  lost  the  good-will 
of  Samuel  Neely,  of  Neelytown.  The  synod  judged  that  Chalker 
was  hearty  in  his  adherence  to  our  standards,  and  that  Neely  was 
to  blame  in  exciting  discontent. 

Chalker  left  the  bounds  of  the  synod  in  1743,  havingf  lost  his 
stock  of  cattle  in  the  extremity  of  the  cold  winter  of  1741-2. 
He  also  "lost  a  man,"  became  very  poor,  and  much  in  debt.  In 
1744,  he  was  settled  in  Eastbury,  (Second  Society  in  Glasten- 
bury,)  Connecticut,  with  a  settlement  of  three  hundred  pounds,  old 
tenor,  and  a  salary  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  pounds  a  year.  He 
petitioned  the  legislature  for  relief,  and  aid  was  granted  to  him, 
but  not  sufficient  to  set  him  free  from  his  embarrassments.  He 
remained  until  1760,  and  died.  May  28,  1765. 


*  John  Gardner,  of  White  Ch\y,  did  the  same  in  the  case  of  Walton. 
•j-  MSS.  Connecticut  State  Library. 


SIMON    HORTON — HUGH   CARLISLE.  43S 


SIMON  HORTON 

Was  born  in  Boston,  March  30,  1711.  The  family  removed  to 
East  Jersey  in  1727;  and  he  graduated  at  Yale  in  1731.  He  was 
ordained,  by  East  Jersey  Presbytery,  pastor  of  Connecticut  Farms, 
New  Jersey,  in  1734.  He  succeeded  Pumry  at  Newtown  in  1746. 
On  the  death  of  Colgan,*  Church  missionary  at  Jamaica,  Long 
Island,  the  Dissenters  prevailed — by  their  majority  in  the  vestry 
in  1756 — to  present  to  the  governor  "  one  Simon  Horton"  for 
induction  into  the  parish;  but  Sir  Charles  Hardy,  who  was  then 
at  the  head  of  the  Provincial  Government,  refused  to  induct  him 
into  the  cure. 

Horton  seems  to  have  resigned  the  pastoral  care  before  1773, 
as  is  supposed, f  from  his  becoming  sensible  that  he  was  not  likely 
to  do  them  good,  by  his  plain  and  unattractive  manner;  but,  on 
the  removal  of  Bay,  his  successor,  he  acted  as  stated  supply  until 
his  death.  May  8,  1786,  aged  seventy-five. 

He  was  sent  yearly  by  New  York  Presbytery,  towards  the 
close  of  his  life,  to  supply  the  East  and  West  Houses  on  Staten 
Island.  Davies  heard  Horton,  during  the  synod  of  1753,  preach 
on  Sabbath  morning  "  an  honest,  judicious  sermon"  on  "Christ  the 
Wisdom  and  the  Power  of  God." 

During  the  Revolution,;);  he  resided  at  Warwick,  Orange  county, 
with  his  son-in-law,  Benjamin  Coe.  The  congregation  of  New- 
town was  so  scattered  during  the  war,  that,  at  its  close,  there  were 
only  five  communicants  in  the  congregation.  The  church  was 
dilapidated  through  the  madness  of  the  British  and  the  Tories. 


HUGH  CARLISLE 


Was  "  admitted  into  the  Newcastle  Presbytery"  before  Septem- 
ber, 1735,  probably  from  Great  Britain  or  Ireland.  He  adopted 
the  standards  at  that  time ;  but,  not  having  seen  the  Adopting  Act 
until  he  met  with  the  synod,  "  he  had  the  same  read  to  him,  and 
did  then  concur  in  his  assent  to  the  terms  of  it."     At  that  time, 


*  Macdonald's  Jamaica. 

■j-  Riker's  History  of  Newtown.  J  Ibid. 

28 


434  ALEXANDER    CRAIGHEAD. 

NewtoTvn  and  Plumstead,  in  Bucks  county,  obtained  leave  of  Phila- 
delphia Presbytery  to  employ  him;  and  he  joined  that  body  in 
June,  1736.  Hugh  Hunter  and  Anthony  Thompson  requested  the 
presbytery  that  a  call  might  be  moderated  for  him.  Treat  was 
directed  to  preside.  The  call  was  presented  in  May,  1737;  but, 
in  August,  he  declined  it,  on  account  of  the  distance  of  Plumstead 
from  Newtown.  He  continued  to  service  them,  and  was  sent,  in 
November,  to  supply  Amwell  and  Bethlehem,  in  Hunterdon 
county,  New  Jersey,  with  other  vacancies.  Martin  met  with 
Philadelphia  Presbytery,  March  14,  1738,  to  request  that  Carlisle 
might  go  into  the  bounds  of  Lewes  Presbytery.  He  removed  at 
once,  and  is  mentioned  as  a  member  of  that  presbytery  in  1742 : 
subsequently  his  name  is  not  seen. 


ALEXANDER  CRAIGHEAD 

Was  probably  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Craighead,  and 
may  have  been  born  in  this  country.  He  appeared  before  Done- 
gal Presbytery,  January  5,  1734;  and  was  licensed  October  8, 
having  preached  from  Prov.  x.  9.  He  was  sent  to  Middle  Octo- 
rara  and  "  over  the  river,"  being  the  first  to  whom  that  duty  was 
assigned.  He  was  called  (April  9,  1735)  to  Middle  Octorara,  the 
people  promising  sixty  pounds,  and  declaring  their  ability  to  raise 
seventy-one  pounds.  He  accepted  in  June,  and  was  appointed  to 
prepare  a  sermon  on  Col.  ii.  7,  a  lecture  on  the  first  Psalm,  and  to 
discuss  the  question.  Where  revelation  is  necessary  to  salvation  ? 
He  was  ordained  November  18,  Boyd  having  preached  from  2  Tim. 
ii.  15.  .         ,  .    • 

A  zealous  promoter  of  the  "Revival,"  he  accompanied  White- 
field  while  in  Chester  county;  and  they  made  the  woods  ring,  as 
they  rode,  with  songs  of  praise.* 

He  carried  the  gospel  to  the  people  of  New  London,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  wish  of  the  minister,  session,  and  most  of  the  congre- 
gation. A  part  of  his  flock  complained  of  his  introducing  new 
terms  of  communion,  requiring  them,  when  having  their  children 
baptized,  to  adopt  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant.  He  also 
was  charged  with  denying  that  ministers  should  be  confined  within 

*  Whitefield,  after  preaching  at  Willingston,(  Wilmington,)  rode  towards  Kot- 
tingham  with  Tennent,  Craighead,  and  Blair,  accompanied  by  many  from  Fkila- 
delphia,  most  sweetly  singing  and  praising  God,  May  13,  1740. — Gillies. 


ALEXANDER   CRAIGHEAD.  435 

the  bounds  of  one  congregation,  but  should  roam  as  evangelists; 
and  with  excluding  from  communion  one  who  seemed  opposed  to 
the  new  methods. 

The  presbytery  came  to  his  meeting-house  in  December,  1740, 
to  adjudicate  the  case.  He  was  preaching  from — "  They  be  blind 
leaders  of  the  blind."  It  was  a  continued  invective  against 
Pharisee  preachers,  and  the  presbytery,  as  given  over  to  judicial 
blindness  and  hardness.  "  He  railed  on  Mr.  Boyd."  The  people 
were  invited  at  the  close  to  repair  to  "the  tent"  and  hear  his  de- 
fence, which  was  read  by  David  Alexander  and  Samuel  Finley. 

The  presbytery,  though  summoned  to  hear  it,  remained  in  the 
church,  and  were  proceeding  to  business,  when  the  people  rose  in 
a  tumult,  and,  with  railing,  compelled  them  to  withdraw.  When 
they  met  next  day,  he,  with  his  coadjutors,  appeared ;  and, 
having  read  the  defence  from  the  pulpit,  he  declined  their  juris- 
diction, because  they  all  were  his  accusers.  They  suspended 
him ;  but  resolved  that,  if  he  should  signify  his  repentance  to 
any  member,  a  meeting  should  be  called  at  once,  to  consider  his 
acknowledgment  and  take  off  the  suspension.  He  sat  in  the  next 
synod ;  and,  they  having  spent  the  first  week  in  considering  his 
case  without  coming  to  any  decision,  the  Protest  was  introduced 
on  Monday,  and  separated  the  conflicting  parties. 

Some  of  his  people  respected  the  sentence  of  the  presbytery, 
and  forsook  him.  He  asked  the  presbytery,  just  before  the  rup- 
ture, to  see  to  it  that  those  persons  fulfilled  their  engagements  to 
him. 

He  separated  from  the- Brunswick  party  at  the  first  meeting  of 
the  conjunct  presbyteries,  because  they  refused  to  revive  the 
Sol^emn  League  and  Covenant.  Soon  after,  he  published  his  rea- 
sons^for  leaving  their  connection,  putting  forward,  as  his  promi- 
nent inducement,  that  neither  synod  nor  presbytery  had  adopted 
the  Westminster  Standards  by  a  public  act.  Blair  replied  to  him; 
Gilbert  Tennent  lamented  his  party-spirit  and  censoriousness. 
Craighead  addressed  the  Reformed  Presbytery  in  Scotland,  declar- 
ing his  adherence  to  their  views  and  methods,  and  soliciting  helpers. 
He  issued  a  manifesto,  setting  forth  his  opinions,  to  draw  together 
all  who  held  the  like  sentiments. 

Thomas  Cookson,  Esq.,  one  of  his  Majesty's  justices  for  Lan- 
caster county,  appeared  before  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  May  26, 
1743,  and,  in  the  name  of  the  governor,  laid  before  them  a  paper 
to  be  considered.  All  other  business  was  at  once  deferred,  and 
the  paper,  wdth  an  accompanying  affidavit,  was  read.  The  synod 
unanimously  agreed,  "  That  it  is  full  of  treason,  sedition,  and  dis- 
traction, and  grievous  perverting  of  the  sacred  oracles,  to  the  ruin 
of  all  societies  and  civil  government,  and  directly  and  diametrically 
opposite  to  our  religious  principles,  as  we  have  on  all  occasions 


436  ALEXANDER   CRAIGHEAD. 

openly  and  publicly  declared.  We  hereby  declare,  with  the  greatest 
sincerity,  that  we  detest  this  paper,  and,  with  it,  all  principles  and 
practices  that  tend  to  destroy  the  civil  and  religious  rights  of  man- 
kind, or  to  foment  or  encourage  sedition  or  dissatisfaction  with  the 
civil  government  that  we  are  now  under,  or  rebellion,  treason,  or 
any  thing  that  is  disloyal.  If  Mr.  Alexander  Craighead  be  the 
author,  we  know  nothing  of  the  matter.  He  has  been  no  member 
of  our  society  for  some  time  past,  nor  do  we  acknowledge  him  as 
such,  and  heartily  lament  that  any  man  that  was  ever  called  a 
Presbyterian  should  be  guilty  of  what  is  in  this  paper." 

Dickinson,  Pemberton,  Alison,  and  the  moderator,  Cowell,  pre- 
pared an  address  to  the  governor.  It  was  presented  to  him,  with  a 
copy  of  the  minute,  by  Andrews,  Cross,  and  Cathcart. 

Tennent  said,  about  the  same  time,  "His  late  and  present  divi- 
sive conduct  we  utterly  detest  and  disclaim.  I  hope  he  is  a  pious 
man ;  but,  having  more  zeal  and  positiveness  than  knowledge  and 
judgment,  he  has  schismatically  broken  communion  with  us,  and 
adopted  the  rigid  Cameronian  scheme.  He  is  indeed  tinged  with 
an  uncharitable  and  party  spirit,  to  the  great  prejudice  of  real  reli- 
gion in  some  places  this  way.  May  the  Almighty  forgive  him  and 
rectify  his  judgment!" 

His  success  in  forming  praying  societies  is  not  known ;  no  minis- 
ter came  from  Britain  to  his  assistance. 

"  With  apparent  sincerity,  he  objected  to  the  deficiency  of  the 
system  on  which  the  Philadelphia  Synod  was  constituted,  and,  with 
seeming  sincerity,  joined  himself  to  the  support  of  the  languishing 
cause  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, possess  stability.  Overstrained  zeal  is  seldom  permanent. 
This  man,  having  co-operated  with  the  Covenanters  with  an  ardour 
which  appeared  to  some  of  them  enthusiastic,  left  his  profession 
and  vows,  and  turned  to  the  flocks  of  his  former  companions.  The 
societies  which  he  had  forsaken  continued  eight  years  in  this  dis- 
tressed condition,  until,  moved  by  their  entreaties,  the  Rev.  John 
Cuthbertson*  came  to  them  from  Scotland,  in  1752. "f 

In  1751,  he  wrote  to  the  Anti-Burgher  Associate  Presbytery  in 
Scotland ;  but,  though  ministers  were  directed  by  the  presbytery  to 
go  in  answer  to  his  appeal,  they  failed  to  comply. 

He  is  said  to  have  removed  to  Windy  Cove,  on  Cowpasture  River, 
in  Augusta  county,  Virginia,  in  1749  ;|  but  it  was  probably  not  till 
after  the  ill  success  of   his  second  application  to   Scotland.      A 


*  Through  the  kindness  of  the  Rev.  T.  W.  J.  Wylie,  of  the  Reformed  Pre?byte- 
rian  Church,  I  learn  that  Cuthbertson  laboured  forty  years  at  Middle  Octorara, 
Lancaster  county,  and  joined  in  forming  the  Associate  Reformed  body.  He  died 
there,  March  10,  1791,  aged  seventy-three. 

I  Reformed  Principles  exhibited  by  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church. 

+  Dr.  Foote's  Sketches  of  Virginia. 


ALEXANDER  CRAIGHEAD.  437 

large*  buttonwood-tree,  close  to  the  river-bank,  marks  the  site 
where  stood  his  humble  cabin.  About  a  half  mile  above,  stood  his 
little  log  church;  nothing  now  remains  of  it  but  a  few  stones  of 
the  back-wall  of  the  fireplace,  amidst  a  thick  grove  of  pines.  He 
and  his  people  went  to  the  house  of  God  fully  equipped  to  meet 
any  sudden  attack  of  savages.  He  joined  Newcastle  Presbytery -jl 
before  the  fall  of  1754.  On  Braddock's  defeat,  his  congregation 
fled  from  the  frontier,  and  a  portion  settled  in  North  Carolina. 

He  met  with  Hanover  Presbytery,  September  2,  1757,  and,  in 
January,  was  sent  to  Rocky  River,  in  North  Carolina,  and  to  other 
vacancies.  He  was  called,  in  April,  to  Rocky  River ;  and  Richard- 
son, on  his  way  to  labour  among  the  Cherokees,  was  directed  to 
install  him. 

He  died  in  March,  1766,  leaving  behind  him  the  affectionate 
remembrance  of  his  faithful,  abundant,  and  useful  labours.  He 
is  said  to  have  been  a  prey  to  dejection  of  spirits,  as  was  also  his 
relative,  John  Craighead,  the  pastor  of  Rocky  Spring,  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

The  first  numerous  settlementf  between  the  Yadkin  and  Ca- 
tawba was  three  miles  north  of  Charlotte.  In  1750,  there  were  no 
white  inhabitants ;  but  they  poured  in  so  rapidly  that,  in  1756,  the 
church  on  Sugar  Creek  was  formed.  Here  was  Craighead's  home, 
and  his  burial-place :  no  stone  marks  his  grave ;  but  it  is  known  by 
two  large  sassafras-trees,  which  grew,  it  is  said,  from  the  sticks 
being  thrust  into  the  ground,  on  which  his  coffin  was  borne  to  the 
grave. 

His  son  Thomas  became  a  minister  of  our  church  in  Tennessee, 
and  rose  to  high  standing.  His  third  daughter  married  the  Rev. 
David  Caldwell,  of  Buffalo  and  Allemance.  Her  son,  Samuel 
Craighead  Caldwell,  was  licensed  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  and 
ordained  pastor  of  Hopewell  and  Sugar  Creek  in  1792.  His  har- 
monious continuance  in  that  relation  for  thirty-five  years  is  his 
best  eulogium.'  At  one  time,  seventy  were  added  to  the  church. 
He  died  in  1826.     Two  of  his  sons  are  in  the  ministry. 


*  Rev.  Samuel  Brown,  of  Windy  Cove, 
f  Dr.  Foote's  Sketches  of  North  Carolina. 


438  JOHN    PAUL — PATRICK    GLASGOW — BAMUEL    BLACK. 


JOHN   PAUL 

Was  received  by  the  standing  committee  of  Donegal  Presbytery 
as  a  licentiate  from  Ireland,  December  10, 1735,  and  was  soon  after 
called  to  Nottingham.  Thomson  "served  his  edict,"  and  he  was 
installed  the  second  Wednesday  of  October,  1736. 

He  preached  at  the  ordination  of  David  Alexander,  at  Pequea, 
in  1738,  and  was  one  of  the  first  supplies  sent  to  Deer  Creek, 
Maryland.  He  died  in  1739;  and  in  June  the  commission  remitted 
his  bond  for  twelve  pounds,  and,  the  next  year,  gave  his  widow  one 
pound  out  of  the  fund. 

His  tomb  remains  in  the  old  graveyard  near  the  Rising  Sun : 
the  inscription,  nearly  obliterated,  tells  that  he  died  at  the  age  of 
thirty-three. 


PATRICK  GLASGOW 


After  the  ordinary  trials,  and  after  adopting  the  Westminster 
Confession,  was  licensed  by  Lewes  Presbytery.  Having  a  call  to 
Monokin,  he  was,  after  the  usual  steps,  and  a  repeated  declaration 
of  his  adopting  the  Westminster  Confession,  ordained  and  installed 
in  1736. 

He  is  not  mentioned  after  1741  on  our  records :  he  was  or- 
dained after  the  Episcopal  mode,  and  became  the  rector  of  All-Hal- 
lows, in  Worcester  county,  Maryland.  He  died  there,  March 
23,  1753. 


SAMUEL   BLACK, 

A  STUDENT  of   theology,  from  Ireland,  was  licensed  by  New- 

A       castle  Presbytery.     The  Forks  of  Brandywine,  in  Chester  county, 

were  formed  into  a  separate  congregation.     In  September,  1735, 

Donegal  Presbytery  gave  them  leave  to  invite  Black  to  preach  as  a 


SAMUEL   BLACK.  439 

candidate  for  settlement.  He  was  called,  October  7,  and  was  or- 
dained, November  18, 1735.  Boyd  preached  from  2  Timothy  ii,  15. 
A  portion  of  his  people  preferred  complaints  against  him,  Septem- 
ber 2, 1740,  and  requested  the  presbytery  to  call,  as  correspondents, 
Charles  Tennent  and  Samuel  Blair,  when  they  took  up  the  case. 
This  was  just  at  the  time  of  the  extraordinary  effects  produced  by 
the  preaching  of  Whitefield.  The  presbytery,  in  writing  to  Newcas- 
tle Presbytery  for  correspondents,  requested  the  moderator  that 
any  of  the  members  might  be  sent  to  their  aid  but  Blair  and  Ten- 
nent,— alleging  that  the  congregation,  in  asking  for  them,  evinced  a 
desire  to  choose  their  own  judges. 

Black  was  put  on  trial  November  4,  to  answer  the  charges — 

1.  Of  saying,  "He  sought  not  theirs,  but  them,"  while  he  did 
not  seek  their  salvation. 

2.  Of  representing  himself  as  weary  through  much  labour  in  the 
ministry,  while  he  did  not  toil  in  the  vineyard. 

3.  Of  drunkenness. 

4.  Of  lying,  in  speaking  of  the  Revival  at  different  times  in  dif- 
ferent ways. 

5.  Of  sedition,  in  sowing  dissensions  among  the  people. 

6.  Of  making  no  application  of  the  truth  to  the  states  or  cases 
of  his  hearers. 

7.  For  opposing  the  work  of  God  then  in  progress  in  neighbour- 
ing congregations. 

The  presbytery  rebuked  him  for  the  drunkenness,  and  for  slight- 
ing his  work :  he  acknowledged  his  fault,  and  they  laid  no  censure 
on  him  at  the  time.  In  May,  they  suspended  him  for  a  season, 
the  people  complaining  that  much  evidence  had  been  industriously 
kept  back  at  the  trial.  The  presbytery  very  soon  after  made 
inquiry  on  the  spot,  and  restored  him:  the  majority  of  his  people 
following  the  "Brunswick  Brethren,"  they  released  him  from  the 
pastoral  relation. 

The  new  congregation  of  Conewago,  in  Mount  Joy,  (in  Adams 
county,)  Pennsylvania,  called  him  in  October,  1741,  and  he  was  in- 
stalled the  second  Wednesday  in  May.  He  began  to  visit  Vir- 
ginia as  a  missionary,  and  was  sent  to  Potomac  in  1743.  Diffi- 
culties arose  in  his  flock,  and  they  asked  to  have  Steel  sent  to 
them. 

North  and  South  Mountain,  in  Virginia,  (the  former  six  miles 
west  of  Staunton,)  asked  for  him,  March  6,  1745.  He  was  dis- 
missed from  Conewago  in  April ;  but  in  the  fall  they  sought  to  re- 
gain him.  A  division  took  place:  those  who  left  him  obtained 
one-fifth  of  the  time  of  Boan,  pastor  of  the  New-Side  churches  of 
Paxton  and  Derry. 

In  1747,  he,  with  Thomson  and  Craig,  was  directed  to  take  the 
oversight  of  the  vacancies  in  Virginia.     He  was  at  the  synod  in 


440  FRANCIS   ALISON. 

IT/il,  and  was  directed  to  supply  Buffalo  settlement,  and  the  adja- 
cent places,  four  Sabbaths;  he  also  visited  Hies,  Eno,  and  liaw 
lliver,  in  North  Carolina. 

He  took  cluirge  of  the  congregations  of  Rockfish  and  Mountain 
Plain  before  1752.  In  1759,  he  attended  synod,  and  vainly 
sought  to  have  a  presbytery  formed  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge. 

Hanover  Presbytery  decided  that  the  people  in  Woods's  Gap,  in 
the  mountains  of  Albemarle,  were  not  in  his  bounds,  and  erected 
them  into  the  congregation  of  Albemarle.  They  dismissed  him 
from  his  charge,  July  18,  1759. 

He  died  August  9,  1770.  The  presbytery  style  him  "  an  aged 
minister." 


FRANCIS  ALISON, 


Born  in  Ireland,  in  1705,  studied  at  the  University  of  Glas- 
gow, and  came  as  a  probationer  to  this  country  in  1734  or  '35. 

On  the  recommendation  of  Franklin,*  he  was  employed  by 
John  Dickinson,  of  Delaware,  the  author  of  the  "  Farmer's  Let- 
ters," as  the  tutor  of  his  son.  Leave  to  take  a  few  other  pupils 
was  granted ;  and  he  is  said  to  have  had  an  academy  at  Thunder 
Hill,  Maryland. t 

The  commission,  in  1736,  wrote  to  him  to  officiate  as  a  supply 
y  for  the  new  erection  in  Philadelphia.  He  was  ordained  pastor  of 
^      New  London  by  Newcastle  Presbytery  before  May,  1737. 

He  was  a  correspondent  of  President  Stiles,  who  has  preserved 
many  of  his  letters.  He  says,  he  commenced  his  school  in  1743; 
and  Professor  Hutcheson,  of  Glasgow,  having,  in  1746,  advised 
the  setting  on  foot  of  a  seminary  by  the  synod,  he  also  opened  a 
correspondence  with  him.  The  synod,  failing  in  their  attempt  to 
endow  a  college,  did  what  was  in  their  power,  and  took  the  New 
London  school  under  their  patronage.  They  gave  Alison  twenty 
pounds,  (Pennsylvania  currency,)  with  the  liberty  of  choosing  an 
assistant  at  a  salary  of  fifteen  pounds.  In  1748,  the  salaries 
were  raised ;  one  to  forty  pounds,  and  the  other  to  tAventy  pounds. 

Alison  complained  to  Donegal  Presbytery,  that  Alexander 
Craighead  had  intruded  into  his  congregation,  "  to  rend  and 
divide  it  against  his  mind,  the  mind  of  the  session,  and  the  de- 
clared opinion  of  the  congregation  in  general." 

*  Joshua  Edwards,  Esq.  f  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia. 


TRANCIS   ALISON.  441 

He  signed  the  Protest ;  but  he  agreed  with  the  New  York  bre- 
thren in  demanding  that  the  whole  proceeding  should  bo  reviewed 
in  1742 ;  and  he  entered  his  dissent  from  the  vote  refusing  this 
request.  Though  foremost  on  the  Old  Side,  it  does  not  appear 
that  any  of  his  congregation  deserted  him.  In  1744,*  they 
erected  the  largest  church  in  that  region.  The  building  was 
sixty-three  feet  long  by  thirty-eight  wide,  with  long,  low,  brick 
walls,  an  antique,  Swedish,  or  hipped  roof.  The  side  of  the  edifice 
was  turned  to  the  road;  and  it  had  arched  doors  and  windows, 
with  imported  leaden  sashes.  The  pulpit  was  on  the  side ;  and  the 
pews  were  of  forms,  patterns,  and  colours  as  diverse  as  the  tastes 
and  the  incomes  of  their  respective  owners. 

In  1749,  he  was  invited  to  Philadelphia,  a  grammar-school 
having  been  opened  in  that  city  by  subscription.  He  asked  leave 
of  the  synod  to  sit  as  a  member  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery :  they 
declined,  and  promised  him  thirty  pounds  for  educating  their 
beneficiaries,  with  liberty  to  charge  at  his  pleasure  for  the  tuition 
of  others.  The  grammar-school  in  Philadelphia  was  incorporated 
in  1750,  endowed  in  1753,  and  erected  into  a  college  in  1755. 
Alison  left  New  London  before  May,  1752,  without  consulting 
presbytery  or  synod ;  but  this  was  excused,  owing  to  the  pressing 
circumstances  of  his  position.  He  took  charge  of  the  grammar- 
school,  and  became  colleague  to  Cross.  Among  his  elders  who 
sat  with  him  in  synod  were  the  Hon.  Charles  Thomson  and  Mr. 
William  Humphreys. 

He  was  made  vice-provost  of  the  college  in  1755 ;  and  Nassau 
Hall  gave  him  the  degree  of  A.M.  in  1756,  and  the  University 
of  Glasgow  created  him  doctor  of  divinity  in  1756.  He  was  the 
first  of  our  ministers  who  received  that  honour ;  and  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia  returned  their  thanks,  for  the  favour,  to  the  Uni- 
versity.f 

On  the  union  of  the  synods,  May  24,  1758,  he  preached  from 
Eph.  iv.  4-7.  The  sermon  was  published,  with  the  title,  "  Peace 
and  Union  recommended,"  and  a  note,  suggesting  that,  as  in  the 
perusal  it  might  to  many  seem  long,  they  may  conveniently  divide 
it  by  pausing  at  the  twenty-eighth  page. 

He  went,  with  Colonel  Burd,  as  chaplain  to  the  expedition  to 
Fort  Cumberland,  and  remained  from  August  to  November. 

Together  with  Gilbert  Tennent  and  the  Presbyterians  gene- 
rally, who  were  headed  by  Chief-Justice  Allen,  (father-in-law  of 
Governor  John  Penn,)  he  opposed  the  throwing  off  of  the  Pro- 


*  Dubois's  Historical  Discourse  at  New  London. 

f  The  diploma  was  transmitted  to  him   through   the  Rev.  James  Moody,  of 
Newry. — Philadelphia  Newspaper. 


442  FRANCIS   ALISON. 

prietary  Government;  and,  as  a  reward*  for  his  services  in  that 
matter,  llichard  Penn  gave  Alison  the  splendid  tract  of  one  thou- 
sand acres  at  the  confluence  of  the  Bald  Eagle  with  the  "West 
Branch  of  the  Susquehanna. 

lie  was  the  efficient  agent  in  the  estahlishment  of  the  Widows 
Fund  in  our  church;  and  was  Avisely  active  in  the  convention  with 
the  Connecticut  ministers  to  withstand  the  gradual  but  determined 
innovations  of  Churchmen  and  the  Crown  on  our  liberties  as  citi 
zens  and  Christians. 

Among  his  correspondentsf  were  Dr.  Gordon,  of  Stepney, 
England ;  William  Boyd,  minister  of  Taughboyne,  in  Ireland,  (who 
visited  New  England  in  1718,)  and  John  Holmes,  of  Glendermot, 
both  able  and  zealous  advocates  for  the  subscription  of  the  West- 
minster Confession  ;  and  James  Moody,  of  Newry,  who  difi'ered 
with  them  on  that  point. 

Alison  was  so  much  pleased  with  Connecticut  that  at  one  time 
he  thought  of  making  it  the  retreat  of  his  old  age.  Probably 
some  hint  of  this  induced  the  people  of  New  London,  who  had 
remained  vacant  since  his  removal,  to  send  Elijah  McClenachan 
and  William  Montgomery  as  commissioners  to  the  Second  Phila- 
delphia Presbyter}',  with  a  call  for  him,  August  14,  1765.  He 
took  it  under  consideration,  and  returned  it,  November  26,  1766. 

Although  his  family  could  ill  aiford  it,  he  set  free  his  slaves  by 
will:  "the  good  manj  followed  the  dictates  of  his  conscience, 
leaving  his  widow  to  Providence." 

He  died,  November  28,  1779,  aged  seventy-four.  His  wife  was 
an  Armitage.  He  left  a  son  (a  physician,  at  Fagg's  Manor)  and 
two  daughters:  one  of  his  sons  died  before  him,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-eight. 

Among  his  pupils  were  Charles  Thomson,  Secretary  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  Dr.  Ewing,  of  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Latta,  of 
Chestnut  Level,  Matthew  Wilson,  of  Lewes,  Hugh  Williamson, 
and  David  Ramsay,  the  historian  of  North  and  South  Carolina, 
and  three  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, — Governor 
McKean,  George  Read,  and  James  Smith.  He  had  the  reputa- 
tion§  of  being  the  best  Latin  scholar  in  America.  Bishop  White 
was  one  of  his  pupils,  and,  in  his  "Memoirs,"  speaks  of  him  as  a 
man   of    unquestionable  ability  in  his    department,   of   real  and 


*  Day's  Historical  Collections  of  Pennsylvania.  But  Judge  Huston  says  that 
the  lands  of  the  West  Branch  were  laid  out  for  officers  of  first  and  second  bat- 
talions of  regiment  under  Colonel  Boquet.  Fifteen  hundred  acres  on  -west  side  of 
the  mouth  of  Bald  Eagle  were  conveyed  to  Dr.  Alison,  February  4,  1769,  and  were 
paid  for  in  full,  April  3,  1772. — Land  Titles. 

t  Stiles's  MSS.,  Yale  College. 

J   Philadcli>hia  Newspaper. 

I   Morgan  Edwards. 


DAVID    COWELL.  443 

rational  piety;  with  a  proncness  to  anger,  which  was  forgotten  in 
his  placableness  and  afiabilitj.  Davies  speaks  of  him  to  Cowell 
as  "our  learned  friend." 


DAVID   COWELL 


Was  born  in  Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  in  1704,  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1732,  and  came  as  a  licentiate  to  Trenton,  N.  J.,  in  1736. 

.Trenton,  which  had  formed  a  part  of  Hopewell,  asked  Phila- 
delphia Presbytery,  in  September,  1734,  to  provide  them  a 
minister.  In  the  next  fall,  Cowell  began  his  labours  there.  On 
his  receiving  a  call,*  the  presbytery  examined  him  on  his  religious 
principles  and  sentiments,  heard  him  preach  from  Rom.  iii.  25, 
and,  after  a  sermon  by  Andrews,  ordained  him,  November  3, 
1736. 

A  debate  was  maintained  between  him  and  Gilbert  Tennent  on 
a  most  important  matter:  namely.  Whether  a  motive,  to  which 
the  natural  man  is  susceptible,  a  regard  to  what  he  sees  to  be  on 
the  whole  most  for  his  interest,  is  acceptable  with  God  when  it 
leads  one  to  embrace  Christ's  salvation  and  God's  service? 
Cowell  disclaimed  the  affirmative,  which  Tennent  charged  him 
with  holding,  and  probably  was  equally  unwilling  to  admit  that 
our  obedience  to  God  is  worthless  if  we  be  influenced  by  a  desire 
for  our  own  salvation  as  Avell  as  the  glory  of  God. 

He  took  no  part  at  the  division  in  1741 ;  but  he  was  fully  op- 
posed to  the  extreme  measures  of  the  Brunswick  party.  He  re- 
mained with  the  Old  Side ;  but  his  intercourse  Avith  the  New  York 
brethren,  and  his  intimate  friendship  with  Burr,  was  not  inter- 
rupted. 

In  1749,  the  commissions  of  both  synods  met  at  Trenton,  to 
treat  about  a  union.  Cowell  was  chosen  moderator ;  but,  a  heated 
discussion  arising  about  the  Protest,  they  broke  up,  unanimously 
agreeing  that  each  synod  more  fully  prepare  proposals  of  recon- 
ciliation, and  that  there  be  in  the  mean  time  a  mutual  endeavour 
to  cultivate  candour  and  friendship. 

He  was  an  early,  an  ardent,  and  an  indefatigable  friend  of  New 
Jersey  College,  and  unwearied  in  his  efforts  to  place  Davies  in 
the  presidency.      He  wrote  to  him,t  "  The  college  ought  to  be 

*  It  is  dated  April  7,  1736,  and  is  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  J.  V.  Cowell. 

f  MSS.   iu  the  possession  of   Mr.  Joseph  V.  Cowell,  of  Philadelphia.      Daviea 


444  DAVID    COWELL. 

esteemed  of  as  much  importance  to  tlie  interests  of  religion  and 
liberty  as  any  other  institution  of  the  kind  in  America.  God  at 
first,  in  a  most  remarkable  manner,  owned  and  blessed  it.  It 
was  the  Lord's  doing.  lie  erected  it;  for  our  beginning  was 
nothing,  lie  carried  it  on,  till  it  was  marvellous  in  our  eyes. 
But  it  hath  been  under  terrible  frowns  of  Divine  Providence: 
first,  in  the  loss  of  Mr.  Burr,  the  life  and  soul  of  it;  and  then  of 
Mr.  Edwards,  from  whom  we  had  such  raised  expectations.  May 
the  Father  of  mercies  look  with  pity  and  compassion  on  the  work 
of  his  own  hands  !  I  am  sensible  that  your  leaving  Virginia  is 
attended  with  great  difiiculties  ;  but  I  cannot  think  your  aifairs  are 
of  equal  importance  with  the  college." 

Upon  the  union,  he  joined  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  June  3, 
1758;  and,  the  next  year,  Trenton  asked  for  supplies.  He  died, 
December  1,  17G0,  having  never  married.  Davies  preached  at  his 
funeral — himself  so  soon  to  follow — from  Ileb.  iv.  11,  having  been 
"  nominated  by  him  to  that  service." 

"  During*  the  short  time  I  have  been  a  resident  of  this  pro- 
vince, he  has  been  my  very  intimate  friend ;  and  I  have  conversed 
with  him  in  his  most  unreserved  hours,  when  conversation  was  the 
image  of  his  soul.  I  had  only  a  general  acquaintance  with  him 
for  ten  years  before. 

"  The  characteristics  of  his  youth  were  a  serious,  virtuous,  re- 
ligious turn  of  mind,  free  from  the  vices  and  vanities  of  that 
thoughtless  age ;  and  a  remarkable  thirst  for  knowledge :  and  I 
am  witness  how  lively  a  taste  for  books  and  knowledge  he 
cherished  to  the  last.  He  appeared  to  me  to  have  a  mind 
steadily  and  habitually  bent  towards  God  and  holiness.  If  his 
religion  was  not  so  warm  and  passionate  as  that  of  some,  it  was 
perhaps  proportionally  more  even,  uniform,  and  rational.  His 
religion  was  not  a  transient  passion,  but  appeared  to  be  a  settled 
temper.  Humility  and  modesty,  those  gentle  virtues,  seemed  to 
shine  in  him  with  a  very  amiable  lustre.  He  often  imposed  a 
voluntary  silence  upon  himself,  when  he  would  have  made  an 
agreeable  figure  in  conversation.  He  was  fond  of  giving  way  to 
his  brethren  with  whom  he  might  justly  have  claimed  an  equality, 
or  to  encourage  modest  worth  in  his  inferiors.  He  was  not  im- 
pudently liberal  of  unasked  advice,  though  very  judicious,  impar- 
tial, and  communicative  when  consulted.  He  had  an  easy,  grace- 
ful negligence  in  his  carriage, — a  noble  indifference  about  setting 
himself  off;  he  seemed  not  to  know  his  own  accomplishments, 
though  they  were  so  conspicuous   that  many  a  man  has  made  a 


relied  upon  his  skill  as  a  physician,  and  requested  his  presence  when  the  students 
had  been  inoculate<i  for  the  smallpox. 
*  MS.  Sermon  of  Davies. 


DAVID    COWELL.  445 

brilliant  appearance  with  a  small  share  of  them.  He  had  a  re- 
markable command  of  his  passions ;  he  appeared  calm  and  un- 
ruffled amid  the  storms  of  the  world, — peaceful  and  serene  amid 
the  commotions  and  uproar  of  human  passions.  Remarkably 
cautious  and  deliberate,  slow  to  determine,  and  especially  to 
censure,  he  was  well  guarded  against  extremes.  In  matters  of 
debate,  and  especially  in  religious  controversy,  he  was  rather  a 
moderator  and  compromiser  than  a  party.  Though  he  could  not 
be  neuter,  but  judged  for  himself  to  direct  his  own  conduct,  he 
could  exercise  candour  and  forbearance  without  constraint  or  re- 
luctance ;  when  he  happened  to  differ  in  opinion  from  any  of  his 
brethren,  even  themselves  could  not  but  acknowledge  and  admire 
his  moderation. 

"  His  accomplishments,  as  a  man  of  sense  and  learning,  were 
very  considerable.  His  judgment  was  cool,  deliberate,  and  pene- 
trating; his  sentiments  were  well  digested,  and  his  taste  excellent. 
He  had  read  not  a  few  of  the  best  modern  authors,  and  was  no 
stranger  to  ancient  literature.  He  could  think  as  well  as  read ; 
and  the  knowledge  he  collected  from  books  Avas  well  digested,  and 
became  his  own.  He  had  carefully  studied  the  Sacred  Scriptures, 
and  had  a  rational  theory  of  the  Christian  system. 

"  He  had  an  easy,  natural  vein  of  wit,  which  rendered  his  con- 
versation extremely  agreeable:  he  sometimes  used  it  with  great 
dexterity  to  expose  the  rake,  the  fop,  the  infidel,  and  other  fools 
of  the  human  species ;  it  was  sacred  to  the  service  of  virtue,  or 
innocently  volatile  and  lively,  to  heighten  the  pleasures  of  con- 
versation. 

"  He  was  a  lover  of  mankind,  and  delighted  in  every  office 
of  benevolence.  Benevolence  appeared  to  be  his  predominant 
virtue,  and  gave  a  most  amiable  cast  to  his  whole  temper  and 
conduct. 

"  That  he  might  be  able  to  support  himself  without  oppressing 
a  small  congregation,  he  gave  some  part  of  his  time  to  the  study 
and  practice  of  physic ;  in  which  he  made  no  inconsiderable  figure. 
A  friend  of  the  poor,  he  spared  neither  time  nor  expense  to  relieve 
them. 

"  I  never  had  the  happiness  to  hear  him  in  the  sacred  desk. 
In  prayer,  I  am  sure,  he  appeared  humble,  solemn,  rational,  and 
importunate,  as  a  creature, — a  sinner  in  the  presence  of  God. 

"  In  the  charter  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  he  was  nomi- 
nated one  of  the  trustees;  and  but  few  invested  with  the  same 
trust  discharged  it  with  so  much  zeal,  diligence,  and  alacrity. 
His  heart  was  set  upon  his  prosperity ;  he  exerted  himself  in  this 
service,  nor  did  he  forget  it  in  his  last  moments. 

"  The  church  has  lost  a  judicious  minister,  and,  as  we  hope,  a 
sincere  Christian ;  the  world  has  lost  an  inoffensive,  useful  mem- 


1 


446  CHARLES   TENNENT. 

ber  of  society,  this  town  an  agreeable,  peaceable,  benevolent 
inhabitant,  the  College  of  New  Jersey  a  father;  and  I  have  lost 
a  friend." 


CHARLES  TENNENT. 


The  youngest  child  of  Tennent,  of  Nesharniny,  was  born  in  the 
county  Down,  May  3,  1711,  and  was  baptized  by  the  Rev.  Richard 
Donnell.  He  is  said*  to  have  learned  the  trade  of  a  saddler.  After 
studying  with  his  father,  he  was  taken  on  trials  by  Philadelphia 
Presbytery  in  May,  1736 ;  in  June,  at  Nesharniny,  he  was  examined 
on  the  evidences  of  his  piety,  and  was  licensed  Sept.  20.  He  was 
called,  April  6,  1737,  to  Pilcsgrove  and  vicinity;  but  the  call  was 
not  put  into  his  hands.  He  soon  after  was  ordained,  by  Newcastle 
^Presbytery,  the  pastor  of  Whiteclay. 

In  November,  1739, f  Whitefield  assisted  him  at  the  sacrament;  he 
preached  from  the  tent  to  eight  thousand  persons.  Among  the 
hearers  was  Mrs.  Douglass,  the  sister  of  Charles  Thomson,  Secre- 
tary to  Congress,  and  the  grandmother  of  the  Rev.  James  W. 
Douglass,  of  Fayetteville.  She  describes  Whitefield  as  bathed  iu 
tears  during  nearly  all  the  service.  It  was  a  glorious  day.  The 
effect  was  happy  and  extensive.  To  his  delight,  he  found  there  a 
family  named  Howell,  who  had  heard  him  at  Cardiff  and  Kings- 
wood.  In  the  following  year  he  was  there  on  a  like  occasion ;  some 
opposers  being  present,  Whitefield  felt  peculiar  pleasure  in  singing 
the  23d  Psalm :— 

"  My  t.al)le  thou  hast  furnished, 
Iu  presence  of  my  foes  ; 
My  head  thou  dost  with  oil  anoint, 
And  my  cup  overflows." 

A  separation  took  place  in  the  congregation  :  the  Old  Side  joined 
with  Elk  River.  On  the  union  of  the  synods,  some  of  the  most 
zealous  friends  of  the  Revival  forsook  Tennent  and  went  over  to  the 
Seceders,  being  unable  to  understand  how  it  could  be  right  to  enter 
into  fellowship  with  those  they  had  been  taught  to  regard  as  heart- 
enemies  to  the  power  of  religion.  "  Shouldest  thou  help  the  un- 
godly, and  love  them  that  hate  the  Lord  ?  therefore  is  wrath  upon 
thee  from  before  the  Lord."  Tennent  was  dismissed  from  his 
charge  in  1763,  and  settled  at  Buckingham,  now  Berlin,  on  the 

*  Letter  of  a  Covenanting  Presbyterian, 
■j-  Log  College,  Whitefield' s  Journal. 


AARON   BURR.  447 

Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland.  "  There  was  a  great  stir  about  reli- 
gion," said  Davies,  in  1751,  "some  four  years  ago  in  Buckingham, 
on  the  sea-shore,  and  a  place  called  the  Ferry,  Avhich  were  then 
without  a  minister." 

Of  his  success  there  little  is  known ;  he  was  involved  in  difficul- 
ties that  threw  a  gloom  over  his  closing  days.  He  died  in  1771. 
His  son,  the  Rev.  Wm.  M.  Tennent,  was  licensed  before  his  death : 
his  granddaughter,  Miss  Stewart,  died  a  few  years  ago,  in  advanced 
life. 

He  is  said  to  have  been  a  good  preacher,  but  high-spirited  and 
hasty.     Davies  joins  him  with  his  brothers  in  high  praise  : — 

"  Surviving  remnant  of  the  sacred  tribe, 
Wtio  knew  the  worth  these  plaintive  lays  describe, 
Tennents,  three  worthies  of  immortal  fame, 
Brothers  in  ofiice,  birth,  and  heart,  and  name." 


AARON  BURR 


Was  the  son*  of  Daniel  Burr,  of  Upper  Meadows,  in  Fairfield, 
Conn.,  a  descendant  of  Jehu  Burr,  an  early  settler  of  Springfield, 
Mass.,  and  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Burr,  who  came  from  Redgrave, 
in  Suffolk,  in  1604,  and  was  the  minister  of  Dorchester,  Mass. 
Aaron  was  born  Jan.  4,  1715-6,  and  was  baptized  March  4.  He 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1735. 

The  year  afterf  he  took  his  first  degree,  he  spent  in  the  college; 
and  it  is  supposed  that  he  then  met  with  a  saving  change  of  heart, 
and  became  not  only  almost,  but  altogether,  a  Christian.  The  re- 
lation of  this  important  event  I  have  extracted  out  of  his  private 
papers,  and  shall  give  you  his  own  words,  as  follows : — 

"  This  year  God  saw  fit  to  open  my  eyes,  and  show  me  what  a 
miserable  creature  I  was.  Till  then,  I  spent  my  life  in  a  dream ; 
and,  to  the  great  design  of  my  being,  had  lived  in  vain.  Though 
before  I  had  been  under  frequent  convictions,  and  was  drove  to  a 
form  of  religion,  yet  I  knew  nothing  as  I  ought  to  know.  But 
then  I  was  brought  to  the  footstool  of  sovereign  grace ;  saw  myself 
polluted  by  nature  and  practice ;  had  affecting  views  of  the  divine 
wrath  I  deserved ;  was  made  to  despair  of  help  in  myself,  and 
almost  concluded  that  my  day  of  grace  had  passed.  These  convic- 
tions held  for  some  months,  greater  at  some  seasons  than  at  others ; 

*  MS.  Letter  of  N.  Goodwin,  Esq.,  Hartford, 
■j-  Funeral  Sermon,  by  Rev.  Caleb  Smith. 


448  AARON    BURR. 

but  I  never  revealed  them  to  any,  which  I  have  much  lamented 
since.  It  pleased  Gud  at  length  to  reveal  his  Son  to  me  in  the  gos- 
pel, an  all-sufficient  and  willing  Saviour,  and,  I  hope,  inclined  me 
to  accept  him  on  the  terms  of  the  gospel.  I  received  some  conso- 
lation, and  found  a  great  change  in  myself.  Before  this,  I  was 
strongly  attached  to  the  Arminian  scheme,  but  then  was  made  to 
see  those  things  in  a  different  light,  and  seemingly  felt  the  truth  of 
the  Galvinian  doctrines." 

He  was  licensed  in  September,  1736,  and  preached  his  first  ser- 
mon at  Greenfield,  Mass.  While  laboring  at  Hanover,  N.J.,  he 
was  invited  to  Newark;  he  was  received  by  all  with  great  regard  ; 
"much  love  was  shown  to  him,"  and,  coming  in  "a  day  of  tempta- 
tion and  darkness,"  in  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the  gospel, 
the  aspect  brightened  and  all  around  beamed  with  peace.  Within 
two  months  after  beginning  to  preach,  he  went  to  Newark,  and,  full 
trial  being  made  of  his  gifts,  he  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery 
of  East  Jersey,  Oct.  25,  1787-8.  Pierson  preached,  and  Dickin- 
son presided  and  gave  the  charge. 

"There*  was  a  remarkable  revival  there  in  the  autumn  of 
1739 :  in  March,  the  whole  town  in  general  was  brought  under  an 
uncommon  concern  about  their  eternal  interests ;  and  under  some 
sermons  the  congregation  appeared  universally  aftected.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1741,  there  was  another  eff'usion  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  princi- 
pally upon  the  young.  When  Wliitcfield  preached  at  Newark,  it 
was  nearly  dark,  and  he  could  not  see  the  effect  produced ;  but  at 
night,  at  worship  in  Burr's  house,  some  young  men,  studying  with 
him,  were  greatly  affected."  Whitefield  speaks  of  him  as  a  young 
minister,  "who,  I  trust,  Avill  come  fairly  out  for  G(5d." 

In  the  divisions  at  New  Haven, f  growing  out  of  the  progress  of 
the  Revival,  it  was  proposed  in  June,  1742,  as  a  measure  likely  to 
satisfy  all  parties,  that  Burr  should  be  settled  in  the  First  Church ; 
and  a  committee,  with  the  rector  of  Yale  at  its  head,  was  appointed 
to  treat  with  him. 

The  enemy  sowed  tares  at  Newark :  there  sprang  up  a  spirit  of 
arrogance  and  censoriousness  in  some  of  the  converts ;  strange  no- 
tions concerning  assurance  and  the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  were  em- 
braced; and  the  great  excitement  about  the  ejectment  suits,  involv- 
ing the  property  and  the  homes  of  nearly  every  one,  and  the  land- 
riots,  sunk  divine  things  out  of  notice. 

The  College  of  New  Jersey  was,  on  the  death  of  Dickinson,  re- 
moved in  1747  to  Newark,  and  Burr  was  placed  at  the  head.  lie 
accompanied  Whitefield  through  New  England  in  1752,  and  visited 
Edwards.     Having  seen  his  daughter  Esther,  he  wrote  expressing 


*  Dickinson,  in  Christian  History, 
f  Bacon. 


AARON   BURR.  449 

his  desire  that,  as  he  was  imaMe  to  go  to  her,  she  would  come  to 
him.  Her  mother  accompanied  her  to  New  York,  where  thej  were 
married  June  29,  1752. 

In  1755,  his  pastoral  relation  was  dissolved,  as  it  was  thought 
best  to  establish  the  college  in  Princeton.  Much  urgency  had  been 
used  to  prevail  on  him  to  go  to  Great  Britain  in  its  behalf,  but  his 
marriage  prompted  him  to  decline.  It  grieved  him  to  see  the  stu-v 
dents  banded  in  parties,  and  exhibiting  much  alienation  of  feeling :  | 
there  was  in  a  degree  a  reconciliation  effected  in  the  winter  of  1757, 
and  it  was  followed  by  a  gracious  revival.  The  hand  of  God  was 
visibly  displayed  in  February,  1757;  "much  old  experience"  had 
taught  Burr  to  place  little  reliance  on  relations  of  experience.  The 
students  carefully  observed  his  cautions  about  giving  way  to  irre- 
gular heats,  and  silenced  the  gainsayers.  Finley  wrote  to  Davies 
an  account  of  the  good  work,  who  said,  "It  was  the  most  joyful 
news  I  ever  heard.  It  began  with  the  son  of  a  considerable  gen- 
tleman in  New  York,  and  was  general  before  the  President  knew 
of  it."  "The  President,"  said  Gilbert  Tennent,  "never  shone  in 
my  eyes  as  he  does  now.  His  good  judgment  and  humility,  his 
zeal  and  integrity,  greatly  endeared  him  to  me."  Spencer  had  seen 
nothing  more  evidently  like  a  work  of  God,  even  in  the  Great  Re- 
vival. The  first  Tuesday  in  April  was  observed  as  a  day  of  fast- 
ing and  prayer.  In  the  summer  there  were  some  backslidings ; 
"but,"  said  Burr,  "certainly  a  glorious  work  is  going  on." 

In  the  summer,*  being  in  a  low  state  of  health,  he  made  a  rapid 
and  exhausting  visit,  in  a  very  hot,  sultry  season,  to  his  father-in- 
law  at  Stockbridge.  He  soon  returned  to  Princeton,  and  went  im- 
mediately to  Elizabethtown,  and,  on  the  19th  of  August,  made  an 
attempt  to  procure  the  legal  exemption  of  the  students  from  mili- 
tary duty.  He  mourned  Avith  a  friend,  (probably  Caleb  Smith,  of 
Orange,  who  had  just  lost  his  wife ;)  and  on  the  21st,  being  much 
indisposed,  he  preached  an  extemporaneous  sermon  at  a  funeral  in 
his  successor's  (Rev.  John  Brainerd's)  family  at  Newark.  From 
Princeton  he  went  to  Philadelphia  on  business  of  the  college,  and  oa 
his  return  learned  that  Governor  Belcher  had  died  on  the  81st.  He 
prepared  the  sermon  for  his  funeral  under  a  high  fever,  and  at 
night  was  delirious.  He  rode  to  Elizabethtown,  and,  on  the  4th, 
preached,  being  in  a  state  of  extreme  languor  and  exhaustion.  His 
languor  of  countenance  was  noticed,  but  especially  the  failure  of 
his  harmonious  delivery.  Returning  home  next  day,  he  sunk  under 
nervous  fever,  and  died  Sept.  24,  1757.  The  Rev.  Caleb  Smith 
preached  his  funeral  sermon.  William  Livingston,  afterwards 
Governor  of  New  Jersey,  pronounced  his  eulogium.  It  was  printed 
in  New  York,  and  speedily  reprinted  in  Boston.  The  following  is 
given  as  a  specimen : — 

*  Rev.  Caleb  Smith. 
29 


450  AARON   BURR. 

"  To  have  all  the  qualifications  that  render  a  man  amiable  or 
great;  to  be  the  object  of  deli/^ht  wherever  one  is  known;  to  pos- 
sess learning,  genius,  and  sublimity  of  soul ;  can  there  be  born  a 
greater  blessing  to  the  world  ?  To  exert  these  shining  endowments 
for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  and  employ  a  great  and  elevated  spirit 
only  in  doing  good  and  diffusing  good:  can  a  nobler  use  be  made 
of  the  happiest  talents?  Amidst  such  striking  colours,  in  such  a 
degenerate  age,  who  can  mistake  the  picture  of  the  excellent  de- 
ceased? Can  you  image  to  yourself  a  person,  moderate  in  pros- 
perity, prudent  in  difficulty,  in  business  indefatigable,  magnanimous 
in  danger,  easy  in  his  manners,  of  exquisite  judgment,  of  profound 
learning,  catholic  in  sentiment,  of  the  purest  morals,  and  great 
even  in  the  minutest  things :  can  you  image  so  accomplished  a  per- 
son without  recollecting  the  idea  of  the  late  President  Burr  ?  Few 
were  more  perfect  in  the  art  of  rendering  themselves  agreeable  in 
company.  His  open,  benevolent,  undissembling  heart  inspired  all 
around  him  with  innocent  cheerfulness,  and  made  every  one  who 
knew  him  court  his  engaging  society.  Though  a  person  of  slender 
and  delicate  make,  to  encounter  fatigue  he  had  a  heart  of  steel, 
and,  for  the  despatch  of  business,  the  most  amazing  talents  joined 
to  a  constancy  of  mind  which  induced  success  in  spite  of  every  ob- 
stacle. As  long  as  an  enterprise  appeared  not  absolutely  impos- 
sible, he  knew  no  discouragement,  but  in  proportion  to  its  difficulty 
augmented  his  diligence,  and  by  an  insuperable  fortitude  often  ac- 
complished what  his  friends  conceived  utterly  impossible.  To  his 
unparalleled  assiduity,  next  to  the  divine  blessing,  is  doubtless  to 
be  ascribed  the  present  flourishing  state  of  the  College  of  New  Jer- 
sey, which,  from  a  mere  private  undertaking,  is  become  in  a  few 
years  the  joy  of  its  friends,  the  admiration  and  envy  of  its  ene- 
mies. 

"  He  was  life  and  activity  itself,  and,  though  cut  off  in  the  bloom 
and  vigour  of  his  years,  attained,  with  respect  to  his  public  utility, 
the  remotest  period  of  old  age.  His  every  year  was  replete  with 
good  works,  and  while  others  could  boast  here  and  there  a  shining 
action,  like  a  scattered  star  in  the  vast  expanse  of  heaven,  his  life, 
like  the  milky  way,  was  one  continued  universal  glow. 

"  In  the  Scriptures  he  was  a  perfect  Apollos.  These  were  his 
constant  study,  the  subject  of  his  daily  meditations.  From  these 
he  extracted  his  divinity,  and  the  maxims  of  his  conduct,  and  by 
these  he  was  made  wise  unto  salvation.  His  piety  eclipsed  all  his 
other  accomplishments.  He  was  steady  in  his  faith,  unfluctuating 
in  principle,  ardent  in  devotion,  deaf  to  temptation,  open  to  the 
motions  of  grace,  without  ostentation,  without  pride,  full  of  God, 
evacuated  of  self,  having  his  conversation  in  heaven,  seeing  through 
the  veil  of  mortality  the  high  destiny  of  man,  breathing  a  spiritual 
life,  and  oflering  up  a  perpetual  holocaust  of  adoration  and  praise. 


AARON   BURR.  451 

.  *'In  tlie  pulpit  he  shone  with  superior  lustre.  He  was  fluent, 
copious,  sublime,  persuasive.  The  momentous  truths  and  the  awful 
mysteries  of  religion  so  strongly  possessed  the  mind,  that  he  spoke 
from  the  heart.  His  language  was  intelligible  to  the  meanest  ca- 
pacity, and  above  the  censure  of  the  highest  genius.  He  aimed  at 
perspicuity,  and  inculcated  the  luminous  and  uncontroverted  truths 
of  Revelation.  His  invention  was  not  so  properly  fruitful  as  inex- 
haustible, and  his  eloquence  was  equal  to  his  ideas.  He  was  none 
of  those  downy  doctors  who  soothe  their  hearers  into  delusive  hopes 
of  the  divine  acceptance,  or  substitute  external  morality  for  vital 
godliness.  He  scorned  to  proclaim  the  peace  of  God  till  the  rebel 
had  laid  down  his  arms  and  returned  to  his  allegiance.  He  was 
an  ambassador  that  adhered  inviolably  to  his  instructions,  nor  ever 
acceded  to  a  treaty  that  would  not  be  ratified  in  the  court  of  Hea- 
ven. He  searched  the  conscience  with  the  terrors  of  the  law,  before 
he  assuaged  its  anguish  with  the  sweet  emollients  of  a  bleeding 
Deity. 

"  What  he  preached  in  the  pulpit  he  lived  out  of  it.  His  life  and 
his  example  were  a  comment  on  his  sermons,  and  by  his  engaging 
deportment  he  rendered  the  amiable  character  of  the  Christian  still 
more  lovely  and  attractive.  In  him  religion  seemed  to  have  set  up 
her  throne,  and,  as  it  were,  doubled  the  beams  of  her  majesty.  The 
pastoral  function  he  discharged  with  equal  fidelity  and  success. 

"For  public  spirit  and  love  of  his  country,  who  ever  surpassed 
this  reverend  patriot  ?  Amid  all  the  cares  of  his  academic  func- 
tion, he  thought  and  studied,  he  planned  and  toiled,  for  the  common 
weal.  He  had  a  high  sense  of  English  liberty,  and  detested  des- 
potic power  as  the  bane  of  human  happiness.  With  him  the  heresy 
of  Arius  was  not  more  fatal  to  the  purity  of  the  gospel  than  the 
positions  of  Filmer  to  the  dignity  of  man  and  the  repose  of  states. 
Of  our  excellent  Constitution  he  entertained  the  justest  idea,  and 
gloried  in  the  privileges  of  a  Briton. 

"In  propagating  the  gospel  among  the  Indians,  how  assiduous! 

"With  what  dignity  and  reputation  did  he  sustain  the  office  of 
President!  He  had  the  most  engaging  method  of  instruction ;  nor 
inferior  to  his  capacity  of  receiving  was  his  facility  of  communi- 
cating knowledge.  No  man  had  a  happier  talent  of  expressing 
his  sentiments,  or  calling  latent  truth  from  her  deep  and  profound 
recesses.  No  man  more  capable  of  opening  the  mental  soil  to  the 
kindly  rays  of  science,  or  improving  and  fertilizing  it  with  the 
gentle  dews  of  exposition  and  comment.  He  neglected  no  oppor- 
tunity of  imbuing  his  pupils  with  the  seeds  of  virtue.  With  ease 
he  secured  their  obedience  and  love." 

Davies  heard  him  preach  a  valedictory  sermon,  Sept.  23,  1753, 
to  the  graduating  class.  "His  subject  was,  'And  now,  my  son, 
the  Lord  be  with  thee,  and  prosper  thee.'     I  was  amazed  to  see 


452  AARON   BURR. 

how  readily  good  sense  and  accurate  language  flowed  from  him  ex- 
tempore. The  sermon  was  vci^y  aflecting  to  me,  and  might  have 
been  so  to  the  students. 

"  Sept.  24. — My  drooping  spirits  were  exhilarated  by  free  conver- 
sation with  him." 

lie  printed  his  sermon  before  the  synod  in  1756,  on  Isa.  xxi. 
11, 12;  also  a  "Vindication  of  the  Supreme  Divinity  of  the  Son  of 
God,"  in  opposition  to  Emlyn ;  and  also  a  Latin  Grammar. 

He  left  two  very  young  children,  Avho  were  soon  deprived  of  their 
mother,*  and  their  grandparents  also.  The  son,  like  his  father  in 
form,  in  face,  in  talent,  in  energy,  in  eloquence,  in  polished  and 
engaging  manner,  in  his  influence  over  men,  rose  to  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency in  1800.  Oh  that  such  a  father  might  have  lived  to  train 
such  a  son  !  alas,  that  a  son  of  such  a  father  should  have  lived  to  old 
age  with  the  heartlessness  of  a  profligate  and  the  brand  of  a  traitor ! 

The  daughter  was  the  wife  of  Judge  Keeve,  of  Litchfield,  Connec- 
ticut, and  was  a  follower  of  her  parents,  as  they  followed  Christ. 

Davies  wrote  to  Cowell,  Feb.  20,  1758,  "  Mr.  Burr !  My  heart 
fails  me  at  the  sound  of  the  dear,  melancholy  name.  What  an  illus- 
trious triumvirate  have  the  college,  the  church,  and  the  world  lost 
by  the  death  of  Governor  Belcher,  Mr.  Burr,  and  Mr.  Davenport. 
1  was  the  more  afi"ected  at  the  President's  death,  as  a  life  so  much 
less  important  than  his  was  spared  when  in  extreme  danger  about 
the  time  of  his  illness.  Since  that,  I  have  had  frequent  touches 
of  afiliction,  under  one  of  which  I  now  languish,  but,  having  ob- 
tained help  of  God,  I  continue  unto  this  day. 

"As  the  death  of  these  good  men  was  undoubtedly  gain  to  them, 
may  we  not  modestly  conjecture  that  it  will  also  prove  an  advan- 
tage to  the  world,  though  we  are  apt  to  lament  them  as  lost?  I 
cannot  conceive  of  heaven  as  a  state  of  mere  enjoyment  without 
action,  or  indolent  supine  adoration  and  praise.  The  happiness  of 
vigorous  immortals  must  consist,  one  would  think,  in  proper  exer- 
cise suitable  to  the  benevolence  of  their  hearts  and  the  extent  of  their 
powers.  May  we  not  suppose,  then,  that  such  devout  and  benevo- 
lent souls  as  these,  when  released  from  the  confinement  of  mor- 
tality, and  the  low  labour  of  the  present  life,  are  not  only  advanced 
to  superior  degrees  of  happiness,  but  placed  in  a  higher  sphere  of 
usefulness,  employed  as  ministers  of  Providence  not  to  this  or  that 
particular  church,  college,  or  colony,  but  to  a  more  extensive  charge, 
and  perhaps  to  a  more  important  class  of  beings.  And  if,  when  they 
cease  to  be  useful  men,  they  commence  angels,  i.  e.  ministering  spirits, 
we  may  congratulate  them  and  the  world  upon  this  more  extensive 
beneficence,  instead  of  lamenting  them  as  lost  to  all  usefulness." 

*  Mrs.  Burr  died  of  smallpox,  April  7,  1758,  aged  twenty-six.  Her  father  died 
at  ber  house,  a  fortnight  previously,  March  "I'l ;  her  mother  died  on  the  2d  of  the 
next  October. 


WALTER  WILMOT — DAVID  ALEXANDER.  453 


WALTER  WILMOT 

Was  born  at  Southampton,  Long  Island,  in  1709,  and  graduated 
at  Yale  in  1735.  He  was  ordained  pastor  at  Jamaica,  April  12, 
1738.  Pemberton  preached  from  Colossians  i.  7,  and  Dickinson 
presided,  and  delivered  a  discourse  on  "  The  Divine  Appointment 
of  the  Christian  Ministry,  and  the  Method  of  its  Conveyance." 
This,  with  the  charge  which  he  gave  to  the  people,  was  printed. 

His  wife  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-three.  Prime  preached  at  her 
funeral  from  Ezckiel  xxiv.  16.  The  sermon  was  printed  with  her 
journal  of  her  religious  exercises. 

In  the  Great  Revival,  Jamaica  was  favoured  highly ;  Whitefield 
preached  there,  and  Gilbert  Tennent,  on  his  way  to  Boston,  in  the 
winter  of  1740.  "Our  church,"  says  Mr.  Colgan  to  the  Vene- 
rable Society,  "  has  been  depressed  of  late  by  those  clouds  of  error 
and  enthusiasm.  Enthusiasm  has  of  late  been  very  predominant 
among  us." 

Wilmot  did  not  survive  his  wife  and  his  babe  many  months.  He 
was  taken  sick  in  the  evening  of  the  15th  of  July,  1744,  and  died 
on  the  6th  of  August.     He  was  greatly  beloved  by  his  people. 


DAVID  ALEXANDER. 


Alexander  Davidson,  a  commissioner  from  Pequea,  asked  leave 
of  Donegal  Presbytery,  in  November,  1736,  to  employ  Alexander, 
who  probably  had  lately  arrived  from  Ireland.  He  may  have  been 
educated  at  the  Log  College,  and  licensed  by  Newcastle  Presby- 
tery. He  was  at  "Pacque"  the  next  spring,  but  the  West  End  (Lea- 
cock)  desired  leave  to  build.  In  August,  no  call  having  been  made 
out,  Boyd  was  directed  to  convene  the  congregation  on  a  working- 
day.  A  call  was  presented  in  October,  but,  not  being  entirely  in 
order,  was  not  given  to  him.  In  April,  1738,  the  people  promised 
him,  in  addition,  one  year's  lodgings;  and  he  was  ordained  and  in- 
stalled October  18,  Paul  presiding  and  preaching. 

The  West  End  (Leacock)  petitioned  that  a  portion  of  his  time 
might  be  given  to  them.  At  length,  in  1741,  just  before  the  rup- 
ture, Leacock  was  declared  by  the  synod  entitled  to  all  the  privi- 
leges of  any  vacant  congregation. 


H- 


454  JOHN   ELDER. 

Alexander  let  no  man  outstrip  him  in  his  violation  of  all  rules 
in  his  treatment  of  those  ■whom  he  esteemed  "opposers  of  the 
work."  He  intruded  into  Black's  congregation  to  carry  the  gospel 
to  a  people  burdened  with  a  lifeless  ministry.  When*  called,  in 
October,  1740,  to  answer  for  his  neglect  to  attend  the  stated  meet- 
ings, he  excused  himself  on  account  of  his  bodily  weakness,  and 
because  the  presbytery  were  too  superficial  in  examining  candi- 
dates, and  opposed  the  work  of  God,  and  the  ministers  chicily  in- 
strumental in  carrying  it  on ;  and  also  because  they  opposed  the 
crying  out  during  sermons.  He  withdrew,  and  refused  to  answer 
a  citation  for  intruding  into  Black's  field. 

The  presbytery  met  at  his  church  to  consider  a  charge  against 
him  of  intoxication.  He  took  the  pulpit  and  preached.  He 
acknowledged  the  intoxication  at  a  funeral,  and  the  presbytery 
judged  it  not  so  heinous  as  had  been  represented;  but  they  sus- 
pended him  till  "satisfaction  was  given  for  his  disregardful  con- 
duct to  us,  and  his  refusal  to  submit  to  the  government  of  Christ's 
church  in  our  hands."  Yet  he  was  suffered  to  sit  in  the  synod  of 
1741,  and  he  withdrew  with  the  excluded  brethren.  The  conjunct 
Presbyteries  of  New  Brunswick  and  Newcastle  appointed  him,  on 
account  of  "■  the  necessity  in  the  Great  Valley,"  to  supply  there. 

!From  that  time  he  passes  out  of  sight. 


JOHN  ELDER 


Was  born  in  Scotland,  and  educated  and  probably  licensed  there. 
Paxton  and  Pennsborough,  having  obtained  leave  to  apply  to  New- 
castle Presbytery  for  candidates,  in  August,  1737,  Elder  was  sent  the 
next  month  to  those  vacancies.  The  people  of  Paxton  asked  for 
him  in  November,  and  called  him  April  12;  and  he  was  ordained 
November  22,  1738,  Black  presiding. 

As  the  Great  Revival  spread,  it  entered  Elder's  bounds,  and  he 
was  accused  to  the  presbytery  of  preaching  false  doctrine:  they 
cleared  him,  in  December,  1740,  but  the  separation  was  made  soon 
after,  and  the  conjunct  presbyteries  answered  the  supplications 
sent  to  them  the  next  summer,  by  sending  Campbell  and  Bowland 
to  those  who  forsook  him.  He  signed  the  Protest.  His  support 
being  reduced,  he  took  charge  of  the  Old-Side  portion  of  the  Derry 

*  JIS.  Records  of  Donegal  Presbytery :  quoted  by  Dr.  Hodge. 


JOHN   ELDER.  455 

congregation.  In  a  few  yeai's  after,  Roan  became  the  pastor  of 
the  New-Side  congregations  of  Paxton  and  Derry,  and  on  his 
death  the  two  congregations  united  in  receiving  Elder  as  their 
minister. 

When  associations  for  defence  were  formed  throughout  the  pro- 
vince, his  hearers,  being  on  the  frontier,  were  prompt  to  embody 
themselves :  their  minister  was  their  captain,  and  they  were  trained 
as  rangers.  He  superintended  their  discipline,  and  his  mounted 
men  became  widely  known  as  the  "Paxton  Boys."  He  afterwards 
held  a  colonel's  commission  from  the  Proprietaries,  and  had  the 
command  of  the  block-houses  and  stockades  from  Easton  to  the 
Susquehanna.  In  tendering  this  appointment  to  him,  it  was*  ex- 
pressly stated  that  nothing  more  would  be  expected  of  him  than 
the  general  oversight.  His  justification  lies  in  the  crisis  of  affairs. 
Bay  at  York,  and  Steel  at  Conecocheague,  and  Griffith  at  New- 
castle, with  Burton  and  Thompson,  the  Church  missionaries  at 
Lancaster  and  Carlisle,  headed  companies,  and  were  actively  en- 
gaged ;  for  no  one  can  conceive  the  dreadful  state  of  uneasiness  on 
the  borders  from  1750  to  17()3.  Many  a  family  mourned  for  some 
of  their  number  shot  by  the  secret  foe,  or  carried  away  captive. 
Their  rifles  were  carried  with  them  to  their  work  in  the  field,  and 
to  the  sanctuary.  Elder  placed  his  trusty  piece  beside  him  in  the 
pulpit.  Death  often  overtook  his  flock  as  they  returned  to  their 
scattered  plantations.  In  1756,  the  meeting-house  was  surrounded 
■while  he  was  preaching ;  but,  their  spies  having  counted  the  rifles, 
the  Indians  retired  from  their  ambuscade  without  making  an 
attack.  The  next  year,  when  leaving  the  meeting-house,  they  were 
assailed,  and  two  or  three  were  killed.  Friendly  Indians  would 
come  and  stay  with  them  in  the  summer.  Murders  occurred  in  the 
fall,  and  the  criminals  could  not  be  found,  having,  it  was  supposed, 
a  hiding-place  among  the  Conestogas.  Elderf  besought  Governor 
Hamilton  to  remove  them,  because,  although  on  the  whole  a  harm- 
less tribe,  they  harboured  murderers.  He  engaged,  September  16, 
1763,  that,  if  this  were  done,  he  would  secure  the  safety  of  the 
frontier  without  expense  to  the  province. 

The  proposal  was  not  accepted.  A  party  of  rangers  determined 
to  destroy  the  tribe,  and  they  called  on  Elder,  as  one  knowing  the 
necessity  of  breaking  up  the  den  of  miscreants,  to  lead  them  on. 
They  were  ready  to  set  off:  he  was  then  in  his  fifty-seventh  year, 
and,  mounting  his  horse,  he  commanded  them  to  desist,  and  re- 
minded them  that  they  were  about  to  destroy  the  innocent  with  the 
guilty.  They  replied,  "  Can  they  be  innocent  who  harbour  mur- 
derers?"    They  pointed  to  instances  in  which  their  wives  and  mo- 


*  Colonial  Documents :  edited  by  S.  Hazard,  Esq. 
•f  Redmond  Conyngham's  Notes. 


456  JOHN   ELDER. 

thers  had  been  murdereil  and  the  destroyers  traced  to  the  homes 
of  the  ConestOf^as.  He  still  entreated,  and,  at  last,  placing  him- 
self in  their  road,  declared  that  only  by  cutting  him  down  they  could 
advance.  They  then  prepared  to  kill  his  horse,  and  he,  seeing  his 
efibrts  all  fail,  left  them  to  take  their  course.  They  ■were  chiefly, 
if  not  wholly,  Presbyterians,  from  Paxton,  Derry,  Hanover,  and 
Donegal ;  not  all  young  men,  but  some  of  them  of  Elder's  own 
age,  their  leader,  Lazarus  Stewart,  having  been  a  commissioner 
from  Monada  Creek  in  1735.  They  did  their  errand  thoroughly 
and  mercilessly,  destroying,  in  Conestoga  and  Lancaster,  nearly 
every  remnant  of  the  Indian  race. 

The  Lidians  were  removed  from  every  exposed  place  to  Phila- 
delphia, and  the  citizens  apprehended  the  "  Pextang"  Boys  would 
pursue  them  thither.  The  Governor  published  a  proclamation, 
setting  a  reward  on  the  heads  of  Stewart  and  others.  Elder  wrote 
to  the  Proprietary,  January  27,  1764,  "  The  storm  which  has  been 
so  long  gathering  has  at  length  exploded.  Had  Government  re- 
moved the  Indians,  which  had  been  frequently,  but  without  success, 
urged,  this  painful  catastrophe  might  have  been  avoided.  AVhat 
could  I  do  with  men  heated  to  madness  ?  All  that  I  could  do  was 
done.  I  expostulated,  but  life  and  reason  were  set  at  defiance: 
yet  the  men  in  private  life  are  virtuous  and  respectable ;  not  cruel, 
but  mild  and  merciful.  This  deed,  magnified  into  the  blackest  of 
crimes,  shall  come  to  be  considered  as  one  of  those  ebulhtions  of 
Avrath  caused  by  momentary  excitements,  to  which  human  infirmity 
is  subjected."  His  pay  was  suspended,  and  he  promptly  laid  down 
his  commission. 

Pamphlets  without  number,  truth,  or  decency,  poured  like  a  tor- 
rent from  the  press.  The  Quakers  took  the  pen  to  hold  up  the 
deed  to  execration;  and  many  others  seized  the  opportunity  to 
defame  the  Irish  Presbyterians  as  ignorant  bigots  and  lawless 
marauders. 

A  dialogue  between  Andrew  Trueman  and  Thomas  Zealot 
speaks  of  '"Saunders  Kent,  an  elder  these  thirty  years,  that  gaed 
to  duty"  just  before  the  massacre,  and  while  he  "was  saying  grace 
till  a  pint  of  whiskey,  a  wild  lad  ran  his  gully  [knife]  through  the 
"wame  of  a  heathen  wean."  This,  and  much  more  that  is  worse, 
lacks  the  first  requisite  of  a  good  lie ;  it  does  not  look  like  truth : 
it  makes  Irish  Presbyterians  talk  like  English  Churchmen,  to 
■whom  the  phrase  "saying  grace"  is  peculiar.  "Gaeing  to  duty" 
is  a  thrust  at  family  worship,  in  use  among  Presbyterians,  but 
highly  ridiculous  to  godless  "sayers  of  grace." 

The  Presbyterians  replied  that  "the  infamous  Teedyuscung" 
confessed  that  he  would  not  have  complained  of  the  new  settlers  if 
he  had  not  been  encouraged  by  prominent  Quakers.  They  pro- 
duced affidavits  that  the  Indians  who  were  killed  were  drunken, 


RICHARD   SANCKET.  457 

debauched,  insolent,  quarrelsome,  and  dangerous ;  they  refer  to  the 
Christian  Indian,  Renatus,  as  notoriously  bad,  and  assert  that  the 
Indian  who  shot  Stinson,  in  Allen  township,  while  rising  from  his 
bed,  was  secured,  in  Philadelphia,  from  justice,  and  comforted  in 
a  good  room  with  a  warm  bed  and  a  stove.  They  also  charged 
that  the  representation  in  the  Assembly  was  unequal,  and  that  Lan- 
caster, with  a  larger  population,  was  allowed  fewer  members  than 
other  counties. 

In  all  the  virulent  attacks  and  retorts,  Elder  is  never  stig- 
matized as  abetting  or  conniving  at  the  massacre;  nor  is  his 
authority  or  concurrence  pleaded  by  the  actors  in  their  defence. 
Lazarus  Stewart,  and  forty  families  of  his  neighbours,  removed, 
and  settled  Hanover,  in  the  Shawnee  Flats,  in  Wyoming,  under 
the  Connecticut  jurisdiction.  Little  did  they  think  a  few  years 
before,  when  Elder  marched  them  thither  to  disperse  the  New 
Englanders  on  the  Susquehanna,  and  found,  on  reaching  there, 
only  the  burned  cabins  and  the  mangled  bodies, — the  savages 
having  vindicated  their  title  to  the  land  by  an  exterminating 
attack, — that  they  would  soon  make  their  home  there,  and  stand 
for  the  defence  of  their  hearths  against  the  Pennsylvania  troops. 
Stewart,  with  many  of  his  friends,  fell  in  the  disastrous  battle  of 
Wyoming,  July  3,  1778. 

The  union  of  the  synods  brought  Elder  into  the  same  presby- 
tery with  Roan,  Robert  Smith,  and  Duffield,  they  being  at  first 
in  a  minority,  but  rapidly  settling  the  vacancies  with  New-Side 
men.  Elder,  by  the  leave  of  synod,  joined  the  Second  Philadel- 
phia Presbytery,  May  19,  1768,  and,  on  the  formation  of  the 
General  Assembly,  became  a  member  of  Carlisle  Presbytery. 
He  died  in  July,  1792,  aged  eighty-six,  having,  for  fifty-six 
years,  preached  in  the  Old  Paxton  meeting-house,  two  miles 
above  Harrisburg. 


RICHARD  SANCKEY, 

A  NATIVE  of  Ireland,  was  taken  on  trial  by  Donegal  Presby- 
tery, October  7,  1735:  he  was  licensed,  October  13,  1736,  and 
was  sent  to  Monada  Creek.  This  congregation  is  first  mentioned 
in  October,  1735, — Lazarus  Stewart  appearing  to  supplicate  in  its 
behalf  the  next  year.  Bertram,  of  Derry,  moderated  the  call 
which  was  brought  to  the  presbytery  for  Sanckey  by  John  Cun- 
ningham and  Robert  Green,  June  22,  1737.     It  is  from  that  time 


458  SILAS    LEONARD. 

Styled  Hanover.  He  acccptcfl,  August  -31 ;  but,  it  appearing  tbat 
his  trial  sermon  was  transcribed  out  of  books,  to  give  a  false  view 
of  his  ministerial  powers,  and  contained  most  dangerous  errors, 
his  presbytery  rebuked  him,  and  delayed  his  ordination.  Gil- 
lespie remonstrated  with  the  synod  not  to  countenance  such  lenity, 
especially  as  Sanckey  had  sent  the  notes  to  Henry  Hunter,  "  who 
had  preached  them  to  his  own  overthrow."  Hunter  had  passed 
himself  oiT  as  an  ordained  minister  of  the  New-Light  Presbytery 

^  of  Antrim,  in  the  bounds  of  Lewes  Presbytery;  and  the  synod, 
finding  his  credentials  of  license  genuine,  but  that  he  had  not  been 
ordained,  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  prevarication,  and  also  that 
money  had  been  given  him  to  go  to  the  Bishop  of  London  for  orders, 
resolved,  nem.  con.,  not  to  countenance  him,  especially  as  there  was 
"  ground  to  suspect  his  principles,"  until  he  has  gone  through  the 
ordinary  course  of  trials  in  some  of  their  presbyteries.  He  ac- 
quiesced;   and,  coming  before  Newcastle   Presbytery  with  notes 

^f'  stolen  from  heretical  divines,  he  was  rejected.  The  synod  blamed 
the  Presbytery  of  Donegal  for  not  taking  notice,  in  their  minutes, 
of  Sanckey's  plagiarism,  or  censuring  him  on  that  account ;  but, 
as  he  had  been  sharply  rebuked,  and  his  ordination  delayed  a 
considerable  time,  they  declined  to  lay  any  other  burden  on  him. 
He  was  ordained,  August  31,  1738,  and  removed,  with  many  of 
his  congregation,  to  Buffalo,  in  Virginia,  about  1760,  on  account 
of  the  incursions  of  savages.  In  that  year  he  joined  Hanover 
Presbytery,  and  was  appointed  to  preside  at  the  opening  of  the 
Synod  of  Virginia  in  1785.  He  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  respected 
by  his  people  and  his  brethren  in  the  ministry. 


SILAS  LEONARD 


Was  a  descendant  of  James  Leonard,  who,  with  his  brother 
Henry,  came  from  Pontypool,  in  Monmouthshire,  in  1652,  and 
settled  at  Raynham,  in  Massachusetts.  They  established  a  forge 
there.  Wherever  any  of  the  family  took  up  their  abode  they 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  iron,  until  it  passed  into  a  pro- 
verb, "Where  is  a  Leonard,  there  is  a  forge."  Such  was  their 
probity  and  excellence  that  the  Indian  rule  was,  "  Never  hurt  a 
Leonard." 

Silas  Leonard  graduated  at  Yale,  in  1736,  and  was  ordained  by 
East  Jersey  Presbytery,  in  1738,  pastor  of  Goshen,  New  York. 
He  was   not  a  regular   attendant   on   presbytery.     The   Revival 


SAMUEL    CAVIN.  459 

spread  througli  the  Highlands ;  and  he*  was  "  stirred  up  and  spi- 
rited to  water  what  was  sown"  in  the  city  of  New  York  and  other 
places.  Tennent,  of  Freehold,  and  Robinson,  came  to  his  assist- 
ance, and  witnessed  blessed  results. 

In  1742,  he  met  with  the  synod,  to  endeavour  to  heal  the 
rupture,  but,  failing  in  this,  joined  in  protesting  against  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  New  Brunswick  party,  and  against  the  passages  in 
the  late  pamphlets  which  disparaged  the  Revival. 

He  died  in  1764. 


SAMUEL  CAVIN 


A  LICENTIATE  from  Ireland,  was  sent  by  Donegal  Presbytery, 
November  16, 1737,  to  Conecocheague.  This  settlement  was  first 
mentioned  in  September,  1736,  when  the  presbytery  refused  to 
sanction  the  employment  of  Mr.  Williams,  from  England,  who  was 
then  preaching  there.  They  had  leave  soon  after  to  apply  to 
Newcastle  Presbytery  for  candidates,  and  Gavin  came  to  "  Cano- 
gogig."  This  congregation  then  embraced  Falling  Spring  (Cham- 
bersburg)  and  Greencastle,  Mercersburg  and  Welsh  Run.  The 
separation  of  the  congregation  into  East  and  West  was  somewhat 
precipitate,  and  without  the  consent  of  the  presbytery.  They  ap- 
proved of  it  in  August,  1738,  the  creek  being  the  dividing-line, 
and  "Alexander  Dunlop  the  highest  that  belongs  to  the  society  on 
the  west  side."  "Several  papers  being  read,  and  a  pretty  deal 
said  by  several  persons,"  the  call  of  the  East  Side  was  presented 
to  Cavin;  and  he  accepted  it,  April  4,  1739.  The  people,  by 
James  Lindsay,  commissioner,  supplicated,  in  September,  that  his 
ordination  might  be  hastened, — their  subscriptions  amounting  to 
forty-six  pounds,  and  they  promising  him  what  can  be  had  over 
and  above,  and  that  they  will  do  what  they  can  to  procure  a 
plantation  for  him  to  live  upon.  They  had  a  meeting-house  then 
near  Greencastle,  and  agreed  that  the  other  should  be  at  Falling 
Spring,  though  the  people  of  Hopewell  thought  this  too  nigh 
them.  The  ground  at  Falling  Spring  was  given  by  Colonel  Ben- 
jamin Chambers, — a  cedar-grove,  on  the  banks  of  the  creek,  where 
the  Chambersburg  church  now  stands. 

Cavin   was    ordained    and   installed   November  16;    Anderson 

*  Dr.  Nicoll,  of  New  York,  in  Gillies's  Collection. 


460  FRANCIS   McHENRY. 

preached  from  1  Tim.  vi.  11.  In  September  of  the  next  year, 
representations  for  and  against  him  were  brought  from  Falling 
Spring.  In  the  winter,  he  visited  the  settlements  on  the  South 
Branch  of  I*otomac. 

The  presbytery  in  Philadelphia,  during  the  session  of  synod  in 
May,  1741,  admonished  him  for  his  imprudent  and  unguarded  ex- 
pressions; and,  yielding  to  his  request,  they  dismissed  him  from 
his  charge  at  Falling  Spring.  He  signed  the  Protest,  and  spent 
some  time,  in  the  summer,  at  Anteidem,  (Ilagerstown,)  Marsh 
Creek,  Opequhon,  and  on  the  South  Branch.  After  labouring 
some  time  in  the  Highlands  of  New  York,  he  was  called,  May  26, 
1743,  to  Goodwill,  or  Wallkill.  The  remainder  of  his  life  Avas 
spent  in  itinerating  in  Virginia  and  the  other  vacancies : — at  one 
time,  six  Sabbaths  on  the  East  Branch  of  Potomac ;  at  another, 
preaching  "between  the  two  rivers."  He  was  an  occasional  sup- 
ply of  Falling  Spring  and  Conecochcague,  and  was  invited,  No- 
vember 6,  1744,  to  the  "South  Side  of  East  Conecochcague." 

He  died,  November  9,  1750,  aged  forty-nine,  and  lies  buried 
in  the  graveyard  at  Silver  Spring.* 

The  Conecochcague  settlement  espoused  the  New  Side  warmly ; 
and  the  complaints  against  Cavin  were,  that  he  never  asked  about 
the  state  of  their  souls,  did  not  rebuke  profanity,  claimed  for  the 
natural  man  power  to  do  good,  and  called  the  vehement,  im- 
passioned language  of  Alexander  Craighead  blasphemy.  The  Old- 
Side  congregations  remained  vacant  many  years;  and  the  New- 
Side  congregation  in  vain  called  Rodgers  and  others,  and  was  left 
to  depend  on  occasional  supplies. 


FRANCIS  McHENRY 


Married,  before  leaving  Ireland,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Hugh 
Wilson,  of  Coote  Hill,  in  Cavan,  who  emigrated  with  his  family 
and  friends,  and  was  among  the  first  purchasers  at  Craig's  Settle- 
ment, in  the  Forks  of  Delaware. 

McHenry  appeared  before  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  November 
10,  1737,  with  recommendations  from  Monaghan  Presbytery  and 
a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Andrew  Deane.  He  was  examined  as  to  his 
piety,  and,  having  been  licensed,  was  directed  to  supply  Amwell, 


*  Kevins' s  Churches  of  the  Valley. 


SAMUEL  THOMSON.  461 

Betlilehem,  and  other  vacancies  in  Hunterdon  county,  New  Jersey, 
and  to  preach  every  third  Sabbath  at  Newtown,  Bucks  county, 
Pennsylvania.  When  Tennent,  in  October,  1738,  consented  to 
have  an  assistant,  "to  preach  day  about"  at  Neshaminy,  McHenry 
was  sent  to  spend  every  third  Sabbath,  giving  the  rest  of  his  time 
to  Deep  Run.  In  the  spring,  Neshaminy  asked  for  half  of  his 
time.  A  request  being  made  for  his  ordination,  the  presbytery 
met,  July  12,  1739,  at  the  meeting-house  on  the  South  Branch  of 
Neshaminy :  "  he  gave  a  modest  but  satisfactory  account  of  his 
experience  of  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  Robert  Cross 
preached;  and  he  was  ordained,  September  18.  In  May,  Deep 
Run  asked  leave  to  call  him ;  but  the  presbytei-y  directed  him  to 
continue  to  serve  Neshaminy. 

The  congregation  of  Deep  Run*  was  formed  in  1782 :  William 
Allen  gave  the  parsonage  and  church  lot.  It  was  probably  styled, 
on  the  presbytery's  records,  "  Mr.  Tennent's  Upper  Congrega- 
tion," until  1738,  when  the  name  of  Deep  Run  appears. 

McHenry  took  no  part  in  the  time  of  the  exclusion,  but  re- 
mained with  the  Old  Side. 

A  call  for  him  from  Nottingham  was  brought.  May  28,  1742, 
by  John  Dick,  a  commissioner  ;  and  the  Rev.  Adam  Boyd  at- 
tended, to  urge  the  concurrence  of  the  presbytery.  Touched  with 
the  deplorable  condition  of  the  people,  they  directed  him  to  supply 
them :  he  did  so  for  a  season,  and  then  returned  the  call.  He  was 
installed  at  Deep  Run  and  Neshaminy,  March  16,  1743. 

In  the  spring  of  1750,  he  spent  eight  weeks  as  a  missionary  in 
Vii'ginia.     He  died  in  1757. 


SAMUEL  THOMSON, 

A  LICENTIATE  of  Newcastle  Presbytery,  came  as  a  candidate  to 
the  two  societies  of  Pennsborough  in  November,  1737,  and  was 
taken  under  the  care  of  Donegal  Presbytery.  Both  societies 
united  on  him ;  and  Benjamin  Chambers  and  Thomas  Brown  came 
as  commissioners  to  ask  for  him  in  June,  1738.  Thomson  was 
blamed  before  the  presbytery  for  having  written  an  offensive  letter 
to  the  Proprietary.  His  friends  pleaded  that  he  had  been  shame- 
fully used  by  certain  persons,  and    that  they  had  threatened  to 

*  Rev.  Dr  Andrews's  Manual  of  the  Doylestown  Church 


462  JOHN   CRAIG. 

take  liim  out  of  the  pulpit,  and  drag  him  at  a  horse's  tail  to  the 
Kew  Town.  Tliouison  was  ordained,  at  Pennsborough,  Kovember 
14,  17^9,  pastor  of  Upper  and  Lower  Pennsborough,  Newcastle, 
/and  Silver  Spring:  Alexander  Craighead  preached  from  Ezek. 
■^  xxxiii.  6.  In  March,  1745,  Upper  Pennsborough  obtained  the 
whole  of  his  time.  In  1749,  he  was  charged  with  an  immo- 
rality, and  was  suspended.  He  was  subsequently  restored,  and  dis- 
missed from  Pennsborough.  His  congregation  divided  during  the 
Revival. 

The  first  congregation  "  over  the  river"  was  on  the  Conedo- 
guinet,  and  had  supplies  in  1734:  the  first  were  A.  Craighead, 
and  Bertram,  and  Gelston.  In  1736,  Anderson  preached  at  the 
New  Town.  In  April,  1737,  Anderson  and  Bertram  were  sent  to 
Conedoguinet.  John  Penn  gave  the  settlers  three  hundred  acres 
for  meeting-house  and  parsonage.  They  built  their  church  first  at 
the  Meeting-house  Springs ;  and  in  the  old  graveyard  are  to  be 
seen  the  stones  with  coats  of  arms  graven  on  them. 

He  was  often  sent  to  supply  in  Virginia.  He  was  dissatisfied 
with  many  things  after  the  union,  and  withdrew ;  but,  on  the  final 
adjustment  of  the  matter,  he  was  annexed  to  Donegal  Presbytery. 

He  died,  April  29,  1787. 

His  son  William  took  holy  orders,  and  came  to  York  and  Cum- 
berland, as  a  missionary  of  the  Venerable  Society,  about  1750,  and 
was  the  rector  of  St.  John's,  in  Carlisle. 


JOHN  CRAIG 


Was  born  in  Ireland,  September  21,  1710,  but  educated  in 
America.  He  appeared  before  Donegal  Presbytery  in  the  fall  of 
1736,  and  was  taken  on  trial  the  next  spring,  and  licensed, 
August  30,  1738.  He  was  sent  to  Deer  Creek  (now  Churchville, 
Maryland)  and  to  West  Conecocheague.  He  spent  the  summer  in 
those  places,  and  Conewago  and  Opequhon.  West  Conecocheague 
called  him  in  the  fall  of  1739;  but  he  declined  a  settlement  in  that 
charge. 

In  1737,  the  new-settled  inhabitants  of  Beverley's  Manor  ap- 
plied for  supplies;  and  Anderson*  visited  them,  and  settled  the 
bounds  of  the  congregations  "  in  an  orderly  manner,  by  the  voice 

*  Rev.  B.  M.  Smith,  of  Staunton,  in  Presbyterian  Magazine,  October,  1752. 


JOHN   CRAIG.  463 

of  the  people."  Craig  was  sent,  at  the  close  of  1739,  to  Opequ- 
hon,  Irish  Tract,  and  other  places  in  Western  Virginia.  He  was 
"the  commcncer  of  the  Presbyterian  service  in  Augusta."  He 
gathered  two  congregations  in  the  south  part  of  the  Manor,  now 
Augusta  county,  and,  in  April,  1740,  received  a  call  from  Shana- 
dore  and  South  River.  It  is  described  in  the  call  as  the  con- 
gregation of  the  Ti'iple  Forks  of  Shenandoah,  but  long  since 
known  as  Augusta  and  Tinkling  Spring,  On  the  2d  of  Septem- 
ber, 1740,  Robert  Poag  and  Daniel  Denniston  appeared  as  repre- 
sentatives, and  took  on  them  the  engagements  made  by  the  people 
at  installations.  On  the  next  day,  after  Sanckey  had  preached 
from  Jer.  iii.  15,  Craig  was  ordained  and  installed. 

At  this  time  all  things  were  working  mightily  "  to  draw  the 
lingering  battle  on,"  "Having  examined*  the  controversy,  had 
free  communication  with  both  parties,  (New  Side  and  Old,)  he  ap- 
plied to  God  for  light  and  direction  in  this  important  matter,  and 
came — not  instantly,  but  after  time  and  deliberation — to  clearness 
of  mind  to  join  in  the  Protest  against  the  new  and  uncharitable 
opinions  and  the  views  of  church  government,"  The  friends  of 
the  Revival  passed  through  his  bounds,  but  do  not  seem  to  have 
alienated  his  people  to  any  large  extent.  They  were  blessed  with 
much  success  throughout  the  valley. 

He  attended  the  synod  in  1741,  and  signed  the  Protest. 

"  Going  downf  from  the  splendid  prospect  of  the  Rockfish  Gap, 
you  enter  the  bounds  of  the  oldest  congregation  in  Virginia, 
Tinkling  Spring,  with  its  old  stone  church.  Here,  in  a  wooden 
building  finished  by  the  widow  of  John  Preston,  Craig  preached. 
He  was  greatly  opposed  to  the  location  of  the  meeting,  wishing  it 
more  central."  The  people  chose  it,  among  other  reasons,  for  the 
convenience  of  the  spring ;  and,  it  is  said,  "  he  never  sufiered  its 
water  to  cool  his  thirst." 

The  church  in  Augusta  was  strongly  fortified  in  the  French  War, 
Craig  refusing  to  flee  from  the  savage. 

On  the  union,  he  heartily  joined  with  Hanover  Presbytery, 
and  was  as  forward  as  any  in  soliciting  funds  for  Princeton 
College. 

He  resigned  the  pastoral  care  of  Tinkling  Spring  in  November, 
1754;  and  the  sermon  which  he  preached  on  that  occasion,  from 
2  Sam.  xxiii.  5,  is  the  only  one  of  his  discourses  that  can  be  found. 
It  Avas  printed,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  "  Baltimore  Literary  and 
Religious  Magazine,"  in  December,  1760. 

"In  this  short  discourse,"  he  says,  "I  have  collected  together 
the  sum  and  substance  of  those  doctrines  I  have  declared  to  you 
these  twenty-five  years  past 

*  MS.  Letter  of  Craig;   quoted  by  Mr.  Smith.  f  Dr.  Foote. 


464  JOHN   CRAIG. 

"I  have  long,  often,  and  sincerely  exhorted,  entreated,  invited, 
and  besought  you,  in  public,  in  private,  in  secret,  to  come  and 
take  hold  of  God's  covenant  and  Christ  the  Mediator  thereof.  I 
hope  some  among  you  have  sincerely  complied :  I  wish  I  could 
say  all  that  I  have  been  so  nearly  concerned  for  or  related  to. 
But  now  our  near  and  dear  pastoral  relation  is  dissolved.  And, 
oh,  how  does  my  heart  tremble  to  think  and  fear  that  too,  too 
many  among  you  have  not  sincerely  accepted  of  and  embraced 
Christ  on  gospel  terms !  Oh,  how  can  I  leave  you  at  a  distance 
from  Christ,  and  strangers  to  the  God  that  made  you?  I  cannot 
leave  you  till  I  give  you  another  offer  of  Christ  and  the  covenant 
of  grace.  Let  me  beg  of  you,  for  your  souls'  sake,  for  Christ's 
sake,  to  leave  all  your  sins,  and  come,  come  speedily,  and  lay  hold 
on  the  covenant  and  the  Mediator;  never,  never  let  him  go  till  he 
bless  you. 

"  Few  and  poor,  and  without  order,  were  you  when  I  accepted 
your  call;  but  now  I  leave  you  a  numerous,  wealthy  congregation, 
able  to  support  the  gospel,  and  of  credit  and  reputation  in  the 
church. 

"  For  coming  into  the  bond  of  this  covenant  of  grace ;  it  is  by 
faith  we  take  hold  of  it.  This  we  do  when  we  are  thoroughly, 
clearly  convinced  of  our  sin,  and  misery,  and  undone  state  under 
the  covenant  of  works ;  and  do  hence  betake  ourselves  to  the  new 
covenant,  to  the  gracious  method  of  salvation  proposed  to  us  in 
the  gospel  through  Jesus  Christ  and  his  righteousness,  and  do  cor- 
dially approve  of,  and  acquiesce  in  this  noble  contrivance,  and  accept 
of  Jesus  Christ  as  our  only  Mediator,  Surety,  and  Peacemaker 
with  God,  and  in  him  do  sincerely  make  choice  of  God — Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Spirit — to  be  our  God  and  portion.  On  our  part, 
giving  ourselves  soul  and  body  to  be  the  Lord's ;  engaging,  in  the 
strength  of  our  great  surety,  Jesus  Christ,  to  abandon  all  sin,  live 
for  his  glory,  and  walk  with  him  in  newness  of  life,  as  becomes 
God's  covenanted  people.  This  great  work  is  carried  on  in  all  its 
parts  by  God's  Holy  Spirit,  helping  and  determining  our  souls  to 
do  all  these  things  heartily,  cheerfully,  and  sincerely." 

In  parting,  he  makes  no  complaints  of  them,  and  no  boasting  of 
himself. 

He  remained  in  the  charge  of  Augusta  till  his  death,  April  21, 
1774,  "after  fifteen  hours'  afHiction,"  aged  sixty-three  years  and 
four  months. 

"  The  old  people*  in  Augusta  county  have  learned  from  their 
fathers  that  he  was  a  man  mighty  in  the  Scriptures, — 'in  perils  oft, 
in  labours  abundant,'  for  the  gospel;  and  they  hold  his  memory  in 
the  highest  veneration." 

*  Dr.  Foote. 


AZARIAH    HORTON.  465 

Craig  said,*  when  asked  if  he  found  suitable  persons  for  elders 
in  new  settlements,  where  he  had  organized  churches,  "  When 
there  were  no  hewn  stones  I  just  took  dornacks." 


AZARIAH  HORTON, 

A  BROTHER  of  the  Rev.  Simon  Horton,  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1735,  and,  on  being  licensed,  probably  by  New  York  Presbytery, 
he  received  a  call  to  a  promising  parish.  Long  Island,  and  was 
prepared  to  accept  it.  The  case  of  the  Indians  on  the  island  was 
pressed  upon  him  by  the  correspondents  of  the  Scottish  Society  for 
Propagating  the  Gospel ;  and  they  prevailed  on  him  to  relinquish 
the  call.  He  was  ordained  by  New  York  Presbytery  in  1740,  and 
entered  on  his  labours  at  the  east  end  of  the  island  in  the  midst 
of  the  Great  Revival. f  Thirty-five  Indians  were  soon  after  bap- 
tized. Subsequently  he  had  little  or  no  encouraging  success.  Two 
churches!  still  exist,  the  remains  of  the  fruit  of  his  toil:  one  at 
Poosepatuck,  on  the  Great  South  Bay,  in  the  south  of  Brookhaven, 
the  other  at  Shinnecock,  the  largest  settlement,  two  miles  west  of 
Southampton.  At  the  latter  place  he  made  his  home.  He  printed 
two  years  of  his  missionary  journal.  On  the  18th  of  May,  1742, 
he  was  at  Smithfield,  Pennsylvania,  and  he  spent  a  fortnight  in 
preparing  the  Indians  on  the  Delaware  for  Brainerd's  coming.  He 
went  from  there  to  attend  the  synod  in  Philadelphia,  and  signed 
the  Protest  of  the  New  York  brethren  against  the  exclusion  and 
rupture  of  1741.  He  met  with  many  discouragements  in  his  work. 
In  his  printed  letter  dated  Southampton,  September  14, 1751,  he 
speaks  of  having  been  annoyed  by  the  Separates ;  this,  together 
with  the  diminished  number  of  the  Indians,  and  the  hopelessness 
of  doing  them  any  good,  led  him  to  abandon  the  mission  in  1753. 
The  Indians  on  the  island  numbered  only  four  hundred  in  1740. 

He  became  the  pastor  of  South  Hanover,  New  Jersey,  the  con- 
gregation having  been  set  off  from  Hanover  in  1748 :  for  a  long 
time  it  was  called  Bottle  Hill,  and  now  is  known  as  Madison. 
He  was  dismissed  in  November,  1776,  and  died  March  2, 1777,  aged 
sixty -two. 


*  Edward  Graham,  in  Dr.  Davidson's  History  of  Kentucky. 

J  Dr.  Prime's  Hi.story  of  Long  Island. 

j  He  had,  for  his  assistant,  Miranda,  formerly  an  Indian  trader,  who  had  la- 
boured to  instruct  the  Delaware  and  Susquehanna  Indians ;  but  he  died  soon  after 
his  appointment. — Gillies.  , 

80 


466  JOHN    GUILD. 


JOHN   GUILD, 

Born  in  Massachusetts,  graduated  at  Harvard,  and  came,  pro- 
bably as  a  teacher,  to  Hopewell,  New  Jersey,  in  1737.  He  offered 
himself  to  Philadelphia  Presbytery  at  their  meeting,  in  Maidenhead, 
in  April ;  and,  when  on  their  way  to  adjust  the  difficulties  between 
Hanover  and  the  infant  church  of  Morristown,  the  ministers 
stopped  at  Captain  Edward  Hart's,  in  Hopewell,  and  took  him  on 
trials.  On  the  19tli  of  September  they  examined  his  pious  inclina- 
tions and  dispositions,  and  licensed  him.  He  supplied  Hopewell, 
then  vacant  by  the  removal  of  Morgan.  There  was  much  opposi- 
tion to  him  there ;  and  his  friends,  though  they  had  a  majority  on 
their  side,  condescended  for  three  months,  and  the  presbytery  gave 
them  leave  to  invite  Davenport,  and  drew  up  a  letter  for  the  con- 
gregation to  send  to  him.  They,  however,  invited  Rowland,  then 
recently  licensed  by  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  in  disregard  of 
the  synod's  act  concerning  the  examination  of  candidates ;  and  he 
preached  for  them,  although  warned  by  Cowell  that  by  doing  so  he 
would  create  and  foment  divisions.  In  October,  Benjamin  Stevens, 
John  Anderson,  Samuel  Hunt,  and  Joseph  Birt,  petitioned  for  a 
new  erection, — a  division  of  the  congregation ;  and  Enoch  Armitage, 
Thomas  Burrowes,  Edward  Hart,  and  Timothy  Baker  opposed. 
The  synod,  in  1739,  on  hearing  both  sides,  condemned  the  friends 
of  the  new  erection  for  their  treatment  of  the  presbytery,  and  for 
"improving"  Rowland,  knowing  that  the  synod  had  not  allowed 
him  as  a  candidate,  and  refused  to  form  them  into  a  new  congre- 
gation until  they  submitted  the  location  of  their  proposed  meeting- 
house to  the  determination  of  the  presbytery.  They  requested  the 
presbytery,  when  determining  the  site,  to  call,  as  correspondents, 
Nutman,  Blair,  Burr,  Hubbel,  and  Wales.  Whether  this  was  done 
does  not  appear.  The  Revival  was  in  progress  in  these  congrega- 
tions; Gilbert  Tennent  published  several  of  the  sermons  preached 
to  them  during  this  period,  and  the  division  of  the  congregation 
was  effected  as  though  the  captives  were  going  out  of  Babylon,  or 
the  righteous  were  rising  from  their  graves. 

Hopewell  asked  Philadelphia  Presbytery  for  Guild,  May  22, 
1739,  and  they  referred  the  matter  to  the  synod.  He  was  called, 
September  18, 1739,  but  not  ordained  till  November  11, 1741. 

He  joined  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  on  the  union  of  the 
synods,  June  13,  1758.  The  New-Side  congregation  abandoned 
their  separate  state  several  years  afterwards,  sold  their  church  to 
the  Methodists,  and  became  comfortably  united  with  Guild's  people. 
He  died  in  1787. 


SAMUEL   EVANS.  467 


SAMUEL  EVANS, 

The  son  of  the  Rev.  David  Evans,  graduated  at  Yale  in  1739, 
and  offered  himself  to  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  August  5,  1740. 
They  inquired  diligently  touching  the  workings  of  the  Spirit  upon 
him,  and  licensed  him,  January  8,  1741,  The  congregation  of 
TredryflFryn,  left  vacant  by  his  father,  asked  to  be  set  off  to  New 
Brunswick  Presbytery :  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  synod.  A 
division  took  place.  He  was  soon  called  to  Deerfield,  and  asked 
for  by  the  people  in  the  Great  Valley.  He  was  ordered  to  supply 
both.  He  was  called,  October  7,  1741,  to  Great  Valley,  and  was 
ordained.  May  5, 1742.  Norrington  had  been  rent  asunder,  and  he 
"Was  directed  to  supply  the  Old-Side  remnant. 

He  was  suspected,*  although  he  denied  it,  of  being  the  author 
of  a  scurrilous  lampoon, — "The  History  of  a  Wandering  Spirit." 
It  was  never  acknowledged  by  anybody.  Tennent,  in  his  "Ireni- 
cum,"  clears  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  and  its  members  of  having 
ever  approved  of  it  or  owned  it.  It  was  probably  more  severe  than 
scurrilous ;  for  even  Blairf  could  only  say,  in  defence  of  Whitefield, 
that  his  education  had  been  very  defective. 

In  the  affair  of  the  School,  the  meetings  of  the  projectors  were 
held  at  his  house.  He  relinquished  the  pastoral  charge  in  1747, 
without  consent  of  the  presbytery,  and  made  several  voyages  to 
England.  His  conduct  was  so  disorderly  that  the  synod  disowned 
him  in  1751.     He  was  the  father  of  the  Rev.  Israel  Evans. 


*  Dr.  Hodge.  '•'  The  History  of  a  Wandering  Spirit"  was  printed  in  the  General 
Magazine  and  Historical  Chronicle,  for  February,  1741.  (This  number  is  wanting  in 
the  Philadelphia  Library.)  BUxir  replied  to  it  in  the  April  number,  setting  together 
all  the  aspersions  against  the  Saviour  recorded  in  the  Gospels,  as  the  "History, by  a 
Rabbi,  of  a  Wandering  Spirit,"  once  famous  in  Palestine.  In  the  June  number 
was  a  supplement  to  the  original  article,  asserting  that  it  was  the  production  of  a 
layman,  and  that  Blair  had  not  touched  the  case,  for  he  had  set  forth  the  wordi  of 
an  enemy,  but  they  had  given  the  Wandering  Spirit's  own  testimony. 

•}■  Reply  to  the  Querists. 


468  ALEXANDER   McDOWELL. 


ALEXANDER  McDOWELL,* 

A  NATIVE  of  Ireland,  offered  himself  to  Donegal  Presbytery,  Sep- 
tember 4,  1739,  and  is  stated  to  have  come  from,  A'^irginia.  The 
McDowell  family  had  settled  on  Burden's  Tract  in  1737 ;  and  it  is 
probable  that  Thomson,  while  visiting  the  new  settlements,  became 
acquainted  with  the  young  man  and  brought  him  to  the  presbytery. 
He  was  licensed,  July  30,  1740 :  in  the  spring  he  was  sent  to  Vir- 
ginia, supplications  having  been  made  by.^rth  Mountain,  James 
River,  Rockfish,  Joy  Creek,  Buck  Mountain,  South  Branch  of  Po- 
tomac, and  by  the  Marsh,  in  Maryland.  He  was  ordained,  October 
29,  1741,  to  go  as  an  evangelist  to  Virginia;  and  in  the  fall  he 
was  directed  to  itinerate  in  Newcastle  Presbytery.  West  Cone- 
cocheague.  White  Clay,  and  Elk  River,  asked  for  him.  He  seems 
to  have  settled  at  Nottingham ;  for,  in  1743,  he  was,  at  the  request 
of  Alison,  joined  to  Newcastle  Presbytery,  that  he  might  answer 
^  the  supplication  of  White  Clay  and  Elk  River;  and,  as  the  price 
of  this  favour,  Newcastle  Presbytery  was  directed  to  supply  Not- 
tingham for  a  year,  and,  in  1744,  it  was  placed  under  their  care. 

The  synod's  school  Avas  intrusted  to  him,  and  was  for  several 
years  at  Elk,  and  finally,  in  1767,  at  Newark,  Delaware.  In  1754, 
he  declined  to  have  the  whole  burden  of  the  school.  Matthew 
Wilson  was  appointed  to  teach  the  languages,  and  to  receive  twenty 
pounds  yearly.  McDowell,  "from  a  sense  of  the  public  good," 
continued  to  teach  the  other  branches.  On  the  union  he  gave  up 
the  charge  of  Elk,  and  it  united  with  East  Nottingham,  under 
James  Finley,  the  latter  being  the  New-Side  portion  which  had 
withdrawn  from  Elk  River  in  1741.  In  April,  1760,  Coneco- 
cheague  asked  for  him.  In  1767,  the  school  at  Newark  was  char- 
tered as  an  academy  by  the  Proprietary,  John  Penn.  Dr.  Ewing, 
and  Hugh  Williamson,  M.D.,  visited  Great  Britain  to  solicit  funds 
for  its  endowment :  they  were  very  successful,  and  Ewing  brought 
back  six  or  seven  thousand  dollars.  In  1771,  Newark  Academy 
had  seventy-one  students. 

McDowell  died  January  12,  1782,  having  never  married. 

*  A  person  of  tlie  same  name,  born  in  Ireland,  graduated  at  Harvard  University, 
and  was  settled  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Coleraine,  Massachusetts, 
September  28,  1753,  and  was  dismissed  in  17G1. 


HAMILTON   BELL — JOHN   ROWLAND.  469 


HAMILTON  BELL 

Was  a  student  at  Neshaminy  in  1738.  He  offered  himself  to 
the  synod  for  examination,  September  29, 1739,  and,  being  recom- 
mended by  the  commission  in  May,  1740,  he  was  taken  on  trials 
by  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  and  licensed,  September  30.  Having 
spent  some  time  at  Nottingham,  he  was  received  by  Donegal  Pres- 
bytery, October  27,  1741,  and  on  the  7th  of  April  he  received  a 
call  to  Nottingham.  He  was  also  invited  to  Donegal  and  to  Lan- 
caster, and  to  White  Clay ;  but,  having  accepted  the  invitation  to 
Donegal,  he  was  ordained  pastor,  November  11, 1742.  The  next 
spring  he  was  admonished,  and  in  the  fall  he  was  suspended.  In 
February,  1744-5,  he  published  his  renunciation  of  the  presbytery 
in  the  newspapers.  He  "materially  appealed"  to  the  synod,  in 
May,  1744,  and  they,  at  his  request,  appointed  a  committee  to  meet 
on  the  ground  and  determine  the  affair.  It  met  at  Donegal  the 
second  Wednesday  in  June,  and  deposed  him;  and  the  synod  ap- 


proved the  sentence  in  1745. 


V 


JOHN  ROWLAND 


Was  a  native  of  Wales.*  He  studied  at  Neshaminy,  and  was 
taken  on  trials  by  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  at  its  first  meeting, 
August  8,  1738,  in  disregard  of  the  act  requiring,  in  accordance 
with  the  direction  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  a  degree  from  a 
university,  or,  in  lieu  of  it,  a  certificate  from  the  synod's  com- 
mittee. They  licensed  him,  September  7,  and  directed  him  to 
Maidenhead,  the  congregation  having  leave  from  Philadelphia 
Presbytery  to  ask  for  supplies.  Cowell,  of  Trenton,  informed 
Rowland  that  his  going  there  would  produce  dissension ;  but  he 
went.  On  the  19th,  some  of  the  people  of  Maidenhead  and  Hope- 
well complained  to  Philadelphia  Presbytery  of  his  having  done  so : 
Benjamin  Stevens,  John  Anderson,  Samuel  Hunt,  and  Joseph  Birt 
asked  for  a  new  erection,  and  for  leave  to  come  under  the  care 
of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery;    Enoch  Armitage,  Thomas  Bur- 

*  Professor  Kinnersley's  defence  of  himself  for  having  blamed  the  Baptists  in 
Philadelphia  for  admitting  him  to  their  pulpit. 


470  JOHN   ROWLAND. 

rowcs,  Edward  Hart,  and  Timothy  Baker  appeared  on  the  other 
side,  and  it  was  decided  not  to  consent  to  their  transfer  yet.  "  The 
presbytery  advised  them  that  Rowland  was  not  to  be  esteemed  and 
improved  as  an  orderly  candidate  of  the  ministry."  He,  however, 
continued  his  labours ;  and  the  presbytery  referred  the  matter  to 
the  synod,  and  his  friends  complained  of  the  presbytery,  and  asked 
to  be  set  off  as  a  new  congregation.  The  synod  first  heard  the 
objections  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  to  the  act,  and  resolved : — 
"  It  being  the  first  article  in  our  excellent  Directory,  that  candi- 
dates be  inquired  of,  what  degrees  they  have  taken  in  the  univer- 
sity, and  it  being  our  desire  to  come  to  the  nearest  practicable  con- 
formity to  its  incomparable  prescriptions,  therefore,  all  candidates 
not  having  a  diploma  shall  be  examined  by  the  synod  or  its  com- 
mission before  any  presbytery  take  them  on  trials."  The  proceed- 
ing in  licensing  Rowland  was  declared  to  be  highly  disorderly,  and 
"such  divisive  courses  are  to  be  avoided;"  and  Rowland  was  re- 
quired to  submit  to  the  appointed  examination,  and  not  to  be  ad- 
mitted as  a  preacher  in  the  bounds  till  he  do  so.  They  condemned 
the  indecency  of  those  of  the  congregation  who  had  "improved" 
him,  in  disregard  of  their  presbytery,  in  uttering  unmannerly 
reflections  and  unjust  aspersions  against  their  presbytery  and  the 
synod.  They  refused  their  request  to  be  made  a  separate  congre- 
gation till  they  had  submitted  the  matter  to  their  presbytery  with 
two  correspondents  from  New  Brunswick  and  three  from  New  York 
Presbytery. 

The  church  doors  were  shut  against  Rowland,  and  barns  were 
opened.  Gilbert  Tennent  preached  for  them,  and  administered  the 
sacrament,*  and  printed  the  sermons,  with  warm  epistles  of  dedi- 
cation to  those  who  had  heard  them.  Rowland  laboured  also  at 
Amwell, — "an  agreeable  people;"  and  they  asked  to  have  him  for 
their  minister,  October  4,  but  the  presbytery  chose  to  ordain  him 
as  an  evangelist,  and  performed  that  service,  November  6. 

In  a  letter  to  Foxcroft,  of  Boston,  Rowland  8ays,t  for  the  first 
six  months  there  was  no  marked  success,  he  having  strove  to  con- 
vince them  of  their  lost  and  guilty  state.  Then  he  changed  his 
method  with  immediate  happy  effect.  A  sermon,  in  May,  1739, 
from  John  xi.  28-29,  "The  Master  is  come,  and  calleth  for  thee," 
and  another  from  Matthew  xxii.  4,  "All  things  are  ready;  come 
unto  the  marriage,"  were  blessed  to  many  souls.  On  the  6th  of 
October,  through  misinformation,  only  fifteen  assembled ;  but,  while 
he  preached,  eleven  were  convinced,  and  cried  out.  He  preached, 
December  30,  from  Isaiah  xl.  6 : — "And  he  said.  What  shall  I  cry?" 
— showing  that  man  knoweth  not  what  to  cry  until  guided  by  the 
word  and  by  the  Spirit  of  God.    In  the  evening  there  was  a  great 


*  Sacramental  Discourses.  f  Christian  History. 


JOHN   ROWLAND.  471 

impression  made.  At  Maidenhead,  while  preaching  on  the  "Para- 
ble of  the  Net,"  many  were  entangled  in  the  meshes :  not  a  few 
slipped  out  of  them  as  soon  as  they  could.  After  service,  July  24, 
about  fifty  stopped  at  the  "Christian  houses,"  and  the  fifty-first 
Psalm  was  sung:  the  next  day  the  mighty  power  of  God  was  seen. 
There  were  also  amazing  manifestations  at  Amwell,  July  27,  and  at 
Maidenhead,  August  23.  There  was  still  a  great  revival  in  Sep- 
tember, 1740. 

He  mentions  that  the  zeal  and  diligence  of  the  "  Christian  peo- 
ple" were  especially  serviceable  to  the  converts,  in  promoting  their 
stedfastness ;  while,  in  Amwell,  the  same  good  efi'ect  was  secured  by 
*'both  the  husband  and  the  wife  being  taken,"  in  many  instances, 
and  brought  into  the  fold. 

When  the  division  took  place,  he  was  sent  by  New  Brunswick 
Presbytery  to  the  New-Side  congregations  in  Pennsylvania,  in  the 
track  of  James  Campbell,  beginning  at  Fagg's  Manor,  as  far  as 
Pennsborough,  (Carlisle,)  and  Conecocheague,  (Chambersburg,)  and 
returning  by  way  of  Pigeon  Run,  Christina  Bridge,  and  Green- 
wich, in  West  Jersey.  Charleston  and  New  Providence,  in  the 
Great  Valley,  asked  for  him,  October  12,  1741. 

While  preaching  in  the  Baptist  church  in  Philadelphia,  on  a 
Thursday  evening,  during  the  session  of  synod  in  1740,  the  audience 
was  sadly  overcome  by  his  description  of  their  wholly-ruined  con- 
dition as  sinners  ;  and  the  distress  rose  to  such  a  pitch  that  Gilbert 
Tennent  went  to  the  pulpit  stairs  and  cried  out,  "  Oh,  brother  Row- 
land, is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead?"  Then  he  changed  his  strain, 
and  joyfully  proceeded  to  unfold  the  way  of  recovery.* 

Mr.  Daniel  Kinley,  a  teacher  at  Deer  Creek,  Maryland,  wrote 
downf  from  the  lips  of  Davies,  the  following  circumstance,  which 
may  be  introduced  with  an  explanatory  statement  of  Samuel  Blair : 
— "Some  believed  there  was  a  good  work  going  on,  and  they 
desired  to  be  converted:  they  saw  others  weeping,  fainting,  and 
lamenting,  and  they  thought  if  they  could  be  like  those  it  would 
be  very  hopeful  with  them ;  hence,  they  endeavoured  just  to  get 
themselves  afi"ected  by  sei'mons,  and  if  they  could  weep  or  be  in- 
clined to  vent  their  feelings  by  cries,  now  they  hoped  they  were 
under  conviction  and  in  a  very  hopeful  way." 

A  woman  in  New  Jersey,  hearing  many  cry  out  under  sermons, 
became  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  perceiving  her  undone  con- 


*  The  Rev.  Ebenezer  Kinnersley,  a  Baptist  minister  residing  in  Philadelphia,  was 
present  at  this  horrid  harangue,  and  was  shocked  at  his  "designing,  artful,  delud- 
ing" way  of  working  on  the  passions.  He  remonstrated  with  the  congregation  from 
the  pulpit  shortly  after,  and  some  rose  up  in  a  tumult  against  him.  He  defended 
himself  in  the  public  prints,  and  the  Baptists  replied. 

f  In  a  MS.  volume  of  Excerpts  from  divines,  in  the  hands  of  the  Rev.  A.  B. 
Cross.  ■^», -  • 


472  JOHN   KOWLAND. 

dition  before  she  could  heartily  embrace  the  gospel  offer.  She 
attended  wherever  she  thought  she  miglit  be  affected ;  but  she  heard 
the  most  rousing  preachers  and  remained  unmoved  amid  a  general 
melting.  She  was  concerned  that  she  should  be  blind  and  past 
feeling.  She  availed  herself  of  an  opportunity  to  hear  Rowland. 
The  word  was  with  power  on  many,  but  she  felt  it  not.  She  desired 
to  sec  him  and  open  her  case  to  him.  She  was  shown  to  the  room 
•where  he  had  retired  after  dinner.  He  was  walking  backward  and 
forward,  and,  asking  her  to  sit  down,  he  continued  walking  in  silence. 
He  stopped  of  a  sudden,  and  said  to  her,  with  a  solemn  voice  and 
aspect,  "Woman,  did  you  hear  there  is  a  warrant  out  for  you?" 
Instantly,  struck  with  amazement,  she  replied,  "No,  sir."  "No? 
not  know  it?  that  is  surprising  indeed!"  said  he;  and,  with  much 
solemnity,  he  continued  walking.  She  sat  awfully  silent  and  as- 
tonished, yet  assured  that  there  was  no  precept  issued  against  her. 
He  stopped  of  a  sudden: — "It  is  truly  amazing  indeed  that  you 
have  not  heard  of  it.  What !  not  hear  that  there  is  a  warrant  out 
for  you?  can  such  a  thing  be  possible?"  With  fear  and  trembling 
she  replied,  "No,  indeed,  sir;  I  never  heard  of  it  before."  After 
a  considerable  pause,  he  broke  forth,  with  a  pathetic,  solemn  voice, 
"Woman,  whether  you  know  it  or  no,  I  now  tell  you  there  is  a 
■warrant  out  for  you,  and  from  the  highest  authority ;  and  further, 
I  tell  you,  the  warrant  is  now  in  the  officer's  hands.  0  woman,  I 
am  the  officer ;  and  I  do  here  arrest  you,  in  the  name  of  the  Etei'nal 
God,  for  the  murder  of  his  Son."  She  almost  fainted,  and  was 
immediately  struck  with  a  sense  of  her  lost  and  wretched  condition. 
She  soon  found  by  experience  what  conviction  was,  and  her  convic- 
tions issued  in  sound  conversion. 

Davies  spoke  of  him  to  Finley  as  eminently  holy,  and  peculiarly 
endowed  with  abilities,  natural,  supernatural,  and  acquired,  to  win 
souls  to  the  blessed  Jesus.  At  Maidenhead,  Rowland  was  admit- 
ted to  use  the  meeting-house ;  but  at  Hopewell  the  New-Lights 
built  about  a  mile  from  Pennington,  towards  the  Delaware.  In 
the  middle  of  September,  1744,  Tennent,  of  Freehold,  organized 
the  church  of  Maidenhead  and  Hopewell. 

A  remarkable  adventurer,  who  has  strangely  escaped  the  notice 
of  those  who  have  transformed  criminals  into  heroes  of  romance, 
appeared  in  the  colonies  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  He 
was  known  by  the  name  of  Tom  Bell,  and  performed  the  exploit 
of  successfully  passing  off,  in  the  South,  a  transported  convict 
girl  as  a  daughter  of  George  II.  Passing  through  Princeton  in 
the  twilight,  he  was  invited  by  John  Stockton,  Esq.,  to  his  house, 
who  addressed  him  as  Mr.  Rowland.  Bell  with  much  difficulty 
convinced  him  of  his  mistake,  the  resemblance  being  so  strong.* 

*  Bell  was  slim,  thin-visaged,  of  middle  stature,  with  a  heavy  cough.  His  appear- 
ance under  different  names  is  often  noticed,  but  he  never  seems  to  have  been  appre- 


JOHN   ROWLAND.  473 

The  wretch  went  to  a  vacant  congregation  in  Hunterdon  county, 
where  Rowland  was  known  by  face  to  few,  and,  introducing  himself 
as  Rowland,  was  invited  to  spend  the  week  and  preach  on  the  Sab- 
bath. While  riding  with  the  ladies  to  church,  he  professed  to  miss 
his  notes,  and  his  host  took  his  place  in  the  wagon,  that  he  might 
on  horseback  seek  them,  and  be  back  in  time  for  the  service.  The 
people  waited;  but 

"  Nor  hide,  nor  hair,  nor  any  trace, 
Of  horse  or  man  was  seen." 

Bell  rifled  a  desk  of  money  and  escaped,  proclaiming  himself  as 
Mr.  Rowland.  Rowland  at  this  very  time,  in  1741  or  '42,  was  with 
two  elders  of  his,  Joshua  Anderson  and  Benjamin  Stevens,  and 
Tennent,  of  Freehold,  attending  a  sacramental  service  in  Mary- 
land or  Pennsylvania.  On  his  return  he  was  charged  with  the  rob- 
bery, and  gave  bonds  to  appear  at  the  court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer 
in  Trenton.  The  chief-justice,  who  was  well  known  for  his  disbelief 
of  revelation,  charged  the  grand  jury  on  the  subject  with  great 
severity :  after  long  consideration,  they  found  no  bill.  With  an 
angry  reproof  the  judge  sent  them  back  again,  with  the  same  result. 
They  were  sent  back  a  third  time,  and,  being  threatened  with 
severe  punishment  if  they  persisted  in  the  refusal,  they  brought  in 
a  bill  for  the  alleged  crime.  He  was  acquitted  at  once  on  the  tes- 
timony of  Tennent,  Anderson,  and  Stevens.  The  popular  feeling 
was  against  him  ;  his  friends  were  indicted  for  perjury,  and  he  with- 
drew from  the  province,  and  settled  at  Charleston  and  New  Provi- 
dence, in  Chester  county. 

It  was  not  an  inviting  field:*  there  was  little  piety  or  religious 
knowledge;  but  while  he  was  travelling,  his  ministrations  were 
blessed  to  a  remarkable  work  of  conviction.  It  was  of  short  con- 
tinuance ;  in  two  months  there  was  a  cessation  of  the  awakening. 
Rowland,  on  becoming  their  minister,  wisely  set  himself  to  build  up 
the  converts  in  their  most  holy  faith. 

In  closing  his  narrative,  he  says  to  Foxcroft,  "  This  is  very  little 
of  what  I  might  have  said." 

He  died  before  the  fall  of  1747. 

Dr.  Henderson,  of  Freehold,  in  his  Memoir  of  Tennent,  says 
he  possessed  a  commanding  eloquence,  and  many  estimable  quali- 
ties. Whitefield  said,  "  There  was  much  of  the  simplicity  of  Christ 
discernible  in  his  behaviour." 


hended.     In  1752  or  '53,  he  laid  aside  his  bad  habits,  and  taught  school  in  Hanover, 
Virginia. 

*  Rowland,  in  Christian  History. 


474  WILLIAM    ROBINSON. 


WILLIAM   ROBINSON 

Was  the  son  of  a  wealthy  Quaker  physician,  near  Carlisle,  in 
England.  Having  gone  up  in  early  life  to  London,  he  was  ensnared 
into  foolish  courses,  which  made  him  ashamed  to  return  to  his 
father's  house.  He  came  to  America,  and  taught  school  in  Hope- 
well, N.J.,  from  1729  until  1739. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  Revival,  and  probably  under  the 
influence  of  Rowland,  his  mind  was  filled  with  amazement,  in  con- 
templating the  starry  heavens,  at  the  thought  of  his  having  lived 
so  regardless  of  their  Maker.  "  While  meditating*  on  the  beauty 
and  grandeur  of  the  firmament,  and  saying  to  himself,  '  How  tran- 
scendently  glorious  must  the  Author  of  all  this  beauty  and  gran- 
deur be !'  the  thought  struck  him  with  the  suddenness  and  the  force 
of  lightning,  'But  what  do  I  know  of  this  God?  Have  I  ever 
sought  his  favour,  or  made  him  my  friend?'  This  impression  never 
left  him  till  he  took  refuge  in  Christ  as  the  hope  and  life  of  his 
souk" 

He  studied  at  the. Log  College  while  he  went  on  with  his  school, 
and  was  taken  on  trials  by  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  April  1, 
1740,  and  was  licensed  on  the  27th  of  the  next  month.  In  August 
he  was  sent  to  Craig's  and  Hunter's  settlements  in  the  Forks  of 
Delaware,  (Allen  township  and  Mount  Bethel,)  to  "Mr.  Green's 
and  Pequally  (Panaquarry,)  N.J.  He  was  ordained  an  evangelist, 
Aug.  4,  1741,  and  was  again  sent  to  the  'Forks.'  " 

He  declined  the  call  to  Neshaminy,  which  was  presented  to  him 
Aug.  2,  1742,  and  was  directed  to  supply  there  and  at  the  "  New 
Erection,"  in  Nottingham. 

"His  dear  memory f  will  mingle  with  my  softest  and  most  grate- 
ful recollections  as  long  as  I  am  capable  of  reflection.  The  neces- 
sitous circumstances  of  many  vacancies,  and  the  prospect  of  more 
extensive  usefulness,  engaged  him  to  expose  his  shattered  constitu- 
tion to  all  the  hardships  and  fatigues  of  almost  uninterrupted  itine- 
rations. Tracing  his  travels  in  sundry  parts  of  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  and  Virginia,  I  cannot  recollect  one  place  in  which  he 
officiated  for  any  time  Avhere  there  were  not  some  illustrious  efi"ects 
of  his  ministry.  He  had  a  noble,  disinterested  ambition  to  preach 
Christ  where  he  was  not  named ;  and  therefore  he  took  a  journey  to 
the  new  settlements  at  the  South,  in  which  he  continued  two  years, 
oppressed  with  the  usual  difficulties  a  weakly  constitution  feels  in 
travelling  a  wilderness,  and  animated  only  by  his  glorious  successes." 


*  Miller's  Life  of  Rodgers. 
f  Davies  to  Bellamy. 


WILLIAM   ROBINSON.  475 

The  smallpox  is  said  to  have  left  lasting  debilitating  effects  on 
his  frame,  and  to  have  disfigured  his  countenance  and  deprived  him 
of  an  eye. 

James  River  had  applied  to  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  in  1739, 
ana^tgnTgrtn  1741 ;  but  nothing  seems  to  have  been  done  in  the 
way  of  granting  supplies.  In  the  winter  of  1742,  Robinson  entered 
Virginia,  and  was  seized  near  Winchester  by  the  sheriff  as  an  un- 
licensed preacher,  but  was  soon  released.  He  went  up*  the  Valley, 
and  spent  the  winter  in  North  Carolina,  where,  by  exposure,  he 
contracted  a  disease  which  clung  to  him  all  his  days.  He  had  not 
much  success  in  that  province:  he  penetrated  as  far  as  the  Pedee. 
In  1751,  one  hundred  families  on  that  river  petitioned  Hanover 
Presbytery  for  a  minister.  Returning,  he  preached  with  great  suc- 
cess in  Charlotte,  Prince  Edward,  Campbell,  and  Albemarle  coun- 
ties, lately  settled  by  great  numbers  of  Irish  Presbyterians  from 
Pennsylvania.  In  Lunenburg,  near  the  North  Carolina  line,  there 
were  a  few  Presbyterians  settled  among  a  number  of  loose  Vir- 
ginians. He  was  the  happy  instrument  of  reclaiming  many  thought- 
less creatures,  and  of  founding  a  flourishing  congregation. 

In  Hanover  and  Louisa,f  Mr.  James  Hunt,  Mr.  Samuel  Morris, 
and  t^otli^r  gentlemen,  were,  by  the  reading  of  "Boston's  Four- 
fold State,"  and  "Luther  on  the  Galatians,"  awakened  to  a  sense 
of  their  perishing  state  :  without  being  aware  of  any  person's  feel- 
ing as  he  did,  each  absented  himself  from  the  parish  church  and 
its  lifeless  ministrations.  Being  summoned  to  answer  for  this 
offence,  each  man  found  his  case  was  not  singular.  They  agreed 
to  meet  at  each  other's  houses  on  the  Sabbath  and  read  the  Scrip- 
tures and  Luther's  great  work.  For  this  they  were  frequently 
fined.  A  copy  of  the  sermons  which  Whitefield  had  preached  at 
Glasgow,  and  which  were  printed  from  notes  taken  by  a  hearer, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Morris  in  1742  :  benefited  by  it  himself,  he 
invited  his  neighbours  to  come  and  hear  it.  "  The  plainness  and 
fervency  of  these  discourses  being  attended  with  the  power  of  the 
Lord,  many  were  aAvakened,  and  could  not  avoid  crying  out,  weep- 
ing bitterly  and  even  giving  strange  and  ridiculous  indications  of 
their  concern.  The  house  became  crowded ;  the  Lord  was  speaking 
as  on  Mount  Sinai,  with  a  voice  of  thunder,  and  sinners,  like  that 
mountain,  trembled  to  the  centre.  A  goodly  little  number  were 
healed  by  the  word,  that  wondered  and  rejoiced  understandingly  in 
Christ.  A  reading-house  was  built :  having  not  been  used  to  social 
prayer,  none  of  them  durst  attempt  it.  Other  reading-houses  were 
built,  and  the  number  of  attendants  and  the  force  of  divine  influ- 
ence much  increased." 

The  leaders  were  summoned^  to  appear  at  Williamsburg,  and  on 

*  The  river  runs  northerly,  so  that  going  southward  is  going  up  the  valley. 
f  Davies  to  Bellamy.  %  Mr.  James  Hunt:  quoted  by  Dr.  Foote. 


476  WILLIAM    ROBINSON. 

their  way,  being  overtaken  by  a  storm,  they  stopped  at  a  poor 
man's  house,  on  Avhose  shelf  lay  a  raggc<I  copy  of  the  Westminster 
Confession.  The  whole  summary  pleased  them ;  and,  having  received 
the  book,  they  presented  it  to  Governor  Gooch  as  the  expression  of 
their  views.  The  Governor  was  a  Scotsman,  and,  recognising  the 
book,  at  once  said  that  they  were  Presbyterians  according  to  the 
Kirk  of  Scotland,  and  could  not  be  molested.  During  the  delibe- 
ration of  the  Council,  a  thunder-storm  shook  the  house  and  light- 
nings glared  fearfully,  and  they  were  let  go,  with  a  caution  not 
to  disturb  the  peace.  Being  dismissed,  they  very  naturally  and 
joyfully  regarded  the  storm  as  let  loose  to  "still  the  enemy  and 
the  avenger." 

A  man  going  from  Augusta*  to  Hanover  for  iron  and  salt,  spoke 
of  Robinson,  and  excited  a  desire  to  hear  him.  Some  young  peo- 
ple from  Hanover,  being  at  Cub  Creek,  heard  him ;  and  this  led 
Morris,  and  his  friends  to  send  some  of  their  number  to  hear  him 
preach,  and,  if  they  approved  of  his  doctrines,  to  invite  him  to  visit 
Hanover.  They  found  him  at  the  Rockfish  Gap,  and  prevailed  on 
him  to  promise  to  come. 

He  travelled  through  most  of  the  night  to  reach  the  place  at  the 
appointed  day.  Having  seen  his  credentials,  learned  his  doctrine 
and  method  of  procedure,  they  were  very  eager  to  hear  him.  A 
large  crowd  assembled ;  a  venerable  spreading  oak,  with  embower- 
ing shades,  gave  him  and  them  shelter.  It  was  the  Sabbath, 
July  3,  1743 ;  he  preached  from  Luke  xiii.  3.  He  preached  four 
days :  the  concourse  increased  vastly.  "  'Tis  hardf  for  the  liveliest 
imagination  to  form  an  image  of  the  condition  of  the  audience  in 
those  glorious  days  of  the  Son  of  Man.  Many  came  through 
curiosity,  and  were  convinced  of  their  entire  ignorance  of  religion. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  there  was  as  much  good  done  by  those 
four  sermons  as  by  all  preached  in  the  next  seven  years." 

In  private  he  succeeded  in  removing  some  doctrinal  errors,  and 
in  engaging  them  to  use  prayer  and  singing  of  psalms  in  their 
meetings.  They  offered  to  remunerate  him :  he  said,  "  I  have 
enough;"  but,  overcome  by  their  urgency,  he  took  the  money  and 
applied  it  to  assist  Davies  in  his  studies. 

When  he  came  to  Cub  Creek, |  the  people  were  warned  that  he 
would  preach  at  the  stand.  David  Austin,  a  half-breed,  but  terri- 
ble as  a  full-blooded  Indian,  went  to  hear,  and  lay  down  at  a  dis- 
tance, as  if  to  sleep.  He  rose  on  hearing  the  text,  "Awake,  thou 
that  sleepest,"  and  pressed  near  to  the  stand,  the  people  making 
way.  He  returned  home  in  great  distress:  his  convictions  were 
agonizing,  and  his  deliverance  remarkable.     He  became  an  eminent 

*  Davidson's  Kentucky.  |  Mr.  Samuel  Morris  :  quoted  by  Davies. 

J  Related  to  me  in  May,  1843,  by  Dr.  Alexander. 


WILLIAM   ROBINSON.  477 

Christian ;  troubled  souls  far  and  wide  sought  his  counsel.  The  ex- 
cellent Mrs.  Morton  had  heard  Davies  and  his  compeers,  and  the 
Smiths  and  their  associates ;  but  she  believed  that  none  equalled 
Davy  Austin  in  skill  to  administer  consolation  to  the  disquieted 
and  desponding  believer. 

On  his  way  to  Hanover,  Robinson  reproved  a  tavern-keeper  for 
his  profanity.  ^ 

"Who  are  you?"  was  the  rude  demand. 

"  A  minister  of  the  gospel,"  was  the  reply.  "  Go  with  me,  and 
you  may  hear  me  preach."  ^ 

He  promised  to  do  so,  if  Robinson  would  preach  from  the  ' 
words,  "•  I  am  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,"  designing  to  jeer 
his  visage,  scarred  and  seamed.  Robinson  preached  from  the 
text :  the  wicked  man  heard,  and  became  a  very  pious  and  useful 
member  of  the  church.  Davies  was  "  the  joyful  witness  of  the 
happy  effects  of  the  four  sermons  on  sundry  thoughtless  impeni- 
tents  and  sundry  abandoned  profligates.  They  have,  ever  since, 
given  good  evidence  of  a  thorough  conversion." 

His  next  field  of  labour  was  in  "the  Government  of  New  York," 
probably  in  the  Highlands.  Gilbert  Tennent  heard  that  many  had 
been  awakened  by  his  labours. 

In  1745,  a  most  glorious  display  of  grace  began  by  his  ministry 
in  Wicomico,  in  Somerset  county,  Maryland.  In  Baltimore 
county,  there  was  a  considerable  revival ;  in  Kent  county  and 
Queen  Anne's,  a  number  of  careless  sinners  were  awakened  and 
hopefully  brought  to  Christ.  "  The  work  was  begun  and  mostly 
carried  on  by  that  favoured  man,  Mr.  Robinson,  whose  success, 
whenever  I  reflect  on  it,  astonishes  me." 

The  last  six  months  of  his  life  he  spent  at  St.  George's,  Dela- 
ware, and  took  charge  of  the  congregation.  Of  his  labours  there 
we  have  no  record.  There  was  a  revival  there  under  his  occa- 
sional visits  previously  and  those  of  Whitefield.  It  seems  to  have 
constituted  a  part  of  Bohemia  congregation,  and  to  have  enjoyed 
the  benefits  of  Whitefield's  visit  in  November,  1740.  It  became  a 
separate  congregation;  and  Robinson,  in  March,  1746,  took  his 
dismission  from  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  to  Newcastle,  with  a 
view  of  becoming  their  pastor.  But  his  end  was  at  hand.  He 
died,  August  1,  1746. 

Blair  preached  at  George's  Town,  August  3,  a  sermon,  in  com- 
memoration of  him,  from  Zech.  i.  7.  He  speaks  of  his  abiding 
sense  of  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  unregenerate,  and  of  his 
liberality,  often  giving  away,  at  a  time,  twenty  and  forty  pounds. 

The  Synod  of  New  York,  at  its  first  meeting  in  September,  1745, 
having  considered  the  circumstances  of  Virginia,  and  the  wide 
door  that  is  opened  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  there,  are 
unanimously  of  the  opinion,  that  Mr.  Robinson  is  the  most  suit- 


478  CHARLES    BEATTY. 

able  person  to  be  sent,  and  do  earnestly  recommend  him  to  go 
down  and  help  them,  as  soon  as  his  circumstances  will  permit,  and 
reside  there  for  some  months. 

Robinson  was  present  at  that  meeting,  and  probably  intended 
to  go.  On  his  death-bed,  he  left  it  as  his  last  request  to  Davies 
to  go  to  Hanover.  To  him  he  bequeathed*  most  of  his  books, 
having  previously  aided  him  with  money. 

Davies  had  him  in  the  highest  estimation : — "  Oh,  he  did  much 
in  a  little  time !  Who  would  not  choose  such  an  expeditious  pil- 
grimage through  this  world?" 

The  father  of  Dr.  Moses  Hoge  had  heard  him  preach  near 
Opequhon,  Virginia,  and  thought  that  his  sermons  lacked  method. 
They  possessed  a  living  power.  "  Thanks  be  unto  God,  who 
always  caused  him  to  triumph  in  Christ,  and  made  manifest  the 
savour  of  his  knowledge  by  him  in  every  place." 


CHARLES  BEATTY 


"Was  born  in  county  Antrim,  Ireland,  between  1712  and  1715. 
His  father  died  while  he  was  a  child.  His  mother,  Christiana, 
was  of  the  Clinton  family,"}"  who  removed  from  England  to  county 
Longford  during  the  Great  Rebellion,  being  attached  to  the 
Royalists.  Her  brother,  Charles  Clinton,  with  Alexander  Den- 
niston  and  others,  took  ship,  in  1729,  for  Philadelphia.  They 
Bailed  in  May,  and  reached  Cape  Cod  in  October,  and  remained  in 
New  England  till  1731,  when  they  began  a  settlement  in  Ulster, 
now  Orange  county.  New  York. 

Beatty  had  received  a  classical  education  in  Ireland  to  some 
extent,  and  may  have  profited  by  the  instructions  of  the  pastors 
of  Goshen,  Wallkill,  and  Bethlehem.  Reaching  manhood,  he 
engaged  in  trade ;  and,  as  was  the  manner  of  that  day, — when,  in 
the  country,  few  out  of  the  seaport-towns  had  the  capital  to  lay  in 
a  supply  of  imported  goods, — he  travelled^  on  foot,  or  with  his 
pack-horse,  to  display  his  "  auld-warld  gear"  to  the  people  in 
their  own  homes.  Stopping  at  the  Log  College,  he  amused  him- 
self by  surprising  Tennent  and  his  pupils  with  a  proffer  in  Latin 
of  his  mercliandise.  Tennent,  perceiving  at  once  that  this  was 
"no  pedlar's  Greek,"  replied  in  Latin;  and  the  conversation  went 

*  Davenport  to  Edwards.  |  Hosack's  Life  of  De  Witt  CUntoa. 

J  Dr.  Miller :  on  tho  authority  of  Dr.  Rodgers. 


CHARLES    BEATTY.  479 

on  in  the  Roman  tongue  with  such  evidence  of  scholarship,  re- 
ligious knowledge,  and  fervent  piety,  that  Tennent  commanded 
him  to  sell  what  he  had  and  prepare  for  the  ministry.  He 
"was  not  disobedient  to  the  heavenly  vision;"  for  he  who  spoke 
to  Saul  by  the  way  called  Beatty  to  "this  grace  and  apostleship" 
also. 

His  kinsmen  were  not  passed  by  in  the  Great  Awakening ;  for 
Leonard,  of  Goshen,  was  specially  "  stirred  up  and  spirited"  to 
water  what  Whitefield  had  planted  in  New  York.  Tennent,  of 
Freehold,  and  Robinson,  laboured  in  the  New  York  Government, 
in  the  Highlands,  with  success. 

While  pursuing  his  studies  at  Neshaminy,  he  was  taken  on  trials 
by  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  October  12,  1742,  and  was 
licensed  the  next  day,  and  was  sent  to  Nottingham.  He  was 
called  to  the  Forks  of  Neshaminy,  May  26,  1743,  and  was  or- 
dained, December  14,  the  excellent  Tennent  being  present  in  pres- 
bytery then  for  the  last  time. 

Brainerd  rejoiced  in  his  society,  having  seasons  of  sweet  spi- 
ritual refreshment  with  him.  He  went  with  him  to  assist  Treat 
at  the  sacrament  in  April,  1740,  and  in  June  rode  from  the 
Forks,  and  preached  in  the  afternoon  to  a  crowded  audience  at 
Neshaminy,  with  great  freedom  in  setting  forth  the  sorrows  of 
God's  people  and  their  comforting  considerations.  It  was  a  sweet, 
melting  season,  happily  preparing  them  for  the  Sabbath.  Beatty 
preached,  and  there  appeared  some  warmth  in  the  assembly. 
Brainerd  assisted  in  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
and,  towards  the  close,  discoursed  extempore  from  the  sacred 
words,  "Yet  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  bruise  him,"  and  was  greatly 
favoured  with  divine  aid  in  addressing  sinners.  The  word  was 
attended  with  amazing  power :  many  scores,  if  not  hundreds,  in 
that  great  assembly  of  three  or  four  thousand,  were  very  much 
affected :  "there  Avas  a  very  great  mourning,  like  the  mourning  of 
Hadad  Rimmon." 

Beatty  and  his  wife,  with  Treat,  came  to  see  Brainerd  at 
Princeton  in  October,  1740,  when  about  to  leave  for  the  Indians. 
"My  spirits,"  says  Brainerd,  "were  refreshed  to  see  them ;  but  I 
was  surprised  and  ashamed  that  they  had  rode  thirty  or  forty 
miles  to  visit  me."  They  rode  with  him  ten  miles  on  his  journey. 
There  they  parted  ;  but  one  special  friend  (Davenport)  stayed  on 
purpose  to  keep  him  company,  and  to  cheer  his  spirits. 

The  synod  sent  him  to  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  in  1754 ; 
and  he  accompanied  Franklin,  when  he,  with  five  hundred  men, 
came  up  to  defend  the  frontier,  after  the  burning  of  the  Moravian 
missionaries  at  Gnadenhuetten,  near  Lehighton.     Franklin  says,* 

*  Memoirs. 


480  CHARLES    BEATTY. 

"  The  chaplain  was  zealous,  and  lamented  the  backwardness  of 
the  soldiers  to  attend  the  prayers  and  exhortations."  Franklin 
suggested  that  the  spirit-rations  should  be  dealt  out  under  Beatty's 
eye,  after  the  religious  exercises.  This  remedy  secured  uniform 
attendance ;  but  Beatty  soon  left,  to  go  down  into  Bucks  county 
and  aid  in  recruiting.  The  synod,  in  1756,  judged  it  his  duty 
to  go  with  the  Pennsylvania  forces,  if  the  Government  should  ask 
for  his  services.  He  was  again  invited  in  1759 ;  but  the  synod, 
on  account  of  the  state  of  his  congregation,  advised  him  not  to 
go.  They  advised  him  to  comply  with  Colonel  Armstrong's 
request,  and  go  as  chaplain  to  his  regiment. 

The  Corporation  for  the  Widows'  Fund  sent  him  to  Great 
Britain  in  1760.  He  was  furnished  with  letters  from  Davies, 
which  were  of  the  highest  service  to  him.  The  General  Assembly 
of  the  Scottish  Kirk  ordered  a  national  collection  to  be  taken  up. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Gordon,  of  Ipswich,  wrote  to  Bellamy,  October  27, 
1761,  "  Mr,  Beatty  is  over  in  England  collecting.  Have  had 
the  pleasure  of  his  company.  He  is  at  my  brother's,  (Thomas 
Field,  bookseller,  London.)  Expect  he  will  get  three  thousand 
pounds  before  he  returns." 

The  Rev.  Provost  Smith,  of  Philadelphia,  took  the  ground  that 
much  of  the  money  had  been  raised  for  the  distressed  inhabitants 
on  the  frontier,  who  had  been  driven  from  their  homes  by  the 
Indians.  This  involved  Beatty  in  a  long  correspondence,  to  vin- 
dicate his  character,  and  to  prevent  the  fund  from  being  per- 
verted from  its  rightful  use.  The  corporation  desired  the  synod 
to  send  two  missionaries  to  the  frontiers  of  the  province;  and 
they,  in  1766,  appointed  Beatty  and  Duffield  to  preach  two  months 
in  those  parts,  and  to  do  what  else  is  best  for  the  advancement  of 
religion,  according  to  the  instructions  of  the  corporation.  They 
left  Carlisle  in  August,  Duffield  going  through  Path  Valley, 
Fannet,  and  the  Cove,  and  Beatty  passing  along  the  Juniata. 
The  Delaware  town,  on  the  Muskingum,  one  hundred  and  thirty 
miles  beyond  Fort  Pitt,  was  visited  by  them.  They  found  a  very 
agreeable  prospect  of  a  door  opening  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel 
among  the  Indians.  The  white  settlers  were  ready  to  exert  them- 
selves to  the  utmost  to  have  the  gospel  among  them,  but  were  very 
necessitous  from  the  distresses  and  losses  of  the  war. 

Beatty  was  married,  June  24,  1746,  to  the  daughter  of  the 
Hon.  John  Reading,  of  New  Jersey.  He  took  her  to  Great 
Britain,  in  1768,  to  obtain  relief  for  her  from  eminent  surgeons ; 
but  she  died,  soon  after  landing,  at  Greenock.  The  joui'nal  of  his 
tour  was  printed  in  London.*  He  also  published  two  pamphlets 
on  the  Indian  missions,  and  a  sermon,  entitled,  "  Double  honour 

*  riiiladelphia  Library. 


JOHN   HINDMAN — TIMOTHY  JOHNES.  481 

is  due  to  the  laborious  Gospel  Minister,  "which  he  had  preached  at 
the  ordination  of  Mr.  Ramsay,  at  Fairfield,  New  Jersey. 

To  relieve  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  he  sailed  for  the  "VVestj 
Indies,  but  died,  August  13,  1772,  soon  after  reaching  Bridge-! 
town,  in  Barbadoes.  ' 

Three  of  his  sons  became  ruling  elders  in  our  church.  Dr. 
Charles  C.  Beatty,  of  Steubenville,  Ohio,  is  his  grandson.  His 
grand-daughter,  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Henry  R.  Wilson,  died  while 
labouring  as  a  missionary  among  the  Creek  Indians. 


JOHN  HINDMAN 


Was  received  as  a  candidate  by  Donegal  Presbytery,  Septem- 
ber 3,  1740;  and,  Gillespie  having  represented  to  them  "his  im- 
prudence and  childish  simplicity,"  they  resolved,  in  the  next 
April,  not  to  continue  him.  Soon,  however,  they  were  satisfied 
that  they  might  retrace  their  steps ;  and  he  was  licensed,  May  30. 
He  was  sent  to  Virginia,  and  was,  in  1742,  at  James  River  and 
Head  of  Shenandoah,  and  at  Opequhon  and  Bullskin.  He 
was  ordained  as  an  evangelist,  to  go  to  Virginia,  November  11, 
1742;  and  we  find  him  at  Opequhon,  Rockfish,  Potomac,  "Cub 
Creek  on  Round  Oak."  Rockfish  and  Mountain  Plain  called 
him,  March  26,  1745 ;  and,  in  June,  John  Woods  appeared,  as  a 
commissioner,  to  urge  the  request  of  Rockfish.  He  was  also 
invited  to  Marsh  Creek  and  Conecocheague.  His  name  is  not 
again  seen  on  the  records. 


TIMOTHY  JOHNES, 

Of  Welsh  4escent,  was  born  at  Southampton,  Long  Island, 
May  24,  1717,  and  graduated  at  Yale  in  1737.  Of  the  period 
between  his  leaving  college  and  going  to  Morristown  we  have  seen 
no  notice,  except  that,  in  that  perilous  time,  when  some  "  haply 
were  found  fighting  against  God,"  those  who  separated '  from  the 

31 


482  TIMOTHY  JOHNES. 

First  Parish  in  New  ITavon  worshipped  in  tlie  house  of  Mr.  Tlmo- 
tliy  Johnes.*  He  went  to  Morristown,  New  Jersey,  August  13, 
1742 ;  stayed  six  Sabbaths :  '"  fetchedf  my  family,  and  was 
ordained,  February  9,  1748,"  by  New  York  Presbytery. 

As  early  as  1735,  West  Hanover  had  separated  from  Hanover, 
and  asked  for  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Cleverly.  He  was  graduated 
at  Harvard  in  1715,  and  remained  at  Morristown  till  his  death  in 
December,  1776,  aged  eighty-one.  He  never  married.  His  small 
property  became  nearly  exhausted  towards  the  close  of  life,  and 
reduced  him  to  hardships. 

The  congregation  of  Morristown  "  was,  under  Christ,  col- 
lected, settled,  and  watered"  l^y  Johnes.  He  had  a  happy  faculty 
of  instilling  successfully  the  principles  of  religion.  He  was  much 
with  his  people.  He  read  accounts  of  revivals  to  them ;  but  no 
instance  of  more  than  ordinary  success  is  recorded  during  the 
first  twenty-one  years  of  his  labours.  Ninety-four  were  added  to 
the  church  in  1764:  "these  were  the  sweet  fruits  of  the  won- 
derful effusion  of  God's  admirable  grace  begun  on  our  sacrament- 
day,  July  1,  1764."  "The  LordJ  Jehovah  has  rent  the  heavens 
and  come  down,  and  the  mountains  are  fleeing  at  his  presence. 
There  is  something  of  this  blessed  work  all  around  me."  It  was 
a  season  of  "  deep  feeling  and  much  anxiety,"  arising  from  awful 
apprehensions  of  the  nature  of  sin  and  of  the  justice  of  God. 
Fifty  were  added  in  1774 :  "  those  that  follow  are  the  ingather- 
ings of  the  divine  harvest  of  1774 ; — sweet  drops  of  morning 
dew." 

As  the  result  of  the  revival  of  1790,  forty  united  with  the 
church;  four  hundred  and  twenty-four  under  his  ministry  pro- 
fessed their  faith  in  Christ.  "  Few  men  laboured  more  zealously 
or  more  successfully." 

The  American  army  passed  the  winter  of  1777  encamped  near 
Morristown.  It  was  a  disastrous  stage  of  our  public  aflfairs :  sick- 
ness swept  away  the  soldiers ;  and  the  gloom  was  made  horrible 
I  by  the  abounding  profanity  and  the  ceaseless  gaming.  Washing- 
ton,§  as  the  communion  drew  nigh,  asked  Dr.  Johnes  if  member- 
ship with  the  Presbyterian  church  was  required  by  him  as  a  term 
of  admission  to  the  ordinance. 

He  replied,  "All  who  loved  the  Lord  Jesus  were  welcome." 

"That  is  right,"  was  the  answer;  and  he  sought,  in  the  fellow- 
ship of  God's  people  and  in  the  remembrance  of  redeeming  love, 

*  Bacon's  Historical  Discourse  at  New  Haven. 

■f  Quoted  from  his  memoranda  by  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  in  his  Manual  of  the 
Church  at  Morristown,  1828. 

J  Quoted   by   Mr.  Hunting,  in   his   discourse  at  Westfield,   from   Dr.  Johnts's 
\     Letter  in  the  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine. 

g   The  Rev.  0.  L.  Kirtland,  in  the  Presbyterian  Magazine. 


TIMOTHY   GRIFFITH.  483 

on  the  Sabbath,  relief  from  the  scenes  that  appalled  him,  and  from 
the  forebodings  that  oppressed  his  soul.  The  services  were  held  in 
the  open  air,  even  in  winter,  in  a  sheltered  spot. 

The  church  was  at  that  time  occupied  as  a  hospital ;  and  often, 
in  the  morning,  the  dead  were  found  lying  in  the  pews.  Dr. 
Johnes,  the  son  of  the  pastor,  was  intrusted  with  the  care  of  the 
sick,  and,  through  his  judicious  arrangements,  the  comfort  of  the 
sufferers  was  promoted,  and  the  mortality  checked. 

"Distinguished  for  his  fidelity,  his  discourses  were  clear,  plain, 
practical,  persuasive.  By  an  affectionate  appeal  to  the  heart,  he 
aimed  to  win  men  to  the  practice  of  holiness.  Few  congregations 
were  so  thoroughly  instructed  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  practical 
duties  of  religion  and  in  the  great  doctrines  of  grace."  A  lover 
of  peace,  his  own  people  and  the  neighbouring  congregations 
unhesitatingly  reposed  with  confidence  in  his  judgment  and  tried 
friendship.  He  was  not  lacking  in  firmness  as  a  ruler  in  the 
house  of  God,  having,  in  one  hundred  and  seventy  cases,  sought 
the  welfare  of  the  church  by  timely  and  wholesome  discipline. 

In  1791,  an  unworthy  man  was  associated  with  him  in  the  pas- 
toral work.  The  truth,  long  suspected,  was  finally  made  clear 
enough  to  secure  his  dismission  in  1793.  The  late  Rev.  Dr.  Rich- 
ards, while  a  candidate,  preached  to  the  aged  man  in  his  own 
dwelling,  (then  near  his  end,)  that  he  might  judge  of  his  fitness. 
He  received  a  call  just  before  the  death  of  Dr.  Johnes,  who  was 
removed  by  dysentery,  September  19,  1794,  aged  seventy-eight. 


TIMOTHY  GRIFFITH 


Was  probably  a  son  of  Timothy  Griffith,  an  elder  in  the  Great 
Y^lley.  He  taught  a  classical  school  in  Philadelphia  in  1737,  and 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1742.  Newcastle  Presbytery  ordained  him,  in 
1743,  as  successor  to  Thomas  Evans  in  Pencader.  Understanding 
the  Welsh  language,  he  was  ordered  by  the  synod  to  supply  Tred- 
ryffryn  once  a  month  for  several  years.  On  the  death  of  Dick,  he 
removed  to  a  farm  in  Appoquinimy,  and  resided  on  it  till  his 
death  in  1754.  During  that  time,  he  probably  supplied  New- 
castle and  Drawyers,  they  being,  like  Pencader,  divided  by  the 
New  Side,  and  left  very  feeble. 

When  the  province  was  threatened  with  invasion,  he  was  elected 


-^ 


484  JOHN   STEEL. 

captain  of  the  company  raised  in  Newcastle  county  in  September, 
1748. 

lie  was  a  missionary  in  Western  Virginia  in  1751. 


JOHN  STEEL, 

A  PROBATIONER  from  Londonderry  Presbytery,  appeared  before 
the  commission  in  May,  1742 ;  and  there  being  some  irregularity 
in  his  marriage,  by  reason  of  a  pre-contract,  letters  were  written 
to  Ireland  before  any  steps  were  taken  in  his  case.  He  was  sent, 
in  April,  1743,  to  supply -Rockfish  and  Roanoke,  and  in  the  fall  he 
was  sent  to  Conestoga,  being  under  the  care  of  Donegal  Presby- 
tery. He  was  ordained  by  Newcastle  Presbytery  before  May, 
1744,  and  was,  for  a  time,  at  New  London.  He  removed  to  "West 
Conecocheague*  in  1752,  perhaps  earlier,  and  remained  till  the 
Upper  West  Settlement  (now  Mercersburg)  was  broken  up.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  intrepidity :  his  church  was  fortified,  and  he 
led  his  men  to  attack  the  savages.  In  1755,  he  received  a  cap- 
tain's commission,  and  held  it  many  years.  Several  of  his  letters, 
in  those  difiicult  times,  are  preserved  in  the  Colonial  Documents. 
He  preached  for  a  time  at  Nottingham,  and  then  at  York  and 
Shrewsbury ;  and,  on  the  union  of  the  synods,  he  removed  to  Car- 
lisle and  Silver  Spring.  Duffield  had  just  before  been  called  to 
Big  Spring  and  the  New-Side  congregation  in  Carlisle.  The  call 
to  Steel  was  made  out  April  20,  1759,  and  he  was  installed  before 
June,  giving  two-thirds  of  his  time  to  Carlisle.  Duffield  resented 
this, — his  call  being  of  an  earlier  date,  and  stipulating  that  two- 
thirds  of  his  time  should  be  given  in  town.  The  synod,  in  May, 
1759,  lamented  the  unhappy  state  of  feeling,  and  directed  the  two 
congregations  to  unite  in  building  a  house  of  worship,  and  en- 
treated the  ministers  to  join  their  counsels  to  bring  about  a  cor- 
dial agreement.  In  1761,  the  church  was  built  by  a  lottery,  and 
used  by  both  parties. 

He  withdrew  from  the  synod,  with  the  other  Old-Side  minis- 
ters of  Donegal  Presbytery,  and  finally  was  permitted  to  join  the 
Second  Philadelphia  Presbytery.  Pennf  wrote  to  him,  February 
24,  1768,  to  dispossess   the  settlers  on  the  Red  Stone  and  the 


*  Rev.  Thomas  Creigh's  Historical  Discourse  at  Mercersburg. 
f   Colonial  Documents :  edited  by  Mr.  Hazard. 


JAMES    SCOUaAL — CHARLES    McKNIGHT.  485 

Youghiogeny.  In  April,  lie  assembled  the  people,  and  reasoned 
the  case  with  them.  There  were  one  hundred  and  fifty  families  on 
the  Youghiogeny. 

Dr.  Martin  said,  "  He  was  a  good  preacher ;  sound  in  his 
theology." 

He  died  in  August,  1779. 


JAMES  SCOUGAL, 

A  MEMBER  of  the  Presbytery  of  Paisley,  having  received  a  call 
from  the  Old-Side  portion  of  SnowTfill  and  the  Ferry,  in  Wor- 
cester county,  Maryland,  (it  had  been  sent  to  him  with  the  con- 
currence of  Newcastle  Presbytery,)  came  to  this  country  in  1743. 
He  produced  sufficient  testimonials  of  his  piety,  prudence,  learn- 
ing, soundness  in  the  faith,  and  blameless  conversation. 

"  The  place  called  the  Ferry"  is  mentioned  by  Davies  as  the 
scene  of  a  remarkable  work  of  grace,  at  the  time  of  his  entrance 
on  the  ministry. 

Scougal  died  in  1746. 


CHARLES  Mcknight 

Was  taken  up  by  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  June  23,  1741, 
and  was  licensed  probably  in  the  fall.  In  the  next  May,  the 
Forks  of  Delaware  and  Greenwich,  in  Warren  county.  New 
Jersey,  asked  for  him,  as  did  also  Staten  Island  and  Basking- 
ridge.  In  August, .  Amboy  supplicated  for  his  services,  and 
Greenwich  and  Forks  Yeriewed  their  request.  -Staten  Island  and 
Baskingridge  called  him  in  October,  and  he  was  ordained,  Octo- 
ber 12,  1742,  at  the  same  time  wdth  Finley  and  Youngs.  He  was 
installed,  October  16,  1744,  at  Cranberry  and  Allentown.  Allen- 
town  asked  supplies  in  1738;  Cranberry,  at  the  same  time,  by 
their  commissioner,  John  Chambers,  asked  advice,  being  troubled 
about  a  proposal  to  build  their  meeting-house  in  common  with  the 
Church  of  England. 


486  JOHN    BLAIR. 

Whitcficld  preached  several  times,  both  at  Crosswicks  and  Allen- 
tOAvn,  on  "weekdays. 

McKnight  was  dismissed  from  Cranberry  in  October,  ,175G, 
and  Burden's  Town  obtained  one-fourth  of  his  time  in  1758.  He  was 
called,  May  28, 1766,  to  Middletown  Point  and  Shrewsbury;  and, 
in  the  fall,  Trenton  asked  for  him.  He  was  dismissed  from 
Allentown  in  October,  and  accepted  the  call  to  Middletown  Point, 
Shark  River,  and  Shrewsbury,  April  21,  1767. 

He  was  seized  by  the  British,  and  his  church  was  burned.  He 
died,  soon  after  his  release,  in  1778. 

In  1789,  Morgan  Edwards  said  of  the  Presbyterian  church  at 
the  Point,  "  The  place  which  knew  it  knows  it  no  more."  It  was 
rebuilt  by  a  lottery,  and  was  only  rarely  used  by  the  Presby- 
terians till  1820.  Shrewsbury  remained  vacant  till  1812;  and 
Shark  River  has  long  been  surrendered  to  other  denominations. 


JOHN  BLAIR, 

A  BROTHER  of  Samuel  Blair,  was  born  in  Ireland,  in  1720,  and 
■was  educated  at  the  Log  College,  and  licensetl-iiy  the  ^J^Tew-Side 
Presbytery  of  Newcastle  at  its  earliest  sessions.  He  was  orTIaihed, 
December  27,  1742,  pastor  of  Middle  Spring,  Rocky  Spring,  and 
Big  Spring,  in  Cumbei'land  county,  Pennsylvania.  These  places 
had  been  served  by  Thomas  Craighead ;  the  first  two  being  then 
called  Upper  and  the  third  Lower  Hopewell.  They  divided  on  the 
rupture,  Hopewell  having  supplicated  the  conjunct  presbyteries  in 
1741,  and  Campbell  and  Rowland  having  been  sent  to  them.  Blair 
gave  two-thirds  of  his  time  to  Big  Spring,  and  divided  the  re- 
mainder between  the  others. 

He  visited  Virginia  soon  after  Robinson.  "Truly*  he  came  to 
us  in  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Former 
impressions  were  ripened,  and  new  ones  made  on  many  hearts. 
One  night,  a  whole  houseful  of  people  was  quite  overcome  by  the 
power  of  the  word,  particularly  of  one  pungent  sentence;  they 
would  hardly  sit  or  stand,  or  keep  their  feelings  under  any  proper 
restraint.  So  general  was  the  concern  during  his  stay,  and  so 
ignorant  were  we  of  the  dangers  of  apostasy,  that  we  pleased  our- 

*  Samuel  Morris. 


JOHN    BLAIR.  487 

selves  with  the  thought  of  more  having  been  brought  to  Christ  than 
now  appear  to  have  been.  There  is  the  greatest  reason  to  believe 
that  several  bound  themselves  in  an  everlasting  covenant  to  the 
Lord,"  He  visited*  the  .New-Side  congregations  east  and  west  of 
the  Blue  Ridge,  and  also  on  his  second  visit  in  1746.  In  that 
year  he  organized  the  congregations  of  North  Mountain,  including 
Bethel  and  Hebron,  of  New  Providence,  Timber  Ridge,  and  the 
Forks  of  James  River,  now  New  Monmouth  and  Lexington. 

The  incursions  of  the  Indians  led  him  to  resign  his  pastoral 
nXf  charge,  December  28,  1748.  He  seems  to  have  remained  without 
settlement  till  1757,  when  he  succeeded  his  brother  at  Fagg's 
Manor.  He  continued  his  school  with  reputation.  In  1767,  he! 
was  chosen  Professor  of  Divinity  and  Moral  Philosophy  in  the 
College  of  New  Jersey,  and  officiated  as  President.  On  the  acces- 
sion of  Dr.  Witherspoon,  in  1769,  he  resigned,  and  accepted  the 
call  to  Wallkill,  in  the  Highlands  of  New  York,  May  19, 1769.  He 
died,  December  8,  1771. 

During  the  excitement  growing  out  of  the  question  concerning 
the  examination  of  candidates  on  their  experience  of  saving  grace, 
one  of  the  Old  Side  published  "  Thoughts  on  the  Examination  and 
Trials  of  Candidates."  On  this  pamphlet  Blair  published  "Ani- 
madversions," dated  "Fagg's  Manor,  August  27, 1766."  He  also 
published  a  reply  to  Harker's  "Appeal  to  the  Christian  World," 
entitled  "  The  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  vindicated." 
He  left  behind  him  a  treatise  on  Regeneration,  orthodox,  and  ably 
written :  it  was  published  shortly  before  his  death,  with  the  title, 
"A Treatise  on  the  Nature,  Use,  and  Subjects  of  the  Sacraments;  on 
Regeneration ;  and  on  the  Nature  and  Use  of  the  Means  of  Grace." 
The  preface  is  dated  "  Goodwill,  alias  Wallkill,  December  21, 1770." 
In  it  he  states  that  his  opinions  have  undergone  a  change ;  and  he 
begs  that  those  who  attempt  to  answer  his  reasons  for  the  change  will 
not  throw  dust.  He  had  formerly  believed  that,  though  the  unre- 
generate  ought  to  have  their  children  baptized,  they  ought  not  to 
adventure  to  the  Lord's  table.  On  this  point  he  had  changed  his 
views  and  his  practice.  He  endeavours  to  prove  that  there  is  no 
more  propriety  in  excluding  those  who  wish  to  partake  of  the  sacra- 
ments than  there  Avould  be  in  excluding  them  from  other  parts  of 
public  worship.  It  was  reprinted  by  Dr.  James  P.  Wilson,  in  his 
collection  of  Sacramental  Treatises. 

He  married  the  daughter  of  John  Durborrow,  of  Philadelphia. 
The  Rev.  John  D.  Blair,  of  Richmond,  was  his  son.  His  daughter 
Rebecca  w'as  the  wife  of  Dr.  William  Linn,  of  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church  in  New  York  City.  The  Rev.  Dr.  John  Blair  Linn,  of  the 
First  Church  in  Philadelphia,  was  her  son. 

*  Dr.  Foote. 


488  SAMUEL   FINLEY. 

Davies  said  of  him,  in  his  elegy  on  Samuel  Blair : 

<'When,  all-attentive,  eager  to  admit 
The  flowing  knowledge,  at  his  reverend  feet 
Raptured  we  sat,  0  thou  above  the  rest. 
Brother  and  image  of  the  dear  deceased, 
Surviving  Blair!  oh,  let  spontaneous  flow 
The  floods  of  tributary  grief  you  owe." 


SAMUEL   FINLEY 

Was  born  in  the  county  Armagh,  Ireland,  in  1715.  His  parents 
early  sought  the  Lord's  blessing  on  each  of  their  children,  and  he 
was  seriously  impressed  by  divine  truth  in  his  sixth  year.  The 
family  arrived  at  Philadelphia,  September  28,  .1734,  and  made  their 
home  in  West  Jersey.  He  was  in  his  eighteenth  year,  and  had 
already  made  some  progress  in  preparing  for  the  ministry :  he 
completed  his  studies  at  the  Log  College.  New  Brunswick  JPres- 
bytery  took  him  on  trials,  August  4,  1740,  and  licensed  him  the 
next  day.  He  went  into  the  bounds  oFTDpnegal  Presbytery,  and 
was  present  at  the  trial  of  Craighead,  in  De^m^ber,  and  abetted ->J^ 
him  in  his  contumelious  treatment  of  that  judicatory.  He  preached, 
January  20,  1741,  at  Nottingham,  from  Matthew  xii.  27,  28: — "If 
I  by  Beelzebub  cast  out  devils,  by  whom  then  do  your  sons  cast 
them  out?"  This  sermon  was  published  with  the  title,  "Christ 
victorious,  and  Satan  raging,"  and  was  soon  reprinted  at  Boston  and 
London.  Soon  after  appeared  in  print  his  letter  in  commendation 
of  Whitefield. 

The  conjunct  presbyteries,  in  August,  1741,  sent  him  to  Dover 
and  Baltimore,  and  directed  him  to  supply  the  new  erection  at  Not- 
tingham. He  then  went  into  West  Jersey,  and  his  labours  were 
remarkably  blessed  at  Greenwich,  in  Cohanzy,  and  Deerfield,  in 
Gloucester  county.  Whitefield  had  passed  through  the  region,  and 
Gilbert  Tennent  had  laboured  there.  "  There  was  a  remarkable 
stir  of  a  religious  kind  in  Cape  May."  In  the  spring  of  1740, 
Abel  Morgan,  the  Baptist  minister  in  Middletown,  New  Jersey, 
"was  so  affected  by  Whitefield's  spirit  that  he  went  forth  preach- 
ing the  gospel  on  the  sea-coast"  and  other  places  in  that  province. 
He  came  to  Cohanzy,  and  Finley  soon  appeared:  on  Tuesday  he 
went  to  Cape  May,  and  on  Thursday  Finley  came.  The  mode  and 
the  subjects  of  baptism  became  the  topic  of  general  discourse; 
"many  of  the  disciples  went  among  the   Baptists,  which  caused 


SAMUEL   FINLET.  489 

great  wrath."*  Finley  and  Morgan  had  a  debate  which  lasted  two 
days,  with  the  usual  result  of  greater  estrangement  of  the  parties. 
Two  elders  and  six  members  left  the  Presbyterian  for  the  Baptist 
church,  Finley  published  "A  Charitable  Plea  for  the  Speechless ;" 
Morgan  replied.  Finley  vindicated  the  claim  of  infants  to  the 
promise  and  the  seal  of  the  promise ;  Morgan  put  forth  a  re- 
joinder. Morgan  Edwards  says  that  Morgan's  book  shoAvs  him 
to  have  been  a  man  of  wit,  of  very  genteel  irony,  and  master  of 
the  Greek. 

Morgan  alludes  to  Finley's  fondness  for  controversy.  He 
printed,  in  January,  1743,  a  sermon,  on  2  Thessalonians  ii.  11, 12, 
against  the  Moravians,  entitled  "The  Strength,  Nature,  and  Symp- 
toms of  Delusion,"  and,  in  the  same  year,  replied  to  Thomson's 
sermon  on  convictions,  in  a  discourse  headed,  "  Clear  Light  shining 
out  in  Obscure  Darkness."  In  all  of  these  early  productions  is 
much  that  is  uncalled  for,  and  much  more  that  cannot  be  ap- 
proved. 

Cohanzy  and  Gloster  supplicated  for  him  in  May,  1742.  The 
presbytery  granted  the  request,  and  ordained  him  an  evangelist, 
October  13:  Robinson  preached  from  Ezekiel  iii.  17.  He  went  to 
preach  for  the  Presbyterians  in  Milford,  Connecticut;  but  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Law  put  an  odious  statute,  lately  enacted,  in  force, 
and  he  was  carried  from  one  constable  to  another  and  transported 
as  a  vagrant  out  of  the  colony.  In  August,  1743,  calls  were  pre- 
sented to  him  from  Cohanzy,  Nottingham,  and  Milford,  and  the 
presbytery  sent  him  to  Milford  "with  allowance  that  he  also 
preach  for  other  places  thereabouts  where  Providence  may  open  a 
door  for  him."  Having  preached  at  Milford,  he  went,  on  the  1st 
of  September,  to  preach  for  the  Second  Society  of  New  Haven,  at 
the  request  of  Mr.  James  Pierpont,  the  son  of  the  former  pastor 
of  the  First  Church,  and  the  brother-in4aw  of  the  present  pastor. 
The  Second  Church,  though  regularly  organized,  was  not  recog- 
nised by  the  civil  authority  or  the  New  Haven  Association ;  it  was 
an  indictable  offence  to  preach  for  them.  Yet  Finley  went ;  and, 
on  September  5,  as  he  was  going  to  meeting,  he  was  seized  by  the 
constable  and  confined.  The  grand  jury  presented  him  on  the 
11th,  and  judgment  was  given  that  he  should  be  carried  out  of  the 
colony  as  a  vagrant.  The  sentence  was  executed.  Finley  peti- 
tioned in  October  that  the  Assembly  would  revieW  the  case ;  pleas 
were  heard  in  abatement,  and  his  prayer  was  denied.  During 
these  visits  he  made  many  friends,  and  maintained  a  most  affec- 
tionate correspondence  with  Bellamy  till  his  death.  He  spent  six 
months  in  Philadelphia,  preaching  to  the  new  congregation.     He 


*  Morgan  Edwards's  History  of  New  Jersey  Baptists. 


490  SAMUEL   FINLEY. 

was  called,  in  June,  1744,  to  Nottingliam,  and  was  the  pastor  there 
seventeen  years. 

In  the  summer  of  1745,  hj  appointment  of  the  conjunct  pres- 
byteries, Gilbert  Tennent  and  Finley  waited  on  Governor  Gooch 
to  repel  the  insinuations  made  against  Roan,  and  the  New  Side  in 
general,  as  schismatics,  defamers,  and  fanatics.  The  governor 
received  them  kindly,  gave  them  permission  to  preach,  and  opened 
the  door  for  the  preaching  of  New-Light  ministers  without  moles- 
tation. They  continued  at  Hanover  about  a  week,  and  did  much 
good.  The  people  of  God  were  refreshed,  and  some  careless  sin- 
ners awakened  from  their  foolish  trust  in  their  moral  conduct  and 
religious  duties.  Thus  the  dreadful  cloud  which  overshadowed 
them  on  Roan's  persecution  was  scattered  for  a  while :  they  con- 
tinued vacant  for  a  considerable  time,  but  the  Lord  favoured  their 
reading-meetings  with  his  presence. 

Finley's  school  soon  became  celebrated.  Among  his  pupils  were 
Governor  Martin,  of  North  Carolina,  Ebenezer  Hazard,  of  Phila- 
delphia, Benjamin  Rush,  M.D.,  and  Judge  Jacob  Rush,  (sons  of 
Mrs.  Finley's  sister,)  Dr.  McWhorter,  of  Newark,  Dr.  Tennent,  of 
Abingdon,  and,  most  celebrated  of  all,  James  Waddel,  of  Virginia. 

In  1754,  it  was  proposed  to  call  him  to  New  York :' lie  WaTtikuri-^ 
as  a  preacher,  "but,  his  voice  being  uncommon  low,  it  was  thought 
he  would  not  suit"  that  congregation. 

When  Davies  was  urged,  after  having  declined  the  presidency, 
to  act  as  vice-president  of  the  college  for  six  months,  he  would  not 
consent,  on  hearing  from  the  messenger,  Mr.  Halsey,  afterwards 
minister  at  Lamington,  that  some  of  the  trustees  preferred  Finley. 
He  wrote  at  once  to  Cowell,  of  Trenton,  "  I  recommend  Mr.  Fin- 
ley, from  long  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  him,  as  the  best- 
qualified  person,  in  the  compass  of  my  knowledge,  in  America, — 
incomparably  better  qualified  than  myself.  Though  the  want  of 
some  superficial  accomplishments  for  empty  popularity  may  keep 
him  in  obscurity  for  some  little  time,  his  hidden  worth,  in  a  few 
months  or  years  at  most,  Avill  blaze  out  to  the  satisfaction  and  even 
astonishment  of  all  candid  men.  A  disappointment  of  this  kind 
will  certainly  be  of  service  to  the  college." 

In  a  note  to  a  sermon  in  May,  1758,  he  styles  him  "the  best  of 
men,  and  my  favourite  friend." 

He  was  elected,  on  the  death  of  Davies,  to  be  his  successor; 
and,  soon  after  entering  on  the  office,  there  was  an  extensive  re- 
vival in  the  college :  about  half  the  students  experienced  religion. 

He  died,  July  17,  17G6,  while  in  Philadelphia,  whither  he  had 
gone  for  medical  advice.  His  state  of  mind  was  peculiarly  happy 
and  redolent  of  divine  influence.  Dr.  Mason  has  placed,  in  strik- 
ing contrast,  his  end  with  the  closing  scene  of  David  Hume's  life. 
Treat,  of  Abingdon — the  last  survivor,  except  Tennent,  of  Free- 


ELIAB    BYRAM.  491 

hold,  of  the  brethren  cast  out  in  1741 — preached  at  the  funeral  of 
his  good  fellow-labourer  in  that  day  of  abundant  harvest. 

Small  in  figure,  with  a  round,  ruddy  face,  he  was  remarkable  for 
great  knowledge  of  the  human  heart,  for  uncommon  sweetness  of 
temper,  and  polite  behaviour.  Many  were  his  long  and  fatiguing 
journeys  to  carry  the  gospel  to  vacant  and  destitute  congregations. 
Abundant  in  labours,  fervent  in  spirit,  He  that  sent  him  was  with 
him,  giving  him,  in  the  establishing  of  many  hearts  with  grace 
through  his  preaching,  testimony  that  his  work  pleased  God. 

His  first  wife,,^rah  Hall,  died,  at  the  age  of  forty-two,  July  30, 
1761, — her  moth^^"~bemg  the  second  wife  of  Gilbert  Tennent, — 
and  lies  buried  at  the  "Rising  Sun."  His  second  wife  was  Ann 
Clarkson,  daughter  of  Matthew  Clarkson,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia. 
His  son  Ebenezer  Avas  a  physician  in  Charleston ;  and  his  son 
William  Perroneau  Finley  is  the  President  of  Charleston  College. 
JDr.  Finley's  daughter  married  Samuel  Breeze,  of  Amboy,  and 
among  her  descendants  is  the  inventor  of  the  electric  telegraph. 

He  published,  in  1749,  his  sermon  at  the  ordination  of  Rodgers; 
in  1751,  on  the  death  of  Samuel  Blair;  in  1754,  at  the  opening  of 
the  Synod  of  New  York,  from  2  Cor.  x.  14;  in  1762,  on  the  death 
of  Davies ;  and  in  1764,  at  the  funeral  of  Gilbert  Tennent. 

He  was  the  second  minister  of  our  church  who  received  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  The  University  of  Glagow,  having 
conferred  it  before  on  Alison,  "adorned"  Finley  with  it  in  1763. 

At  Nottingham,  he  had  for  his  near  neighbour  Samuel  Blair; 
and  Davies  says  of  their  intimacy, — 

"  Finley,  who  full  enjoy'd  the  unbosom'd  friend." 

After  his  death,  Mr.  Ebenezer  Hazard  made  persevering  attempts 
to  publish  a  collection  of  his  works;  but  a  sufficient  number  of 
subscribers  was  not  obtained. 


ELIAB  BYRAM 


J 


Was  born  at  Bridgewater,  Massachusetts,  and  graduated  at  Har- 
vard University  in  1740.  His  ancestor,  Nicholas  Byram,  settled 
at  Bridgewater  in  1660. 

He  became  the  minister  of.Rocsiticus,  now.Mendham,  New  Jer- 
sey, in  October,  1743.  Before  1740,  there  had  been  a  meeting- 
house about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  village ;  in  1745,  a  new  one 
was  built  in  town,  and  continued  in  use  till  1816.  Rocsiticus  was 
placed  under  the  care  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  in  1738,  but, 
at  its  request,  was  restored  to  New  York  Presbytery  the  next  year. 

Brainerd  had  him  for  his  companion  in  his  first  journey  to  the 
Susquehanna,  and  speaks  of  him  with  much  afiectlon.     He  spent 


492  ROBERT   STURGEON. 

some  time  in  174G  and '47  in  Augusta  county,  and  his  labours  were 
blessed:  the  awakening  lasted  tilll7.')l.  Falling  Spring  and  Pro- 
vidence called  him  in  1747,  having  had  experience  of  his  faithful- 
ness and  ability;  but  he  declined  to  settle  in  Virginia.  He  joined 
New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  May  22,  1751,  and  accepted  the  call 
to  Amwell,  June  25.     He  died  before  May,  1754. 

He  married  Phebe,  daughter  of  Ephraim  Leonard,  of  Rajniham, 
of  an  ancient  and  honourable  family.  His  daughter  married  Jo- 
siah  Dean,  of  Raynham,  the  owner  of  the  forge  there,  the  manu- 
facture of  iron  being  the  hereditary  occupation  of  the  Byrams  and 
the  Leonards. 

His  brother  Ebenezer  moved  with  his  family  to  Mendham,  in 
1744,  and  died  there,  August  9,  1753,  aged  sixty-one.  The  Rev. 
Dr.  Philip  Lindsley,  of  Nashville  University,  is  the  grandson  of  his 
daughter  Huldah. 

Eliab  Byram  taught  while  at  Mendham.  Among  his  pupils  was 
Benjamin  Miller,*  who  had  been  in  a  remarkable  manner  converted 
tinder  the  ministry  of  Gilbert  Tcnnent  and  was  baptized  by  him. 
He  began  to  prepare  for  the  ministry ;  but,  adopting  Baptist  views, 
he  was  immersed,  and  was  the  useful  and  honoured  pastor  of  the 
Baptist  church  of  Scotch  Plains.  His  labours  as  an  evangelist,  in 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  were  highly  valuable  in  1755. 


ROBERT   STURGEON 


Was  a  nativef  of  Scotland,  and,  having  completed  his  studies, 
■was  about  to  be  taken  on  trials,  when  some  circumstances  caused 
the  presbytery  to  pause.  He  came  to  New  England,  and  was 
licensed  by  a  council,  greatly  to  the  regret  of  Cotton  Mather,  who 
felt  that  his  conduct  here  had  justified  the  course  of  the  presby- 
tery. Wodrow  lamented  that  there  was  so  little  of  a  safeguard  in 
Congregationalism  against  hasty  admission  of  unfit  persons  into 
the  sacred  office. 

He  became  the  minister  of  .Wilton,  the  Second  Society,  in  Nor- 
■vvalk,  July  20,  1726,  and  was  dismissed  in  1732. 

He  is  said,  in  President  Stiles's  papers,  to  have  been  settled  at 
Bedford,  New  York,  for  twelve  years.  Bolton,  in  his  "History  of 
West  Chester  County,"  represents  him  as  being  the  minister  there  in 
1746.  It  seems  scarcely  probable  that  New  Brunswick  Presbytery 
would  have  installed  Sackett  there  in  1743,  if  Sturgeon  then  sus- 
tained any  relation  to  that  people ;  but,  when  so  many  other  ties 

*  Morgan  Edward's  History  of  New  Jersey  Baptists.        f  Wodrow  Correspondence. 


JAMES   McCREA.  493 

u^ere  sundered  rudely,  even  this  unbrotherly  act  may  have  been 
committed. 

Sturgeon  was  present,  in  1745,  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Synod 
of  New  York,  as  a  member  of  New  York  Presbytery.  His  name 
is  not  mentioned  after  1750. 

William  Sturgeon,  who  graduated  at  Yale  in  1745,  was  probably 
his  son.  Being  recommended*  by  the  Rev.  Henry  Barclay,  of 
Trinity  Church,  New  York,  he  was  sent  out  at  the  expense  of 
Christ  Church,  Philadelphia,  in  December,  1746,  to  receive  dea- 
cons' and  priests'  orders  in  England.  He  returned  in  October,  and 
was  inducted  as  assistant  minister  of  Christ  Church,  and  catechist 
of  the  negroes.  He  was  agreeable  to  the  people ;  and,  "  considering 
his  youth  and  the  stinted  education  given  in  the  American  colleges, 
he  discharges  extremely  well"  his  official  duties.  He  resigned  the 
charge  in  1766. 


JAMES   McCREA 


Was  probably  from,  Ireland,  and  may  have  been  a  son  of  Wil- 
liam McCrea,  a  prominent  elder  from  White  Clay  during  all  the 
exciting  scenes  in  the  synod  which  ended  in  the  rupture.  He 
studied  at  the  Log  College,  and  was  taken  on  trials  by  New  Bruns- 
wick Presbytery,  October  4, 1739,  and  was  licensed,  November  6. 
At  that  time  Muscinnecunk  (Musconetcong)  asked  for  supplies,  and 
he  was  called,  April  1,  1740,  to  Lamington,  Lebanon,  Pepack, 
Readington,  and  Bethlehem.  This  call  he  accepted,  but  was  not 
ordained  till  August  4, 1741. 

Pepack  and  Lebanon  supplicated  in  1738,  and  Lammintunck  in 
the  fall  of  1739:  the  presbytery  wrote  to  Mr.  Edwards  to  send 
some  young  men  into  their  bounds. 

Among  other  separations  which  were  especially  cared  for  by  the 
conjunct   presbyteries,  in  August,  1741,  were    Pigeon   Run    and 
Christine  Bridge,  in  Delaware.     Campbell  and  Rowland  were  sent     ' 
to  them.     In  the  next  August,  Pigeon  Run  and  Newcastle  pre- 
sented a  call  for  McCrea,  but  without  success.     Pigeon  Run  was 
nearly  midway  on  the  stage-road  from  St.  George's  to  Newcastle. 
One  stone  in  the   graveyard  indicates  a  burial  there  as  early  as    ^ 
1730.     It  was  probably  united  with  the  New-Side  portion  of  Draw-    X 
yers  in  forming  St.  George's. 

McCrea  was  the  father  and  founder  of  the  congregation  of  Lam- 
ington, or  Bedminster.  A  portion  of  the  people  procured  his  dis- 
mission, November  11,  1755;  but  the  greatest  part  of  the  congre- 

*  Dorr's  History  of  Christ  Church. 


494  '  DAVID   YOUNGS. 

gation  united  in  a  new  call  to  him,  and  the  synod,  believing  that 
his  removal  could  be  of  no  service,  directed  the  call  to  be  placed  in 
his  hands, — adding,  expressly,  that  his  acceptance  of  it  "vvould  not 
entitle  the  minority  to  supplies,  or  to  be  refunded  their  contribu- 
tion to  the  meeting-house.  Bedminster,  Lebanon,  and  Reading- 
ton,  (the  White  House,)  presented  their  call,  and  he  accepted  it, 
October  26,  1756,  and  was  installed.  May  1.  Charges  were  then 
alleged  against  him,  which  on  investigation  appeared  baseless ;  and 
he  was  fully  cleared.  When  he  resigned,  October  21,  1766,  his 
people  engaged  to  provide  for  him,  being  near  the  end  of  his  daya. 
He  died.  May  10,  1769. 

His  son.  Colonel  John  McCrea,  resided  in  Albany,  and  married 
the  daughter  of  Mr.  Beekman,  who  built  the  Vanderheyden  House, 
which,  with  its  galloping  horse  for  a  weathercock,  is  placed  safe 
from  the  tooth  of  time  in  the  pages  of  Washington  Irving.  The 
site  was  sold  by  Colonel  McCrea's  heirs,  and  on  it  now  stands  the 
Pearl  Street  Baptist  Church. 

Jane  McCrea,  the  second  daughter  of  the  minister,  perished  by 
the  hands  of  savages,  near  Fort  Edward,  while  accompanying 
them  to  meet,  within  the  British  lines,  an  American  gentleman  to 
whom  she  was  soon  to  be  married.  The  Indians  quarrelled  as  to 
■which  should  receive  the  reward  for  conveying  her  to  the  place  of 
the  wedding,  and  ended  her  life  and  the  dispute  with  the  toma- 
hawk. 

It  is  said  that  Captain  Jones,  the  suitor,  entered  the  British  ser- 
vice with  the  design  of  seizing  General  Burgoyne,  and  delivering 
him  to  the  Americans,  as  had  been  successfully  done  in  the  case  of 
Colonel  Prescott  and  General  Lee. 


DAVID  YOUNGS, 

A  GRANDSON  of  the  Rev.  John  Youngs,  the  first  minister  of 
Southold,_Long  Island,  was  born  in  that  town  in  1719,  and 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1741.  Davenport  was  his  pastor;  and  he 
warmly  espoused  the  views  with  which  that  good  man  prosecuted 
his  ministry.  In  his  class-mates  Buel  and  Brainerd  he  found 
congenial  spirits. 

In  the  closing  year  of  his  college-course,  Tennent  visited  New 
Haven.  The  college  had  been  so  much  moved  by  W^hitefield's 
preaching,  that  the  enemies  of  "the  stir"  represented  it  as  being 
broken  up,  and  the  students  scattered  to  their  homes.  Tennent 
preached  seventeen  times.  Among  those  who  were  savingly 
awakened   were   Dr.  Hopkins,  of  Newport,  and   Dr.  Sproat,   of 


DAVID   THORN — JOHN   DICK.  495 

Philadelphia.  The  former  speaks  strongly  of  the  eminent  piety 
and  zeal  of  Brainerd  and  Buel,  but  of  Youngs  as  excelling  them 
in  fervency  of  spirit,  and  of  his  successful  endeavours  for  the 
unconverted. 

It  is  probable  that,  on  graduating,  he,  as  well  as  Buel,  was 
licensed  at  once ;  for,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1742,  Brookhaven,  or 
Setauket,  Long  Island,  supplicated  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  to 
ordain  him.  Why  they  passed  by  New  York  Presbytery  is  ex-  'i 
plained  by  the  fact  that  that  body  had  not  identified  itself  with 
the  peculiar  measures  of  the  Great  Revival.  New  Brunswick  i 
Presbytery  ordained  him  at  their  next  meeting,  October  12  ;  and, 
in  1746,  the  year  after  the  Synod  of  New  York  was  formed,  gave 
him  leave,  on  account  of  its  being  more  convenient,  to  join  New 
York  Presbytery.  He  became  a  member  of  Sufi"olk  Presbytery  in 
May,  1749. 

He  died  before  May,  1752,  leaving  his  people  sadly  weakened 
and  discouraged  by  the  success  of  the  Separates  in  alienating 
many  of  his  early  and  warmest  friends  from  him. 


DAVID  THORN 


AVas  probably  a  native  of  Delaware,  and  a  descendant  of  Wil- 
liam Thorn,  who,  in  November,  1674,  was  intrusted  (together  with 
Edmund  Cantwell)  with  the  public  property  at  Newcastle,  by  Sir 
Edmund  Andros.  He  was  examined  by  the  committee  of  synod, 
and  approved  as  a  candidate.  May  28,  1745.  He  was  ordained 
by  Donegal  Presbytery  between  May,  1746,  and  May,  1747,  and 
was  settled  at  Chestnut  Level. 

He  died  in  1750. 

His  son  William  was  the  first  minister  at  Alexandria,  Vir- 
ginia, and  died  in  early  life. 


JOHN    DICK 


Probably  born  in  West  Nottingham,  Maryland,  was  ordained, 
by  Newcastle  Presbytery,  November  12,  1746,  pastor  of  the  Old- 
Side  portion  of  Newcastle  and  Drawyers,  they  being  so  weakened 
by  the  rapid  growth  of  the  New-Side  churches  that  they  needed  to 
unite  that  they  might  support  the  gospel. 

He  died  in  1747  or  '48. 


^ 


496  JOHN    HAMILTON — HECTOR   ALISON. 


.   -*$ 


JOHN  HAMILTON, 

Haying  been  examined  by  the  synod's  committee,  was  ap- 
proved, May  28,  1745,  and  was  ordained,  by  Newcastle  Presby- 
^  tery,  in  1746,  pastor  of  the  Old-Side  portion  of  Rehoboth  and 
Monokin,  Maryland.  In  1750,  he  was  the  minister  at  Chester 
Town,  Maryland. 

He  died  in  1756. 


X 


HECTOR  ALISON 


Was  examined  by  the  synod's  committee,  and  approved.  May 
28,  1745.  He  was  ordained  by  Newcastle  Presbytery  in  1746, 
probably  at  White  Clay.  He  was  settled  at  Drawyers  from  1753 
to  '58. 

A  curious  instance  occurs  in  the  records  of  synod,  in  1750,  in 
the  omission  of  the  name  of  a  young  man  blamed  for  having 
hastily  promised  marriage.  The  lady  was  willing  to  release  him  ; 
but  she  had  a  scruple  whether  it  was  lawful  for  her  to  do  so. 
The  synod  decided  it  was  lawful,  and  called  up  the  young  man, 
and  du'ected  John  Thomson  to  rebuke  him  in  the  presence  of  the 
synod, — "it  being  necessary  to  show  our  detestation  of  such  rash 
proceedings  in  young  people."  He  submitted;  and  Cathcart  and 
Thomson  were  directed  to  go  with  him  to  the  young  woman,  to 
endeavour  to  issue  the  affair.  They  reported  that  they  went  to 
White  Clay  about  Alison's  affair,  and  that  the  parties  subse- 
quently made  a  mutual  release. 

In  1750,  he  was  sent  for  eight  Sabbaths  to  Western  Virginia. 
In  1753,  he  asked  for  a  dissolution  of  his  pastoral  relation.  The 
presbytery  referred  it  to  the  synod,  and  a  commission  was  ap- 
pointed, to  meet  at  New  London  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  August. 
^     They  determined  the  affair,  and  he  probably  removed  to  Drawyers. 

In  1760,  he  was  allowed  to  go  as  chaplain  to  the  Pennsylvania 
forces ;  and,  in  answer  to  a  very  pressing  application  made  to  the 
synod  in  May  of  that  year  by  the  English  Presbyterian  gentle- 
men in  Albany,  he  was  directed  to  supply  there  till  July.  He 
joined  Newcastle  Presbytery  after  the  union  in  1761,  and  was  re- 


JOHN   CAMPBELL.  497 

leased  in  a  little  time  from  his  charge  at  Appoquinimy.  An  ap- 
plication being  made  from  Baltimore  town  on  his  behalf,  a  com- 
mission was  sent  there  in  November,  Avho  judged  that  the 
proposals  were  so  unsatisfactory  that  it  was  inexpedient  to  suffer 
such  a  call  to  be  placed  in  his  hands.  He  was  dismissed  from  the 
presbytery  in  December,  1761,  probably  with  a  view  to  join 
South  Carolina  Presbytery,  and  settled  at  Williamsburg,  South 
Carolina.* 

On  his  removal  or  death,  the  congregation  were  annoyed  and 
divided  by  Samuel  Kennedy,  from  Dromore  Presbytery,  who  had 
given  no  small  trouble  to  the  synod ;  and,  although  disowned  by 
them,  he  went  south  with  letters  of  recommendation  from  the 
Second  Philadelphia  Presbytery. 


David  Brown,  a  minister  from  Scotland,  joined  Newcastle  Pres- 
bytery in  1748,  and,  the  next  year,  returned  to  his  own  country. 


JOHN  CAMPBELL 


Was  born  in  Scotland  in  1713,  and  came  to  America  in  1734. 
He  studied  at  the  Log  College,  but  at  what  period  does  not 
appear,  nor  in  what  occupation  he  passed,  or  in  what  place,  the 
first  thirteen  years  after  his  arrival.  His  home  was  probably  in 
the  Great  Valley,  in  Chester  county;  for  Charlestown  and  New 
Providence  petitioned  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  that,  if  he 
should  be  licensed,  they  might  have  his  services.  At  the  same 
time,  May  19,  1747,  Campbell  was  taken  on  trials,  and  when  he 
was  licensed,  October  14,  a  call  was  presented  for  him,  and,  on 
the  27th,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  at  Charlestown  and  New 
Providence. 

On  the  death  of  Rowland,  Treat,  of  Abingdon,  took  charge  of 
these  congregations,  and  had  the  assistance  of  David  Brainerd  at 
Charlestown  at  the  sacrament,  August  11,  1746.  This  was  on  his 
last  journey  to  the  Susquehanna ;  and,  on  his  return,  he  preached 
there  twice  on  the  Lord's  day,  September  14,  and  spent  the  next 
day  in  composing  a  difference  between  certain  persons.  "  There 
seemed  to  be  a  blessing  on  our  endeavours." 

On  the  first  day  of  May,  1753,  Campbell  was  struck  with  palsy 


*  Rev.  J.  A.  Wallace,  King's  Tree,  South  Carolina. 
32 


498  JOHN    ROAN. 

in  the  pulpit,  when  commencing  the  morning  services,  and  giving 
out  these  words  in  the  116th  Psalm : — 

•'  Dear  in  thy  sight  is  thy  saints'  death ; 
Thy  servant,  Lord,  am  I." 

Davenport,  under  date  of  May  29,  1753,  mentions  to  Bellamy 
that,  a  few  weeks  before,  Mr.  Campbell,  "  a  zealous  and  useful 
young  minister,  was  struck  in  the  pulpit  with  a  dead  palsy,  and 
died  in  little  more  than  a  week  after."     He  was  about  forty. 

His  daughter  Mary  was  but  two  years  old  at  that  time.  She 
married  General  William  Harris,  of  the  Valley,  and,  after  a 
■widowhood  of  twenty-five  years,  was  gently  called  away  in  1838, 
in  her  eighty-fourth  year.  She  left  six  sons,  of  whom  may  be 
mentioned  Dr.  William  Harris  and  Dr.  Thomas  Harris,  of  Phila- 
delphia. 

The  churches  continued  vacant  for  many  years.  Chariest  own 
j>  yearly  seeking  supplies  from  Newcastle  Presbytery,  and  New 
Providence  at  length  uniting  with  Abingdon  and  Norriton,  in 
settling  Dr.  AYilliam  M.  Tennent. 


JOHN  ROAN, 


A  NATIVE  of  Ireland,  was  brought  up  as  a.. weaver.  He  studied 
at  the  Log  College,  and  taught  on  the  Neshaminy,  probably  while 
completing  his  theological  course.  He  had,  for  one  of  his  pupils, 
Dr.  Rodgers,  of  New  York,  for  several  years.  He  was  licensed 
by  the  New-Side  Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  and  sent  to  Hanover, 
in  Virginia,  in  the  winter  of  1744.  He  continued  for  a  longer 
time  than  either  Robinson  or  Blair,  and  the  happy  effects  of  his 
ministrations  were  visible  and  lasting.  In  several  places  which  he 
visited  in  the  neighbourhood,  a  religious  concern  commenced, 
where  there  was  little  appearance  of  it  before,  and  increased ;  and 
this,  with  his  free  comments  on  the  Established  Church,  led  to  a 
vigorous  attempt  to  silence  him,  and  suppress  "the  New  Light" 
altogether.  Affidavits  were  laid  before  Governor  Gooch,  charging 
him  with  blasphemous  language  and  saying  that  the  adherents  of 
the  Episcopal  way  were  damned,  and  worshipped  the  devil.  The 
governor  delivered  a  vehement  charge  to  the  grand  jury.  An  in- 
dictment was  prepared,  April  0,  1745,  against  Roan,  (though  he 
had  left  the  colony,)  on  the  information  of  James  Axford,  for  re- 


JOHN   ROAN.  499 

fleeting  upon  and  vilifying  the  Established  religion  in  divers  ser- 
mons preached  at  the  house  of  Joshua  Morris,  in  James  City 
parish,  on  the  7th,  8th,  and  9th  of  January,  before  a  numerous 
audience  unlawfully  assembled. 

The  governor's  charge  was  published.  "  Without  a  breach  of 
charity,  we  may  pronounce  that  'tis  not  liberty  of  conscience,  but 
freedom  of  speech,  they  so  earnestly  prosecute."  An  order,  for- 
bidding any  meetings  of  Moravians,  Muggletonians,  and  New 
Lights,  was  issued,  for  which  there  was  some  show  of  reason,  it 
being  the  memorable  1745,  Avhen  the  Pretender  made  his  last 
attempt  on  the  Crown.  In  the  next  month,  the  people  of  Hano- 
ver sent  Samuel  Morris  and  three  others  to  lay  the  case  before 
the  conjunct  presbyteries.  They  sent  an  address  to  the  governor 
by  the  hands  of  Gilbert  Tennent  and  Samuel  Finley.  Before 
they  arrived,  Axford  confessed  himself  perjured,  by  fleeing  and 
never  returning.  The  indictment  was  tried,  October  19 ;  but  the 
six  witnesses,  cited  by  the  attorney-general,  fully  proved  that  he 
had  uttered  none  of  the  expressions  imputed  to  him. 

It  is  probable  that  he  had  been  ordained  before  this  time.  He 
was  soon  after  settled  over  the  united  congregations  of  Derry, 
Paxton,  and  Mount  Joy.  The  latter  was  in  Adams  county,  and 
is  now  Great  Conewago.  It  was  a  division  of  Black's  con- 
gregation of  Conewago,  and  had  one-fifth  of  Roan's  time. 

Brainerd  passed  through  Paxton  and  Derry  in  the  fall  of  1745 ; 
but  in  his  printed  journal  no  mention  is  made  of  Roan.  As  he 
rode  along,  September  11,  he  had  a  very  importunate  invitation 
to  preach, — the  people  being  gathered  at  the  meeting-house ;  but 
he  could  not,  by  reason  of  weakness.  He  was  annoyed  by  the 
rudeness  of  irreligious  fellows  at  a  tavern  where  he  lodged  in 
Paxton.  "  The  Pextang  Boys"  were  hearers  of  Roan,  as  well  as 
of  Elder. 

The  union  of  the  synods  placed  Roan  in  Donegal  Presbytery ; 
and  points  of  difficulty  continually  arose,  which  admitted  of  no 
compromise.  The  licensing  of  William  Edraeston  was  the  oc- 
casion of  much  uneasiness.  He  was  a  student  of  Sampson 
Smith's  and  a  prominent  witness  in  his  defence.  These  were  no 
recommendations  in  the  eyes  of  Roan ;  and  he  declared  himself 
dissatisfied  with  what  the  majority  accepted  as  evidence  of  the 
young  man's  piety.  Edmeston  prosecuted  Roan  for  various 
things,  to  the  effect  that  he  was  a  party  and  a  principal  mover  in 
a  conspiracy  to  destroy  Smith  by  perjured  or  dishonest  witnesses. 
The  trial  was  protracted,  and  was  in  the  last  degree  insulting ; 
trivial  questions  without  end  were  asked,  and  persons  were  sworn 
as  witnesses,  seemingly  only  to  annoy  them.  It  ended  in  Ed- 
meston's  going  to  England  for  holy  orders.  Some  friend  recom- 
mended him  to  the  Bishop  of  London  for  a  parish  in  Maryland, 


500  DAVID    BOSTWTCK. 

which  the  Lord-Proprietarj  of  MaryLand  very  highly  resented; 
"giving  an  idea,"  says  Bishop  White,  "of  the  reception  a  bishop 
"vvouhl  probaldy  have,  if  sent  over  to  that  province." 

Roan,  towards  the  close  of  life,  informed  the  presbytery  that  hia 
congregations  were  deeply  sunk  in  debt,  lie  was  sent  on  mis- 
sionary tours,  and,  at  one  time,  spent  eight  weeks  on  the  South 
Branch  of  Potomac. 

He  died,  October  3,  1775,  and  lies  buried  at  Derry  meeting- 
house, on  the  Swatara,  with  this  inscription : — 

"  Beneath  this  stone 

Are  deposited  the  remains 

Of  an  able  and  faithful. 

Courageous    and    successful 

Minister  of  Jesus  Christ." 

"  Truths  for  once  told  on  a  tombstone,"  says  the  author  of 
"Mark  Bancroft's  Tales." 

William  Graham,  of  Washington  College,  Virginia,  was  a  mem- 
ber of  his  church,  and  received  from  him  the  education  preparatory 
to  entering  Nassau  Hall,  and  his  theological  training. 


DAVID  BOSTWICK 


Was  born  in  New  Milford,  Connecticut,  in  1721,  of  parents  who 
were  from  Scotland.  He  entered  Yale  College,  but,  before  gradu- 
ating, left,  and  completed  his  studies  with  Burr,  at  Newark.  For 
some  time  he  was  his  assistant  in  the  Academy. 

He  was  ordained,  by  New  York  Presbytery,  pastor  at  Jamaica, 
Long  Island,  October  9,  1745.  Burr  preached  from  2  Timothy 
ii.  16,  and  Pemberton  exhorted  the  minister  and  people. 

Davies  heard  him  preach,  during  the  synod  in  1753,  an  excellent 
sermon  on  Acts  ii.  11.  "  He  has,  I  think,  the  best  style,  extem- 
pore, of  any  man  I  ever  heard."  He  heard  him  the  next  evening 
on  "Godliness  is  Profitable  for  all  Things,"  and  was  much  charmed 
with  both  his  matter  and  his  language.  The  next  day  being  the 
Lord's  day,  he  preached  in  the  evening,  "  W^hen  Christ  who  is  your 
life  shall  appear."  "My  pleasure  under  his  sermon  was  renewed 
and  increased." 

The  next  year  he  was  appointed  on  a  mission  to  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  but  it  is  not  probable  that  he  went. 

He  continued  at  Jamaica  ten  years,  enjoying  the  respect  and 


DAVID  BOSTWICK.  501 

affection  of  his  own  people  and  of  the  town,  with  scarcely  an  ex- 
ception; for,  at  a  meeting  of  the  freeholders  in  the  spring  of  1753, 
only  three  persons  dissented  from  giving  to  the  elders  and  deacons 
certain  lands,  and  the  right  to  sell  them  for  the  support  of  a  Pres- 
byterian minister  forever. 

The  troubles  in  the  congregation  of  New  York  had  not  been  re- 
moved by  dismissing  the  pastors,  Pemberton  and  Camming  ;  but 
an  agreement  had  been  eflFected  in  relation  to  the  mode  of  electing 
trustees,  the  enlargement  of  the  session  in  reference  to  Psalmody, 
also,  and  the  administration  of  Infant  Baptism. 

'*By  order*  of  the  synod,  in  1754,  Samuel  Finley  and  John  Blair 
came  to  New  York  to  call  a  committee  in  the  congregation  of  such 
men  as  might  be  thought  fit  to  act  for  that  congregation  in  relation 
to  a  call  and  settlement  of  a  pastor,  as  our  elders  appeared  too  in- 
dolent in  the  matter.  The  congregation  was  opposed  by  some  of 
the  gentlemen  with  much  vehemence,  which  much  surprised  the 
ministers :  they  abused  some  publicly,  and  their  behaviour  more  and 
more  convinced  us  that  the  church's  real  good  was  little  their  care 
or  concern.  They  talk  of  putting  to  vote  in  the  congregation  for 
Mr.  Bostwick  and  Mr.  Blair.  We  have  been  refused  Mr.  Davies. 
We  find  that  those  who  opposed  Mr.  Bellamy  would  oppose  Mr. 
Edwards."  They  united  with  unanimity,  in  July,  1755,  in  a  call 
for  Bostwick.  The  presbytery  asked  the  advice  of  the  synod,  and  a 
large  committee  of  the  most  valuable  ministers  was  appointed  to 
meet  at  Jamaica  and  determine  the  afi'air.  Twelve  ministers  at- 
tended ;  but,  not  having  sufficient  light,  they  referred  it  to  the  com- 
mission. They  appointed  Bostwick  to  spend  ten  sabbaths  in  New 
York,  and  provided  a  constant  supply  for  his  people.  "Mr.  Bost- 
wickf  began  his  ten  weeks  of  probation  (as  also  his  trial  of  us)  the 
first  Sabbath  in  December.  We  have  had  a  Seceder  minister  (Rev. 
Alexander  Gellatly)  invited  here,  who  has  preached  for  a  month 
four  discourses  a  week,  in  a  house  provided  for  him :  he  is  a  man 
of  sense  and  learning,  and,  to  all  appearance,  really  pious.  Mr. 
Bostwick  and  Mr.  Hait  went  to  hear  him  in  the  evening,  who  both 
approved  of  his  preaching."  "No  opposition^  appears  to  Mr. 
Bostwick :  the  gentlemen  that  were  opposed  to  Bellamy  are  very 
zealous  for  him.  He  may  be  settled,  and  a  seceding  congregation 
raised  up,  chiefly  out  of  our  congregation ;  though  pious  people  of 
almost  all  denominations  are  very  fond  of  Mr.  Gellatly's  preaching. 
For  my  part,  I  like  it  very  much,  and  think  it  well  calculated  to  do 
good  here.  It  is  a  pity  his  principles  are  so  narrow ;  but  this  city 
has  so  long  been  fed  with  bread,  perhaps  a  change  will  be  health- 
ful."    His  labours  among  them  very  much  increased,  and  strength- 


*  Samuel  Lowden  to  Bellamy,  October  7.  1754. 

j-  K.  Hazard  to  Bellamy,  December  8,  1755.  J  Ibid.,  January  9,  175G. 


502  PAVID    EOSTAVICK. 

encd  tlic  rlcsire  for  him.  The  commission  dissolved  the  pastoral  re- 
lation, April  15, 1756,  because  so  many  fruitless  attempts  had  been 
made  to  resettle  the  gospel  in  New  York,  and  there  was  so  desirable 
a  prospect  of  his  usefulness  there. 

Immediately  the  Scots  erected  a  small  house  of  worship ;  and  in 
June,  1761,  the  Rev.  John  Mason  arrived  from  Scotland, — "a 
great  philosopher,  but  not  popular."  He  had  rejected  several  calls 
from  other  churches,  and  was  with  great  difficulty  persuaded  by  his 
friends  that  it  was  his  duty  to  remove  to  New  York  from  a  people 
earnestly  entreating  him  to  remain. 

"As  the  congregation  of  Jamaica  will  necessarily  be  put  to 
charge  in  obtaining  a  resettlement  of  the  gospel  ministry,  the  com- 
mission earnestly  recommend  to  the  church  in  New  Y'^ork  to  exer- 
cise a  Christian  generosity  towards  them,  that  they  may  be  better 
enabled  to  settle  another  minister." 

lie  was  soon  after  installed  in  New  Y^ork.  One  of  liis  hearers, 
AVm.  Smith,  Esq.,  in  his  "History  of  New  Y'^ork,"  gave  this  account 
while  he  was  living: — "Of  a  mild  and  catholic  disposition,  with 
piety,  prudence,  and  zeal,  he  confines  himself  entirely  to  the  proper 
business  of  his  function.  In  the  art  of  preaching  he  is  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  clergymen  in  these  parts.  His  discourses  are 
methodical,  sound,  and  pathetic  in  sentiment,  and,  in  point  of  lan- 
guage, singularly  ornamented.  He  delivers  himself  without  notes, 
and  yet  with  great  ease  and  fluency  of  expression,  and  performs 
every  part  of  divine  service  with  a  striking  solemnity." 

In  the  winter  of  1756,  the  prevalence  of  smallpox  put  him  to 
Study  what  is  present  duty,  and  the  mind  of  Providence  in  regard 
to  himself  and  his  family.  "I  had  rather  die  in  the  way  of  duty 
than  purchase  life  by  running  out  of  it.  I  have  therefore  con- 
cluded to  stay :  but  I  have  thought  it  prudent  to  send  my  family  to 
Newark.  I  see  many  people  will  venture  to  tarry  when  they  have 
nothing  in  prospect  but  a  little  worldly  advantage :  and  will  it  do 
for  a  minister  of  Christ,  whose  work  is  so  very  important,  to  leave 
it  for  such  appearances  of  danger  as  will  not  influence  worldly  men 
to  quit  their  worldly  interests?  If  I  have  any  more  work  to  do 
for  God,  he  will  carry  me  safely  through ;  to  him  I  commit  my 
cause,  and  through  the  blood  of  Jesus  wait  for  eternal  life." 

He  preached  before  the  commissions  of  the  two  synods,  imme- 
diately previous  to  the  union,  in  1758,  from  1  Corinthians  iv.  25. 
The  sermon  was  printed,  with  the  title,  "Self  Disclaimed  and 
Christ  Exalted,"  and  in  1802,  it  was  published  in  the  second 
volume  of  the  "Evangelical  Preacher,"  in  Edinburgh,  Avith  a  re- 
commendation by  Dr.  Erskine. 

He  delivered  a  eulogium  on  President  Davies,  and  followed  him 
the  next  year  to  a  better  world.  He  died,  after  a  few  days'  illness, 
November  12,  1763,  in  the  forty-foui'th  year  of  his  age,  "  being 


PAVID   BOSTWICK.  503 

remarkably  supported."  His  health  had  been  for  a  long  time  so 
delicate  that  he  needed  an  assistant ;  and  the  Rev.  Joseph  Treat 
vras  called  to  be  his  colleague,  in  October,  1762. 

"As  a  preacher  he  was  uncommonly  popular.  His  gifts  and 
qualifications  for  the  pulpit  were  of  a  high  order.  His  appearance 
and  deportment  Avere  peculiarly  venerable.  He  possessed  a  clear 
understanding,  a  warm  heart,  a  quick  apprehension,  a  lively  imagi- 
nation, a  solid  judgment.  He  had  a  strong  voice,  and  spoke  in  a 
distinct,  deliberate,  and  impressive  manner,  and  with  a  command- 
ing eloquence.  He  dealt  faithfully  with  his  hearers,  declaring  to 
them  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  showing  them  their  danger  and 
their  remedy;  speaking  with  the  solemnity  becoming  the  import- 
ance of  the  subject,  in  language  pure  and  elegant,  plain  and  affec- 
tionate, never  below  the  dignity  of  the  pulpit,  nor  above  the  ca- 
pacity of  any  of  his  hearers." 

Dr.  Miller  says,  "  He  possessed  pulpit  talents  superior  to  most 
of  his  brethren :  his  piety  and  prudence  were  as  conspicuous  as  his 
brilliant  gifts.  His  eloquence  was  such  as  few  attain :  the  ardour 
of  his  piety,  and  the  purity  of  his  life,  gave  him  a  strong  hold  on 
public  esteem.  His  ministry  in  New  York  equalled  the  most  san- 
guine expectations  of  his  friends;"  but  he  could  not  bring  back  the 
Scots'  Presbyterian  Society. 

Not  long  after  his  decease,  his  treatise  entitled  "A  Fair  and 
Rational  Vindication  of  the  Right  of  Infants  to  the  Ordinance  of 
Baptism"  was  published  in  New  York,  and  reprinted  the  next  year, 
in  London. 

His  widow  died  at  Newark,  September  22,  1778,  aged  fifty- 
seven.  His  daughter  Hannah  was  married  to  Mr.  Barret,  Major- 
General  McDougal,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rog,,of  Woodbridge. 

In  May,  1762,  the  congregation  purchased  a  parsonage;  but, 
besides  being  strengthened  in  numbers,  established  in  peace,  and 
favoured  with  prosperity,  a  better  benefit  descended  from  heaven. 
Shortly  before  his  decease,  the  means  of  grace  were  attended  with 
a  more  than  common  blessing.  A  portion  of  its  happy  influence 
remained  when  Rodgers  was  installed,  in  1765. 

The  loss  of  his  eldest  son,  in  1762,  was  a  heavy  blow,  "who  was 
so  much  the  darling  and  hope  of  my  family."  In  January,  1763, 
he  said,  "our  church  affairs  are  but  in  an  indifferent  situation. 
Unhappily  for  us,  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Treat  has  made  some  jar, 
and  dissatisfied  a  number,  though  I  hope  not  many.  An  attempt 
has  been  made  by  Messrs.  Hazard,  Wells,  and  others,  to  erect  an- 
other congregation,  in  which  Mr.  Thompson  has  been  employed  as 
a  preacher ;  but  with  no  success.  Religion  is  indeed  at  a  low  ebb 
with  us."  Shortly  before  his  death,  the  means  of  grace  were  at- 
tended with  a  more  than  common  blessing;  " thoughtfulness  about 


504  THOMAS   ARTHUR. 

religion"  continued;  and  this  was  probably  a  strong  inducement  to 
Rodgers  to  accept  the  call. 

Bostwick  said,  in  175"J,  "  There  were  some  slight  awakenings,  but 
no  genuine  convictions;  good  people  have  not  a  right  temper." 
Hazard,  whose  heart  was  bound  up  in  Bellamy,  said,  "Our  con- 
gregation is  yearly  increasing  in  grandeur  and  finery,  but,  I  be- 
lieve, has  seen  its  best  days  as  to  godliness,  perhaps  for  this  age." 


THOMAS  ARTHUR 


Graduated  at  Yale  in  1743,  and  was,  on  being  licensed,  em- 
ployed for  a  time  at  Stratfield,  Connecticut.  He  was  ordained  and 
installed,  by  New  York  Presbytery,  pastor  at  New  Brunswick,  in 
174(3.  It  seems  not  unlikely,  from  the  remark  of  Gilbert  Tennent, 
in  1744,  that  the  congregation  there  was  then  sadly  changed  from 
its  favoured  condition  when  it  was  as  a  field  the  Lord  had  blessed ; 
and  that  his  removal  had  been  preceded  or  followed  by  some  un- 
happy occurrences,  which  led  to  its  placing  itself  under  New  York 
Presbytery. 

Arthur*  was  a  good  scholar,  a  graceful  orator,  a  finished 
preacher,  an  excellent  Christian;  steadfast,  without  a  tincture  of 
bigotry;  cheerful  in  conversation,  without  the  appearance  of 
levity ;  of  an  amiable  and  engaging  behavioui' ;  the  darling  of  his 
people. 

He  was  one  of  the  original  trustees  of  New  Jersey  College,  as 
was  also  Mr.  Johannes  Leydt,  the  pastor  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  of  New  Brunswick. 

His  sermon  at  the  ordination  of  Thane,  in  August,  1750,  was 
printed,  and  the  trustees  of  the  congregation  of  New  York  re- 
quested a  copy,  for  publication,  of  his  sermon  preached  at  the  ordi- 
nation of  Cumming  as  their  pastor,  in  October  of  that  year. 

He  died,  February  2, 1750-1,  aged  twenty-seven.  His  distemper 
was  violent,  and  soon  affected  his  head ;  but  as  death  approached 
the  clouds  scattered.  He  passed  away  calmly,  leaving  his  soul  in 
the  hands  of  Christ,  saying,  "I  am  not  afraid  to  depend  on  his  all- 
sufficient  merits  alone  for  eternal  life." 

The  meeting-house  was  struck  with  lightning  in  June,  1752,  and 
was  pretty  much  shattered.    A  long  vacancy  ensued  in  the  pastoral 

*  Obituary  in  New  York  Papers. 


ANDREW    HUNTER.  605 

office,  during  which  Gumming  probably  supplied  them  from  1753 
to  1761.  About  this  time  the  congregation  again  came  under  the 
care  of  I^ew  Brunswick  Presbytery. 


ANDREW  HUNTER 


"Was  taken  on  trials  by  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  September 
11,  1744,  and  was  licensed  May  28,  1745:  he  was  ordained  the 
pastor  of  Greenwich  and  Deerfield,  in  West  Jersey,  September  4, 
1746. 

In  1720,  Gloster  and  Pilesgrove  were  associated  in  endeavours 
to  "settle  the  gospel  among  them,"  and  continued  united  till 
1738,  when  the  name  of  Gloster  ceases,  and  Pilesgrove  and  Deer- 
field  had  the  Rev.  Daniel  Buckingham  as  a  candidate.  Piles- 
grove was  anxious  to  make  eiforts  to  secure  him  permanently ;  but 
Deerfield  refused.  A  new  meeting-house  was  needed  at  the  former 
place,  and,  after  much  contention,  was  placed,  with  the  consent  of 
the  commission,  within  six  miles  of  Deerfield  Church.  This  put 
them  asunder ;  and,  when  Pilesgrove  and  Quihawken  called  David 
Evans,  the  presbytery  mournfully  record  that  Deerfield  is  left.  It 
passed  over  to  the  New  Side,  and  united  with  Greenwich  in  settling 
Hunter. 

Greenwich  was  left  vacant  by  Gould's  removal  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Revival;  it  was  fully  enlisted  on  the  side  of  its  pro- 
moters. Whitefield  preached  in  April  and  in  October,  1740,  at 
Greenwich  and  Gloster.  Tennent  had  been  there  before  his  second 
visit,  and,  on  the  rupture,  Campbell  and  Rowland  were  bidden  to 
complete  their  circuit  by  preaching  at  Cape  May  and  Greenwich. 
Cohanzy,  or  Fairfield,  seems  to  have  been  highly  favoured  during 
"Whitefield's  stay,  while  of  Greenwich,  he  says,  at  one  time,  none 
were  moved.  In  September,  1746,  he  preached  three  sermons 
there  to  large  and  afi"ected  auditories.  Finley  laboured  with  zeal 
and  success  in  Deerfield  and  the  adjoining  congregations. 

Hunter  drew  many  from  Fairfield  to  him :  on  the  deaths  of  their 
pastors,  Elmer  and  Evans,  both  Fairfield  and  Pilesgrove  passed 
over  to  the  New  Side  and  settled  Ramsey  and  Greenman.  Hunter 
gave  up  Deerfield  in  1760,  and  died,  July  28, 1775. 


50G  DAVID    BRAINERD. 


DAVID  BRAINERD, 

Born  of  a  respectable  family  at  IladJam,  Connecticut,  April 
20,  1718,  was  early  left  an  orphan.  Losing  his  father  at  the  age 
of  eight,  he  was  terrified  at  the  thoughts  of  death,  but  soon 
turned  from  the  care  of  his  soul,  esteeming  religion  a  melancholy 
business  that  destroyed  his  eagerness  for  play.  At  thirteen, — 
awakened  he  knew  not  how, — his  concern  was  increased  by  the 
prevalence  of  a  mortal  sickness.  The  death  of  his  mother,  in 
March,  1732,  exceedingly  distressed  him.  Frequent,  constant, 
and  sometimes  even  fervent,  in  prayer,  he  took  delight  in  reading 
pious  books,  especially  "Janeway's  Token  for  Children."  At 
times  he  was  much  melted  in  the  duties  of  religion,  and,  being  re- 
markably dead  to  the  world,  his  thoughts  were  almost  wholly  em- 
ployed about  his  soul's  concern.  In  his  fifteenth  year,  he  went 
to  lladdam,  and  resided  there  till  nineteen,  still  attending  secret 
prayer,  though  much  addicted  to  the  company  and  the  amuse- 
ments of  the  young.  Ilis  conviction  abated.  Having  gone  to 
Durham,  to  work  his  farm,  love  of  study  prompted  him  to  seek  a 
liberal  education ;  and,  at  twenty,  he  entered  on  a  course  of  learn- 
ing in  the  house  of  Mr.  Fiske,  the  minister  of  Haddam.  He 
finished  his  preparation  for  college  with  his  brother,  the  minister 
of  Eastbury.  Naturally  inclined  to  melancholy,  he  was  now 
regular  in  life,  sober  in  deportment,  and  settled  on  a  self-righteous 
foundation. 

Walking  out  for  prayer,  of  a  Sabbath  morning  in  the  winter  of 
1738,  it  pleased  God  to  give  him  of  a  sudden  such  a  view  of  his 
danger  and  of  the  divine  wrath,  that  he  stood  amazed.  He 
envied  the  birds  and  the  beasts  their  happiness  in  not  being  ex- 
posed, like  him,  to  eternal  misery.  Day  by  day  mountains 
seemed  to  obstruct  his  hoping  for  mercy,  and  the  work  of  con- 
version seemed  so  great  that  he  thought  he  should  never  be  the 
subject  of  it.  Spending  a  day  in  February,  1739,  in  fasting  and 
almost  continual  cries  that  his  eyes  might  be  opened  to  see  the 
evil  of  sin  and  the  way  of  life  in  Jesus  Christ,  God  was  pleased 
to  make  to  him  a  considerable  discovery  of  his  heart :  his  en- 
deavours that  day  became  a  means  of  showing  him  in  some 
measure  his  helplessness.  One  night,  while  walking  alone,  such 
a  view  of  his  sin  opened  to  him  that  he  feared  the  ground  would 
cleave  and  become  his  grave.  These  many  disappointments,  dis- 
tresses, and  perplexity,  put  him  in  a  horrible  frame  of  con- 
testing with  the  Almighty, — with  inward  vehemence  and  virulence 
blaming  his  ways  of   dealing  with  man.     "I  found  great  fault 


DAVID    BRAINERD.  507 

with  the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin  to  his  posterity,  and  wished 
for  some  other  way  of  salvation  than  by  Jesus  Christ.  Being 
sensible  of  the  necessity  of  deep  humiliation  in  order  to  a  saving 
interest  in  Christ,  I  used  to  set  myself  to  produce  in  my  heart  the 
convictions  requisite  in  such  a  humiliation.  Scores  of  times  I 
vainly  imagined  myself  humbled  and  prepared  for  mercy."  In 
this  distressed,  bewildered,  and  tumultuous  state,  he  was  espe- 
cially irritated  with  the  strictness  of  the  divine  law,  and  with  the 
fact  that  faith  was  the  condition  of  salvation.  He  could  not  find 
out  Avhat  faith  was,  nor  what  it  was  to  believe  and  come  to  Christ. 
"  I  could  not  bear  the  divine  sovereignty."  At  last,  on  Friday, 
July  10,  1739,  seeing  all  was  in  vain,  he  was  brought  to  a  stand, 
as  being  totally  lost.  The  tumult  was  now  quieted,  and  he  was 
somewhat  eased  of  the  distress  he  had  felt  in  struggling  with  a 
view  of  himself  and  of  the  divine  sovereignty.  He  saw  that,  in 
all  his  performances,  he  had  regard  to  nothing  but  his  self- 
interest  :  his  duties  were  nothing  but  self-worship  and  horrid  abuse 
of  God. 

On  the  next  Sabbath,  Avhile  walking  in  a  thick  grove  and  en- 
deavouring to  pray,  though  in  a  very  senseless,  stupid  frame,  un- 
speakable glory  opened  to  his  soul  in  a  new,  inward  appre- 
hension or  view  of  God.  "  I  stood  still,  wondered,  and  admired. 
It  was  widely  diiferent  from  all  the  conceptions  I  ever  had  of  God 
or  things  divine.  My  soul  rejoiced  with  joy  unspeakable  to  see 
such  a  God;  and  I  was  inwardly  pleased  and  satisfied  that  he 
should  be  over  all  for  ever  and  ever."  So  captivated  was  he  with 
the  excellency,  loveliness,  greatness,  and  other  perfections  of  God, 
that  he  had  no  thought  at  first  of  his  own  salvation,  or  that  there 
was  such  a  creature  as  himself.  "  The  way  of  salvation  opened 
with  such  infinite  wisdom,  suitableness,  and  excellency,  that  I  won- 
dered I  should  ever  think  of  any  other  way.  Could  I  have  been 
saved  in  any  other  way,  my  whole  soul  would  have  refused  it.  I 
wondered  that  all  the  world  did  not  see  and  comply  with  this  way 
of  salvation  entirely  by  the  righteousness  of  Christ. 

"  '  Stoddard's  Guide  to  Christ'  was,  I  trust,  in  the  hands  of 
God,  the  happy  means  of  my  conversion." 

"  While  spending  some  time  in  prayer  and  self-examination,  the 
Lord  so  shined  into  my  heart  that  I  enjoyed  the  full  assurance  of 
his  favour  for  that  time,  and  Avas  unspeakably  refreshed  with  hea- 
venly enjoyments." 

He  entered  Yale  College  in  September,  1739,  and  enjoyed  con- 
siderable sweetness  in  religion  all  the  winter,  though  ambition  in 
his  studies  greatly  wronged  the  activity  and  vigour  of  his  spiritual 
life.  The  class  was  the  largest  that  had  ever  entered  the  insti- 
tution, and  he  stood  at  the  head  of  it.  An  attack  of  measles,  in 
the  winter,  made  him  despair  of  life ;  and  in  August,  close  appli- 


508  DAVID    BRAIXERD. 

cation  to  study  compelled  him  to  go  home  in  great  weakness.  Tie 
did  not  return  to  New  Haven  till  after  Whitefield's  visit.  His  old 
temptation,  ambition  in  study,  sunk  him  into  coldness  and  dul- 
ness.  The  Great  Awakening  began  in  February,  1741,  and  he 
was  much  quickened  and  abundantly  engaged  in  religion. 

On  his  death-bed  he  destroyed  so  much  of  his  diary  as  reached 
from  January,  1741,  till  April  14,  1742,  because  of  the  "  im- 
prudences and  indecent  heats"  into  which  he  was  carried  by  "  a 
tincture  of  the  intemperate  and  indiscreet  zeal"  then  prevalent. 

Gilbert  Tennent  laboured  with  great  success  among  the  students 
and  the  citizens.  When  he  left,  many  people  followed  him  to  Mil- 
ford.  The  scholars  were  fined  for  going  without  leave ;  and 
Brainerd  was  accused  of  having  said,  he  "wondered  the  rector 
did  not  fear  to  drop  down  dead  for  doing  so."  In  the  spring,  he 
went  over,  with  Buel,  to  Southold,  and  witnessed  the  glorious  dis- 
plays of  grace. 

In  the  summer,  Davenport  came  to  New  Haven;  and  many  who 
had  long  disliked  the  preaching  of  the  pastor,  Mr.  Noyes, — both 
his  doctrine  and  his  manner, — now  withdrew,  and  formed  a  new 
congregation.  The  rector,  Mr.  Clap,  disliked  the  preaching  and 
took  unwearied  pains  afterwards  to  form  a  church  in  the  college, 
that  he  and  the  students  might  enjoy  ministrations  more  orthodox 
and  attractive.  But  he  Avas  a  foe  to  all  violations  of  order ;  and 
Brainerd  incurred  his  displeasure  for  going  once,  when  forbidden, 
to  the  separate  meeting. 

Being  alone,  with  some  companions  in  the  hall,  after  the 
tutor  (Mr.  Whittlesey)  had  been  unusually  pathetic  in  his  prayer, 
Brainerd  was  overheard  by  a  passer-by  to  say,  "  He  has  no  more 
grace  than  this  chair."  This  reached  the  rector;  and  he  extorted 
from  those  Avho  were  present  the  information  as  to  the  person 
of  whom  Brainerd  spoke.  Being  required  to  make  a  public  con- 
fession, and  to  humble  himself  before  the  whole  college,  in  the  hall, 
for  what  he  had  said  in  private  conversation,  he  would  not  comply, 
and  was  expelled. 

This  was  in  the  Avinter  of  1742 ;  and  he  went  to  prosecute  his 
theological  studies  with  Mills,  of  Ripton,  under  the  supervision  of 
the  neighbouring  ministers,  Cooke,  of  Stratford,  Graham,  of 
Southbury,  and  Bellamy,  of  Bethlehem.  In  May,  he  spread  the 
treatment  he  had  received  from  the  rector  and  tutors  before  a 
council  of  ministers  at  Hartford,  and  they  entreated  the  college 
authorities  to  restore  him  to  his  former  privileges,  but  Avithout  suc- 
cess. The  Association  met  at  Danbury,  July  29,  and,  having  exa- 
mined him  as  to  his  learning  and  experience  in  religion,  licensed 
him  to  preach.  His  first  sermon  Avas  from  1  Pet.  iv.  8,  and  Avas 
delivered  at  Southbury.  "  Had  much  of  the  comfortable  presence 
of  God  in  the  exercise;  seemed  to  have  power  to  get  hold  of  the 


DAVID    BRATNEKD.  509 

hearts  of  the  people."  Being  forced  by  the  people  to  preach  at  a 
place  near  Kent,  some  Indians  cried  out  in  great  distress,  and  all 
appeared  greatly  concerned.  "  Hired  an  Englishwoman  to  keep 
a  kind  of  school  amono;  them." 

On  the  17th  of  August,  he  began  to  see  that  he  had  erred  in 
many  things.  "  It  cuts  and  wounds  my  heart  to  think  how  much 
self-exaltation,  spiritual  pride,  and  warmth  of  temper  have  inter- 
mingled with  my  endeavours  to  promote  God's  work.  Sometimes 
I  long  to  lie  down  at  the  feet  of  opposers  and  confess  what  a  poor 
imperfect  creature  I  am."  He  was  regarded  as  one  of  "the  most 
disorderly  strolling  preachers,"  and  had  to  use  much  care  to 
escape  imprisonment  at  New  Haven  for  having  preached  to  the 
Separate  Society  there.  He  came  into  the  town,  secretly,  in  the 
evening.  Preaching,  in  October,  at  West  Suffield,  with  clearness, 
power,  and  pungency,  "  there  was  some  noise  and  tumult  in  the 
assembly  that  I  did  not  well  like,  and  I  endeavoured  to  bear  public 
testimony  against  it  with  moderation  and  mildness  through  the 
current  of  my  discourse." 

"  I  cried  to  God  to  enable  me  to  bear  testimony  against  the 
false  appearances  of  religion,  which  breed  confusion  and  hinder 
the  progress  of  vital  piety."  At  Canterbury,  where  there  had 
been  a  division,  he  preached  in  the  meeting-house :  "  exhorted  the 
people  to  love  one  another,  and  not  to  set  up  their  own  frames  as 
a  standard  by  which  to  try  all  their  brethren."  He  went  to  see 
the  Rev.  Solomon  Williams,  of  Lebanon,  who  is  supposed  to  have 
had  much  influence  in  convincing  Davenport  of  his  errors,  and 
who  wrote  against  the  book  of  his  kinsman,  Jonathan  Edwards,  on 
requiring  a  profession  of  personal  piety  as  a  term  of  sacramental 
communion.  "  Spent  several  hours  with  him ;  was  greatly  de- 
lighted with  his  serious,  deliberate,  impartial  way  of  discourse 
about  religion." 

At  New  London,  January  28,  1743,  "  Found  some  fallen  into 
extravagancies,  carried  away  with  a  false  zeal  and  bitterness. 
God  had  not  taught  them  with  briers  and  thorns  to  be  of  a  kind 
disposition  towards  mankind."  A  few  weeks  after,  Davenport 
came,  and  foolishly  made  a  bonjSre  of  some  pious  books  and  gen- 
teel clothing. 

To  Bellamy  he  said,  February  4,  1742-3,  "Last  week  I 
preached  for  Mr.  Fish  at  Stonington.  The  Lord  helped  me  to  be 
all  love  there  while  I  was  undermining  false  religion,  so  that,  if 
they  had  any  inclination  to  quarrel  with  me,  he  helped  me  to  love 
them  all  to  death.  There  was  much  false  zeal  among  them,  so 
that  some  began  to  separate  from  that  dear  man.  He  wants  to 
see  you  in  these  parts  more  than  any  man  on  earth.  Indeed,  I 
believe  you  might  do  service  there,  if  the  Lord  should  help  you  to 
softness." 


610  DAVID    BRAINERD. 

At  Stonington,  where  there  was  also  a  rending  of  the  church, 
he  insisted  on  humility  and  steadfastness  in  keeping  God's  com- 
mands, and  that  we  should  not  make  our  own  frames  the  rule  by 
which  Ave  judge  others.  "  I  felt  sweetly  calm,  full  of  brotherly 
love,  and  never  more  free  from  party  spirit.  I  hope  some  good 
will  follow ;  that  Christians  will  be  freed  from  false  joy,  party 
zeal,  and  censuring  one  another.  A  few  days  ago,  the  Lord 
let  me  feel  as  if  I  could  rend  heaven  down  on  their  heads  if  they 
would  not  come  to  God;  and  that  showed  me  that,  while  I  was 
warring  against  wild-fire  because  of  that  cursed  pride  there  was  in 
it,  I  might  fall  into  an  extreme  that  way.  Oh,  the  Lord  help  us, 
or  we  shall  wound  the  cause  of  God  some  way  or  other." 

In  after  years  he  said,  "When  God  sets  before  me  my  past 
misconduct,  especially  any  instances  of  misguided  zeal,  it  sinks 
me  into  shame  and  confusion."  "Longed  to  get  on  my  knees  and 
ask  forgiveness  of  everybody  that  had  ever  seen  any  thing  amiss, 
especially  in  my  religious  zeal."  "  Was  grieved  at  the  very 
thoughts  of  a  fiery,  angry,  and  intemperate  zeal  in  religion ; 
mourned  over  past  follies  in  that  regard." 

These  things  serve  to  show,  like  the  acknowledgments  of  Daven- 
port, how  much  man  did  to  mar  God's  work,  while  yet  most  truly 
desirous  of  promoting  his  glory. 

He  had  long  indulged  the  hope  of  being  sent  to  the  heathen 
afar  off,  and  of  seeing  them  flock  home  to  Christ;  but  his  disgrace 
at  college  seemed  to  render  it  impossible.  While  at  New  Haven, 
November  19,  1742,  he  received  a  letter  from  Pemberton,  desiring 
him  to  come  speedily  to  New  York,  to  meet  with  the  corre- 
spondents of  the  Scottish  Society  in  relation  to  the  Indians. 
"  My  mind  was  instantly  seized  with  concern ;  so  I  retired  with 
two  or  three  friends  and  prayed,  and  it  was  indeed  a  sweet  time 
to  me."  Oppressed  with  the  weight  of  the  affair,  but  casting  his 
burden  on  the  Lord,  he  reached  the  city,  November  24,  and,  the 
next  day,  "was  examined  of  my  Christian  experience,  my  ac- 
quaintance with  divinity,  and  some  other  studies,  in  order  to  my 
improvement  in  that  important  affair  of  evangelizing  the  heathen. 
I  was  forced  to  go  and  preach  to  a  considerable  assembly,  before 
some  grave  and  learned  ministers." 

Having  now  undertaken  the  missionary  work,  and  thinking  he 
should  have  no  occasion  among  the  Indians  for  the  estate  left  him 
by  his  father,  (though  afterwards  he  found  himself  mistaken,)  no 
way  presented  itself  to  his  thoughts  wherein  he  could  do  so  much 
good  with  it  as  by  educating  a  young  man  for  the  ministry.  lie 
selected  "  a  dear  friend,"  Nehemiah  Greenman,  of  Stratford,  ac- 
quainted him  with  his  thoughts,  and  left  him  to  consider  of  it  till 
they  met.  He  was  soon  put  to  learning,  and  was  supported  by 
Brainerd  till  the  latter  died,  Greenman  having  gone  through  hia 


DAVID    BRAINERD.  511 

third  year.  He  was,  for  many  years,  the  pastor  of  Plttsgrove,  in 
West  Jersey. 

His  expectation  was  to  be  sent  at  once  to  the  Forks  of  Dela- 
ware ;  and  he  took  leave  of  his  friends  as  if  never  to  meet  them 
again  on  earth.  In  the  evening  of  the  Lord's  day,  December  26, 
he  rode  from  New  Haven  to  Branford,  "  after  I  had  kneeled  down 
and  prayed  with  a  number  of  dear  Christian  friends,  in  a  very  re- 
tired place  in  the  woods.  The  next  evening  I  preached  from 
Matt.  vi.  33,  'But  seek  ye  first,'  with  much  freedom,  sweet  power, 
and  pungency:  the  presence  of  God  attended  our  meeting.  Oh, 
the  sweetness,  the  tenderness,  I  felt  in  my  soul !  If  I  ever  felt 
the  temper  of  Christ,  I  had  some  sense  of  it  now.  Blessed  be  my 
God !  I  have  seldom  enjoyed  a  more  comfortable  and  profitable 
day  than  this."  Yet  this  was  the  thing  set  foremost  in  the 
charges  against  Mr.  Bobbins:  "his  earnestness  in  improving 
those  strolling  preachers  that  were  most  disorderly,  more  espe- 
cially in  one  meeting  carried  on  at  his  own  house  by  Messrs. 
Brainerd  and  Buell." 

The  Correspondents  not  wishing  him  to  begin  his  labours  in 
the  winter,  he  spent,  by  request  of  the  people  of  East  Hampton, 
four  weeks  with  them. 

While  detained  at  Saybrook,  he  wrote  to  Bellamy,  February  4) 
1742-3  :— 

*'  Dearest  Brother  : — 

"  I  received  the  line  you  sent  me  from  Branford  with  satis* 
faction,  but  longed,  if  Divine  Providence  had  permitted,  to  have 
seen  yourself  in  the  room  of  it.  I  have  been  so  hurried  of  late, 
especially  this  week,  while  a  friend  from  East  Hampton  has  been 
waiting  for  me,  that  I  despaired  of  writing  to  you  before  I  left 
the  shore,  having  sundry  other  letters  to  write  of  absolute 
necessity.  But  Divine  Providence  has  given  me  this  opportunity, 
for  want  of  wind  to  sail ;  and  oh  that  my  time  in  writing  these 
lines,  and  yours  in  reading  them,  may  be  spent  for  the  glory  of 
our  blessed  Lord !  Almost  my  whole  time,  since  I  left  Branford, 
has  been  spent  in  one  continued  series  of  spiritual  distress  and 
inward  conflicts, — though  I  have  taken  a  journey  to  the  eastward 
since,  in  which  I  preached  near  twenty  times,  and  sometimes  with 
divine  softness,  tenderness,  and  some  degree  of  power  and  pun- 
gency. All  the  praise  be  to  the  Great  Donor  of  every  good  and 
perfect  gift!  What  I  have  endured  in  my  soul  is  perfectly 
beyond  expression  and  the  conception  of  any  but  those  that  feel 

the  same My  distress  consists   wholly  in  privation  ;   and, 

being  unable  to  bear  the  distress,  I  am  greatly  inclined  to  amuse 
and  divert  myself  with  some  mean  conversation,  or  something  else, 
while  my  conscience  stings  me  for  that  criminal  waste  of  time,  and 


612  •  DAVID    BRAINERD. 

for  attempting  to  please  myself  with  any  thing  short  of  God 

However,  I  am  persuaded  that  God  has  done  and  will  do  me  good 
by  these  trials.  ^Nothing  could  ever  have  shown  me  so  much  of 
my  insufficiency  to  make  myself  happy ;  that  our  blessedness  is 
not,  in  whole  or  in  part,  in  and  of  ourselves,  but  from  God  alone, — 
as  these  dispensations  have  done.  Nothing  kills  cursed  pride  and 
Belf-conceit  like  it.  Nothing  destroys  a  positive,  confident,  dog- 
matical spirit  like  it.  So  that,  seeing  we  are  dark  and  benighted 
and  so  infinitely  vile  and  ignorant,  instead  of  saying,  '  I  know,* 
and  'I  know  as  sure  as  God  lives,'  &c.,  we  shall  be  ready  to  say, 
*I  don't  know;'  'I  am  a  poor,  dark,  ignorant,  benighted  worm;' 
'Oh,  the  Lord  only  knows.'  Further:  nothing  makes  me  so 
tender  towards  all  mankind  in  general,  and  towards  those  we  hope 
to  be  our  fellow-Christians  in  particular,  though  they  and  we 
difi"er  widely  in  sentiment  in  some  respects.  This  I  have  found 
by  experience,  to  a  remarkable  degree  of  late,  when  I  have  had 
any  dawn  of  divine  light,  so  that  I  could  even  love  a  close,  refined 
hypocrite,  in  the  midst  of  all  his  nauseous  actions.  But,  dearest 
brother,  I  am  afraid  of  extremes  everywhere.  I  fear  whether  you 
and  I  haven't  been  too  dogmatical  with  regard  to  our  own  frames 
and  feelings ;  i.e.  set  them  up  as  standards,  at  least  too  much  to 
try  others  by,  though  I  don't  dare  to  say  we  have;  but  what  I 
see  more  and  more  is,  that  God  don't  deal  with  all  his  children  as 

■with  me My  soul  has  undergone   inexpressible   anguish 

yesterday  and  to-day;  and  the  greatness  of  my  work  lies  like 
mountains  of  lead  upon  me,  though  I  had  much  rather  go  than 
tarry  in  these  parts,  and  I'd  rather  die  than  go  or  stay;  not  be- 
cause death  is  desirable,  as  sometimes;  but,  dearest  brother,  if 
there  is  an  object  of  pity  on  earth,  and  one  that  needs  the  prayers 
of  all  God's  people,  'tis  I,  at  present.  Oh,  therefore,  pray  for  me, 
and  tell  your  dear  Christians  to  pray  for  me,  that  God  would  go 
with  me  and  help  me;  for,  at  present,  I  don't  desire  the  Indians 
should  be  converted,  and  yet  I  can't  but  go  among  'em. 

"  I  expect  to  tarry  four  or  five  weeks  at  East  Hampton,  before  I 
go  to  York.  I  should  be  very  glad  if  you  would  write  to  Mr.  Pem- 
berton  and  enclose  a  letter  in  his  for  me,  and  do  take  some  care  of 
brother  Greenman,  my  scholar,  for  I  can't  hear  a  word  from  him, 
though  I  have  wrote  to  him :  and  when  you  write  to  me  at  York, 
let  me  know  where  he  is,  and  how  he  is.  So,  dear,  dear  brother, 
wishing  you  well  for  time  and  eternity,  and  hoping,  after  a  few 
gloomy  days  more,  to  meet  you  in  that  world  where  sin  and  sorrow 
is  eternally  banished,  I  remain  your  benighted  but  very  affection- 
ate brother,  David  Brainerd. 

"  P.S.  Dear  Brother  : — I  long  to  see  you  more  than  any  friend 
on  earth,  to  converse  with  you  of  some  dear  topics.     I  wonder  we 


DAVID    BRAINERD.  513 

should  spend  any  time  fruitlessly  when  we  were  together,  since 
now  I  would  give  any  thing  for  one  hour ;  but  I  know  not  but  we 
must  defer  our  communion  and  .conference  to  the  world  of  spirits. 
0  Lord,  let  our  souls  meet  there  ere  long,  and  rejoice  for  ever  and 
ever.     Amen,  and  amen." 

At  New  York,  the  following  letter  from  Bellamy  was  waiting  for 
him,  dated  March  7,  1743  :— 

*'  Dearest  Brother  : — 

"  Last  night  I  received  yours  from  Seabrook.  I  read  it,  and 
loved  you  and  pitied  you,  and  felt  a  sweet  mixture  of  grief,  sor- 
row, and  joy.  You  seem  dearer  to  me  than  all  the  world  besides. 
It  was  not  from  want  of  love  I  did  not  come  to  see  you  from  Bran- 
ford,  nor  is  it  from  want  of  love  I  don't  now  set  out  for  New  York 
to  meet  you  there  ;  but,  dear  brother,  we  must  travel  far  asunder, 
tho',  by  your  letter,  I  see  'tis  thro'  much  the  same  wilderness.  I 
hope  we  shall  meet  in  the  same  blessed  world  at  last.  All  your 
sore  conflicts  do  and  will  work  for  your  good ;  only  keep  on  follow- 
ing after  the  Lord,  and  verily  he  will  be  kind:  Isa.  xl.  31.  I  have 
heard  that  there  is  a  great  inclination  among  some  of  the  Indians 
above  Susquehanna,  to  receive  y*^  gospel,  tho'  at  that  place  I  hear 
y^  are  much  prejudiced,  and  are  very  surly.  John  Mac,  the  Mora- 
vian preacher,  has  been  in  all  those  parts,  and,  as  he  tells  me,  (I  saw 
him  last  week,)  has  strangely  got  into  the  hearts  of  the  Indians. 
But,  by-the-way,  I  fear  he  is  not  sound  in  his  principles  :  he  would 
not  talk  very  plain,  but,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  he  seemed  to  hold 
universal  redemption,  free-will,  and  that  the  essence  of  faith  is  a 
persuasion  of  the  love  of  Christ ;  and  he  seemed  to  be  more  taken 
with  the  blood  and  wounds  of  Christ  than  with  Christ  himself,  and 
seemed  to  talk  as  if  a  law-work  was  not  so  very  needful,  but  all 
sinners  have  to  do  is  to  believe;  but  yet  I  might  misunderstand 
him.  I  can't  but  hope  he  is  a  Christian;  and  yet  he  talks  just  as 
other  Moravians  that  I  saw  at  New  York ;  but,  the  truth  is,  the 
Moravians  puzzel  me  more  than  any  people  I  ever  met  with. 
....  In  general,  I  have  had  a  sweet  winter,  loose  from  the 
world,  had  clearness  and  freedom  in  writing ;  yet  many  times  I  have 
been  so  deserted  for  days  together,  that  I  wonder  I  should  ever  pre- 
tend to  write May  God    always  be  with  us,   and  teach 

us,  and  humble  us,  and  bring  us  to  his  kingdom  at  last.  I  love  you 
dearly  in  the  Lord  Jesus.     All  our  Christians  love  you  dearly." 

On  Saturday  afternoon,  March  19,  Brainerd  rode  to  Newark, 
and  had  some  sweetness  in  conversation  with  Burr,  and  in  praying 
together.  He  preached  next  day:  "God  gave  me  assistance  and 
sweetness,  and  enabled  me  to  speak  with  real  tenderness,  love,  and 

33 


514  DAVID   BRAINERD. 

impartiality.  In  the  evening  preached  again,  and  of  a  truth  God 
was  ])loa.sed  to  assist  a  poor  worm.  I  was  enabled  to  speak  with 
life,  power,  and  passionate  desire  of  the  edification  of  God's  people, 
and  with  some  power  to  sinners." 

On  jNIonday  he  went  to  Woodbridge,  met  with  the  Correspond- 
ents, who  ordered  him  to  go  to  a  number  of  Indians,  among  whom 
was  a  hopeful  prospect  of  success,  at  Kaunaumeek,  "  in  the  woods 
between  Albany  and  Stockbridge."  He  wrote  to  Bellamy  from 
Scaticoke,  March  20,  1743 : — 

"  My  Dearest  Brother  : — 

"When  I  received  your  last  letter  in  N.  York,  which  I  imme- 
diately answered,  I  was  so  wholly  engrossed  and  confused  that  I 
wholly  omitted  mentioning  some  things  you  inquired  of  me, — viz.: 
when  I  expected  to  see  New  England  again.  I  could  not  then 
have  guessed  that  I  should  see  any  part  of  it  so  soon,  as  I  find  div. 
providence  has  brought  me  just  to  the  borders  of  it.  Div.  provi- 
dence has  strangely  and  unexpectedly  changed  my  course,  so  that, 
instead  of  going  among  the  Delaware  Indians  and  Susquehannas, 
I  am  going  to  a  tribe  of  'em  near  Albany ;  as  nigh  as  I  can  learn, 
about  18  miles  northeast  from  Albany;  for  the  Commissioners  are 
not  willing  I  should  go  among  t'other  Indians  while  they  are  sus- 
pected of  contention  with  the  English ;  and,  knowing  I  must  come 
near,  if  not  thro'  some  part  of  New  England  in  my  journey  to  the 
Indians  near  Albany,  my  soul  long'd  exceedingly  to  see  you  by  the 
way,  to  communicate  some  things  to  you  respecting  religion,  and  to 
mourn  with  you  over  Zion,  while  labouring  under  so  many  unhappy 
burdens.  0,  I  long'd,  I  long'd  for  it  exceedingly;  but  the  Lord 
has  disappointed  me.  May  I  learn  to  be  resigned!  However,  in 
hope  to  see  you,  tho'  I  was  detained  in  the  Jerseys  and  York  till 
past  10  o'clock  on  Thursday  last,  before  I  could  get  out  of  the  city, 
and  tho'  I  had  determined  to  be  with  these  Indians  at  Scaticoke, 
near  Kent,  on  the  Sabbath,  yet  I  hoped  to  ride  so  hard  as  to  save 
a  little  time  to  see  you.  Aco'^  I  rode  near  50  miles  after  10  on 
Thursday,  and  yesterday  designed  to  reach  your  place  before  I 
slept,  which  would  have  been  something  above  50  miles  more,  and 
so  to  have  spent  this  day  while  noon  with  you,  and  then  have  come 
to  N.  Milford,  and  so  to  these  Indians :  but  coming  to  Danbury 
yesterday,  I  heard  that  you  were  certainly  set  out  for  Boston,  and 
so  my  heart  sunk,  and  almost  died,  and  I  felt  almost  tired  to  death, 
and  so  tarried  there  last  night,  and  to-day  am  come  hither ;  and 
the  Lord  knows  all  my  sorrows  of  heart  and  heavy  burdens.  I 
never  wanted  to  see  yoti  as  I  do  now,  to  unbosom  my  griefs  and 
fears  to  you  respecting  the  cause  of  God.  0,  how  is  the  interest 
of  the  Kedeemer's  kingdom  attacked  on  every  side !  God  only 
knows  what  will  be  the  issue  and  event  of  all  the  dark  and  threat- 


DAVID   BRAINERD.  515 

cuing  aspects  relating  to  religious  matters.  But,  clear  brother,  let 
us  watch  and  pray  without    ceasing,  that  God  would  enable  us 

to  conduct  piously  and  judiciously  in  this  difficult  day I 

believe  Antinomianism  is  likely  to  prevail  in  many  parts  of  the 
land ;  but,  dear  brother,  'tis  a  tender  point  to  touch ;  we  had  need 
be  very  cautious  in  thinking  of  and  treating  with  others  that  don't 
feel  as  we  do.  Our  frames  and  feelings  alter  and  vary  almost  every 
day,  so  that  I  scarce  know  what  to  make  of  myself  sometimes. 
Let  us  then,  my  dearest  brother,  put  on  utmost  tenderness,  love, 
meekness,  humility,  and  candour ;  and  love  our  enemies  to  death, 
(for  that's  a  weapon  they  can't  withstand,)  and  let  us  love  all  that 
don't  think  as  we  do,  even  our  enemies.  So  shall  we  be  the  children 
of  our  heavenly  Father :  Matt.  v.  45. 

"P.S.  I  shall  not  be  above  18  or  20  miles  from  Mr.  Sergeant.  I 
should  greatly  rejoice  if  you  could  come  up  and  see  me;  it  might 
possibly  be  much  for  our  assistance  and  comfort  in  our  way  towards 
Zion :  but  if  not,  I  beseech  you,  dear  brother,  not  to  vex  yourself 
so  much  with  the  blazing  hypocrites,  for  they  roar  at  you  now  very 
much. 

"The  Lord  be  with  you  forever,  and  make  you  a  pilgrim  all  the 
while  you  live  in  y^  world." 

Sergeant  was  a  native  of  Newark,  a  graduate  of  Yale,  who  com- 
menced his  labours  at  Stockbridge  in  1735 ;  he  had  not  much  suc- 
cess, having  never  acquired  the  use  of  the  Indian  language,  though 
he  laboured  assiduously.  His  advice  was  that  Brainerd  should 
master  the  language  so  far  as  to  write  it  and  understand  it  when 
spoken,  but  should  communicate  with  the  people  through  an  inter- 
preter, and  teach  the  Indian  children  the  English  language  by  the 
aid  of  schoolmasters.     He  died  in  1749. 

The  Indians*  to  whom  Brainerd  ministered  lived  about  five  miles 
northwest  of  New  Lebanon,  on  the  road  to  Albany :  the  place  is  now 
called  Brainerd's  Bridge,  a  toll-bridge  having  been  built  across  the 
Kayaderosseras  Creek  by  a  person  of  that  name.  The  Indians  dwelt 
in  the  meadow  at  some  distance  below  the  bridge.  In  1823  there 
were  traces  of  their  dwellings,  orchard,  and  burying-place.  The 
nearest  white  people  spoke  only  Low  Dutch ;  a  Scottish  Highlander 
was  the  only  person  with  whom  Brainerd  could  converse.  The 
Indians  received  him  kindly,  and  were  seriously  attentive  to  his 
instructions ;  two  appeared  under  concern,  and  one  told  him,  pri- 
vately, that  her  heart  had  cried  since  she  heard  him  first.  His 
interpreter  was  an  ingenious  Indian,  who  had  been  taught  by  Mr. 
Sergeant,  understood  both  English  and  Indian  very  well,  and  wrote 

*  S.  E.  Dwight:  Edwards's  Works. 


516  DAVID    BRAINERD. 

a  good  hand.  To  instruct  liimsclf  lie  translated  English  discourses 
into  Indian  by  the  aid  of  an  interpreter,  as  near  verbatim  as  the 
sense  admitted,  and  observed  strictly  how  they  use  words,  and  what 
construction  they  will  bear.  lie  also  composed  several  forms  of 
prayer  suited  to  their  capacities  and  circumstances,  and,  translating 
them  into  their  language,  prayed  with  them  in  their  own  tongue ; 
by  translating  several  psalms,  "we  were  soon  after  able  to  sing  in 
the  worship  of  God." 

In  June  he  visited  the  Correspondents,  and  they  granted  his 
request  to  set  up  a  school,  and  appointed  his  interpreter  the  teacher. 
He  then  went  to  New  Haven  to  effect  a  reconciliation  with  the 
rector,  and  soon  after  renewed  the  attempt.  In  the  fall  he  attended 
the  Commencement,  and  consulted  Jonathan  Edwards,  wdiom  he 
met  for  the  first  time :  the  Correspondents  sent  Burr  to  solicit  that 
his  degree  might  be  given  him.  He  prepared  a  most  humble  and 
ample  acknowledgment.  The  authorities  were  so  far  satisfied  that 
they  offered  to  give  him  the  degree  if  he  would  reside  a  twelve- 
month in  the  college.  The  Correspondents  would  not  consent  to 
this,  and,  though  earnest  application  was  made,  the  faculty  would 
accept  of  notliing  else.  "I  was  witness,"  says  Edwards,  "to  the 
very  Christian  spirit  he  showed  at  that  time;"  the  trial  was  the 
greater,  since,  but  for  the  displeasure  of  the  heads  of  the  college, 
he  would  have  taken  the  highest  honours. 

Burr  wrote  to  him  May,  16,  1743,  "I  rec''  yours  of  Ap'  5, 
which  was  refreshing  to  me.  I  bless  God  he  gave  you  so  much 
favour  with  Mr.  Sergeant.  I  was  not  a  little  concerned  about 
the  entertainment  you  would  meet  with  from  him.  'Tis  blessed 
news  y'  God  inclines  the  hearts  of  y°  Indians  to  receive  and  hear 
you.  I  pray  and  trust  you  may  see  y^  fruit  of  your  labours  to 
your  abundant  rejoicing  in  the  Lord.  If  God  should  make  you 
instrumental  in  turning  many  of  these  poor  benighted  souls  from 
darkness  to  light,  hoAV  will  it  abundantly  compensate  for  all  the 
hardships  and  tryals  you  meet  with !  My  heart  sometimes  mourns 
for  you  on  account  of  your  outward  difficulties ;  but  I  have  more 
reason  to  rejoice  with  you  for  the  consolations  of  God,  which  are 
not  small,  I  trust,  to  your  souls.  I  wonder  with  you  y'  any  Chris- 
tian sh*^  love  the  o ;  and  yet  my  foolish  heart  is  often  running  after 
it,  though  it  always  gets  a  wound  and  a  smart  for  it.  0  that  I 
was  wholly  dead  to  it,  y'  I  might  live  only  to  God !  When  will  it 
once  be  ?     D""  Br.,  pray  for  me. 

"The  ministers  forbid  my  going  to  N.  England,  by  reason  of  y* 
Presb^  and  Synod;  and,  some  important  affairs  depending,  by 
reason  of  something  y'  happened,  I  could  not  go  before  y"  Synod, 
BO  can't  be  there  for  some  time  before  Commence'.  I  shall  write 
to  rector  and  Mr.  W — Isey ;  so  will  rest  of  ministers.  I  doubt  not 
of  your  having,  a  degree,  but  whether  in  this  class  is  a  question. 


DAVID    BRAINERD.  517 

Br.  Johnson,  who  is  here,  scruples  it,     I  shall  use  all  my  interest 
to  have  the  thing  accomplisht,  for  I  think  'tis  of  importance. 

"I  long  to  see  you.  The  Indian  interpreter,  I  hope,  will  answer 
our  end.  If  he  will  not,  what  shall  we  do  ?  for  I  can  hear  of  no 
other.  If  you  don't  come  down  before,  don't  fail  being  at  Com- 
mence'. Then  must  be  the  time  for  your  affair  to  be  issued, 
when  the  trustees  are  together.  I  shall,  God  willing,  meet  you  at 
N.  H",  then,  or  week  before.  May  the  Lord  be  ever  with  you !  Let 
us  meet  daily  at  the  throne  of  grace.  And  0  for  the  happy  day 
when  we  shall  meet  in  heaven,  to  spend  an  eternity  in  singing 
praises  to  him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  in  his  own  blood." 

To  escape  the  confusion  of  living  in  a  wigwam,  he  built  a  house 
for  himself  on  a  knoll.  He  could  not  procure  bread  within  ten  or 
fifteen  miles:  he  made  cakes  of  Indian  meal  and  fried  them.  He 
suffered  much  by  sickness,  and  by  riding  frequently  in  winter  to 
Stockbridge  to  pursue  the  study  of  the  native  language  with  Ser- 
geant. 

In  March,  1744,*  the  Indians  having  removed  to  Stockbridge, 
the  Correspondents  directed  Brainerd  to  go  to  the  Forks  of  Dela- 
ware. At  Sheffield  he  met  a  messenger  from  East  Hampton  bearing 
a  unanimous  call  for  him.  It  was  the  fairest,  pleasantest  town  on 
the  whole  island,  and  one  of  its  largest  and  most  wealthy  parishes. 
"When  I  heard  of  the  great  difficulties  of  that  place,  I  was  much 
concerned  and  grieved,  and  felt  some  desire  to  comply  with  their 
request."  The  people  were  unanimous  in  their  desires  to  have  him 
for  their  pastor,  and  for  a  long  time  continued  their  earnest  endea- 
vours to  obtain  him. 

The  people  of  Millington,  near  his  native  place,  sent  their  mes- 
senger, very  earnestly  desiring  his  coming  among  them  on  proba- 
tion for  settlement.  "Resolved  to  go  on  still  with  the  Indian 
affair." 

On  the  8th  of  May  he  came  to  Fishkill,  and,  crossing  the  Hud- 
son, reached  Goshen  the  next  day,  and  then  across  the  woods, 
through  a  desolate  and  hideous  country  above  New  Jersey.  He 
came,  on  the  10th,  to  a  settlement  of  Irish  and  Low-Dutch  people, 
called  The  Minnisinks,  twelve  miles  above  the  Forks. 

On  the  loth  he  came  to  Lakhauwootung,  (Lehigh,)  within  the 
Forks,  and  was  respectfully  received  by  the  king,  and  preached 
most  of  the  summer  at  his  house.  This  was  near  the  settlements 
of  Hunter,  at  Mount  Bethel,  and  Craig,  in  Allen  township. 

Among  the  Irish  were  some  that  appeared  sober  and  concerned 

*  The  Rev.  W.  B.  0.  Peabody,  ia  his  Life  of  Brainerd,  says  that  at  this  time  he 
eold  his  books.  Brainerd  owned  the  first  edition  of  Buxtorf 's  Hebrew  Lexicon, 
published  at  Basle  in  1645.  Ilis  Indians  covered  it  with  otter-skins,  painted  in  the 
style  of  moccasins.  It  passed  from  him  to  Jonathan  Edwards. — Eev.  Dr.  Edwards, 
of  New  London, 


518  DAVID   BRAINERD. 

about  religion.  After  a  fortnight  spent  with  them  and  the  Indians, 
he  set  out  to  meet  the  Presbj^tery  of  New  York,  at  Newark.  Hav- 
ing preached  from  Acts  xxvi.  17,  18,  and  been  examined  on  the 
usual  course,  and  on -his  experimental  acquaintance  with  religion, 
he  was  ordained  on  the  11th  of  June.  Pembertou  preached  from 
Luke  xiv.  23,  and  said,  at  the  close,  "AVe  trust  that  you  are  a 
chosen  vessel  designed  for  extensive  service  in  this  honourable 
though  diificult  employment.  We  adore  the  God  of  nature,  who 
has  furnished  you  w'ith  such  endowments  as  suit  you  to  this  im- 
portant charge.  We  adore  the  Great  Head  of  the  church  for  the 
nobler  gifts  and  graces  of  his  Spirit,  by  which  we  trust  you  are 
enabled  to  engage  in  this  mission  with  an  ardent  love  to  God,  with 
a  disinterested  zeal  for  the  honour  of  Christ,  and  with  tender  con- 
cerns for  the  souls  of  a  people  that  sit  in  darkness  and  the  shadow 
of  death.  It  is  at  the  command  of  Christ  that  you  go  forth,  who, 
by  a  train  of  surprising  providences,  has  been  preparing  your  way 
for  this  important  embassy."  The  presbytery  universally  approved 
of  his  trials,  and  judged  him  uncommonly  qualified  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry. 

In  the  summer  some  of  the  Indians  manifested  serious  concern, 
and  continued,  with  diligence,  affection,  and  becoming  solicitude,  to 
seek  after  salvation.  In  July,  hearing  of  a  number  of  Indians 
residing  at  Kanksesauchung,  (Catasaqua,)he  preached  to  them,  and 
they  invited  him  to  come  to  their  home  on  the  Susquehanna,  their 
temporary  abode  being  on  the  Indian  land  between  Biery's  Bridge 
and  Cherry ville.*  This  invitation  gave  him  great  encouragement; 
and,  after  a  journey  to  New  England,  he  set  out,  in  October,  with 
"  dear  brother"  By  ram,  the  minister  of  Mendham,  New  Jersey,  and 
made  their  way,  for  three  days,  over  lofty  mountains,  deep  valleys, 
and  hideous  rocks.  His  horse  huno;  one  of  her  legs  in  the  rocks: 
nothing  remained  but  to  kill  her  and  pursue  his  journey  on  foot. 
They  reached  Opcholkaupimg,  (Wapwallopen.f)  visited  the  Indians 
in  their  house,  and  preached  four  days.  The  Indians  gave  up  their 
hunting  design,  and  listened  attentively. 

On  the  way  back,  both  he  and  Byram  preached  at  the  Irish  set- 
tlement, where  Avas  a  numerous  congregation,  and  then  returned  to 
his  dwelling.  His  abode  was  at  Lower  Mount  Bethel,  where  his 
house  still  remained  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century:  it 
was  then  called  Hunter's  settlement,  and,  on  the  records  of  New 
Brunswick  Presbytery,  Forks  North,  to  distinguish  it  from  Forks 
West,  or  Craig's  settlement,  now  known  as  Allen  township.  In 
these  places  were  Presbyterian   congregations  under  the  care  of 

*  Northampton  county,  Pennsylvania. 

f  On  the  east  siJe  of  the  Sus(juclianna,  above  Berwick.  The  caving-in  of  the 
river-bank  discloses  remains  of  pottery,  arrows,  &c.,  indicating  a  large  settle- 
ment. 


DAVID    BRAINERD.  519 

New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  wliicli  had  been  supplied  for  several 
years  Avith  frequent  preaching. 

Ten  miles  from  his  house,  on  the  east  of  the  river,  was  Green- 
wich, where  he  occasionally  preached.  Once  in  December,  in  the 
intermission,  he  got  among  the  bushes  and  cried  to  God  for  pardon 
of  his  deadness,  and  was  in  anguish  and  bitterness  that  he  could 
not  address  souls  with  more  compassion  and  tenderness. 

"Lord's  Day,  February  17. — Preached  in  the  wilderness,  on  the 
sunny  side  of  a  hill,  to  a  considerable  assembly  of  white  people, 
many  of  whom  came  near  twenty  miles, — from  Kreidersville  to 
Martin's  Creek.  Discoursed  to  them  all  day  from  John  vii.  37;  in 
the  afternoon  spoke  with  great  freedom  and  fervency.  I  think  I 
was  scarce  ever  enabled  to  offer  the  free  grace  of  God  to  perishing 
sinners  with  more  freedom  and  plainness.  Afterwards  I  was 
enabled  earnestly  to  invite  the  children  of  God  to  come  renewedly 
to  this  fountain  of  the  water  of  life,  from  whence  they  have  hereto- 
fore derived  unspeakable  satisfaction.  There  were  many  tears  in 
the  assembly ;  and  I  doubt  not  but  that  the  Spirit  of  God  was  there, 
convincing  poor  sinners  of  their  need  of  Clmst." 

In  March  he  made  another  short  visit  to  New  England,*  and  on 


*  To  Rev.  Mr.  Sergeant,  in  Peabody's  Life  of  Braiuerd: — 

"Woodbury,  (Conn.,)  15th  Mai-cli,  1745. 

"Reverend  and  honoured  Sir: — In  November  last,  I  attempted  to  send  you  a  line 
by  Mr.  Van  Schaick,  to  inform  you  of  the  state  of  afifairs  with  us,  and  actually 
■wrote ;  but,  he  leaving  New  York  an  hour  sooner  than  I  expected,  I  was  disappointed. 
And  now  I  am  in  the  greatest  hurry,  and  can  but  hint  at  things  I  would  otherwise 
be  a  little  more  particular  in.  As  to  my  aflairs  iiere,  I  took  a  journey,  last  Oc- 
tober, to  Susquehanna,  and  continued  there  some  time,  preaching  frequently  to  the 
Indians,  in  a  place  called  Opeholhaupung,  about  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  down  the 
river  from  the  place  you  formerly  visited.  I  supposed  I  had  some  encouragement 
among  them,  and  I  propose  to  visit  them  again,  about  the  middle  of  next  month, 
■with  leave  of  Divine  Providence,  and  think  to  spend  most  of  the  summer  in  those 
parts,  if  a  door  opens  for  it.  There  is  one  peculiar  difficulty  in  the  way ;  the 
land  these  Indians  live  upon  belongs  to  the  Six  Nations, — i.e.,  the  Mohawks;  and 
it  is  something  doubtful  if  they  will  suffer  a  missionary  to  come  among  their  tribu- 
taries and  on  their  lands.  Yet  this  difficulty,  we  hope,  may  be  removed  by  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  who  maintains  a  strict  friendship  with  the 
Six  Nations,  whose  assistance  the  Correspondents  have  endeavoured  to  engage  iu 
this  affair.  May  He  who  has  the  hearts  of  all  men  in  his  hands  open  their  hearts 
to  receive  the  gospel ! 

'•I  have,  this  winter  past,  had  more  encouragement  among  the  Indians  of  the 
Delaware  tribe  than  ever  before.  A  spirit  of  seriousness  and  concern  has  seemed  to 
spread  among  them,  and  many  of  them  have  been  very  attentive,  and  desirous  of 
instruction.  But  I  have  also  met  with  many  discouragements,  so  that  I  scarcely 
kno'w  what  to  say.  Yet  I  am  not  discouraged,  but  still  hope  that  the  day  of  divine 
power  shall  come,  when  they  sliall  become  a  willing  people. 

"I  long  to  hear  of  your  affairs,  especially  how  things  are  likely  to  turn  out  with 
respect  to  your  plan  of  a  free  boarding-school,  which  is  an  affair  miich  upon  my 
heart  amidst  all  my  heavy  concerns,  and  I  can  leai-n  nothing,  whether  it  is  likely  to 
Bucceed  or  not. 

"I  fully  designed  to  have  given  something  considerable  towards  promoting  that 
good  design  J  but  whether  I  shall  be  able  to  give  any  thing,  or  whether  it  will  be 


520  DAVID    BRAIXERD. 

his  return  met  a  number  of  ministers  at  Woodbridge,  convened  "to 
consult  about  the  aifairs  of  Christ's  kingdom  in  some  important 
articles," — the  preliminaries,  probably,  to  the  formation  of  the 
Synod  of  New  York.  Soon  after,  he  waited  on  the  governor,  in 
Philadelphia,  to  obtain  leave  to  live  at  Susquehanna,  most  of  the 
Indians  having  removed  from  the  Forks.  This  journey  gave  him 
opportunity  to  join  with  Beatty  in  assisting  Treat  at  the  sacrament 
at  Abingdon:  "the  assembly  was  sweetly  melted  by  his  preaching; 
scores  were  in  tears ;  there  was  a  most  amazing  attention,  and  it 
was  a  sweet  season  to  many." 

Early  in  May  he  travelled  with  his  interpreter  to  the  Susque- 
hanna, and  went  about  a  hundred  miles  up  this  river,  as  far  as 
Shamokin,  and  preached  to  several  tribes  by  different  interpreters. 
Going  down  the  river,  he  came  to  an  island  called  Juniata,  (Dun- 
can's Island,)  where  the  Indians  appeared  more  free  from  preju- 
dices against  Christianity  than  any  others. 

Weak  and  feeble,  he  soon  after  went  to  Neshaminy  and  assisted 
Beatty  at  the  sacrament:  on  Saturday  the  crowded  audience  was 
melted  while  he  preached.  Towards  the  close  of  the  administra- 
tion of  the  ordinance  he  discoursed  to  the  multitude  extempore, 
with  great  assistance  in  addressing  sinners.  The  word  was  attended 
with  amazing  power ;  perhaps  hundreds  in  that  great  assembly,  con- 
sisting of  three  or  four  thousand,  were  much  aftected,  so  that  there 
was  a  great  mourning.  On  Monday  he  preached  with  a  good  de- 
gree of  clearness,  and  some  warmth ;  there  was  great  attention  and 
solemnity,  and  to  God's  people  sweet  refreshment. 

Passing  on  to  Maidenhead,  he  came  to  Cranberry  to  visit  the 
Indians  at  Crosswicks.  "  My  body  was  feeble,  and  my  mind  scarce 
ever  so  much  discouraged  about  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  as 
when  I  made  my  first  visit  to  the  Indians  in  New  Jersey."  Wed- 
nesday, June  19,  1745,  he   preached  to  a  few  women    and  chil- 

my  duty  to  do  so  under  present  circumstances,  I  know  not.  I  have  met  with  several 
losses  lately,  to  the  value  of  £60  or  £70  New  England  money.  In  particular,  I  broke 
my  mare's  leg  last  fall,  in  my  journey  to  Susquehanna,  and  was  obliged  to  kill  lier 
on  the  road,  and  I  can't  get  her  place  supplied  for  £50.  And  I  have  lately  moved  to 
have  a  colleague  or  companion  with  me,  for  my  spirits  sink  with  my  solitary  cir- 
cumstances; and  I  expect  to  contribute  something  to  his  maintenance,  seeing  his 
salary  must  be  raised  wholly  in  this  country,  and  can't  be  expected  from  Scotland. 

"I  sold  my  tea-kettle  to  Mr.  Jonathan  Woodbridge,  and  an  iron  kettle  to  Mr.  T. 
"VV.,  both  which  amounted  to  something  more  than  four  pounds,  which  I  ordered 
them  to  pay  to  you  for  the  school.  I  hope  you  will  use  the  money  that  way;  if 
not,  you  are  welcome  to  it  for  yourself.  I  desu"e  my  teapot  and  bed-ticking  may  be 
improved  to  the  same  purpose. 

"As  to  my  blankets,  I  desired  Mr.  Woodbridge  to  take  the  trouble  of  turning 
them  into  deer-skins.  If  he  has  not  done  it,  I  wis-h  he  would,  and  send  the  skins 
to  Mr.  Hopkins,  or,  if  it  might  be,  to  Mr.  Bellamy.  Please  to  remember  me  to 
Madam  and  all  friends.     I  am,  in  greatest  haste, 

"  Your  obedient,  humble  servant, 

"D.  Br.\inekd." 


DAVID   BRAINERD.  521 

dren :  the  women  readily  set  out,  and  travelled  ten  or  fifteen  miles 
to  give  notice  of  his  preaching  next  day.  Numbers  were  gathered: 
he  preached  twice.  On  Saturday  the  power  of  God  evidently  at- 
tended the  word:  thirty  were  present,  and  several  were  brought 
under  great  concern,  and  wept.  Having  preached  on  the  first  three 
days  of  the  week,  they  desired  him  to  preach  twice ;  and  he  did  .so 
on  Wednesday  and  Thursday,  on  the  Sabbath  and  Monday.  This 
encouraging  readiness  to  receive  instruction,  seems  to  have  been  the 
effect  of  the  conviction  which  one  or  two  of  them  met  with  at  the 
Forks,  and  who  had  endeavoured  to  show  their  friends  the  evil 
of  idolatry.  The  like  happy  appearances  cheered  him  at  the 
Forks,  and  on  the  21st  of  July  he  baptized  his  interpreter  and  his 
wife:  he  had  been  awakened  while  hearing  Brainerd  preach  to  the 
whites,  in  July,  1744.  He  Avas  about  fifty  years  old,  and  was 
named  Moses  Finda  Fautaury. 

Returning  to  Crosswicks,  he  found  that  the  labours  and  endea- 
vours of  William  Tennent  had  much  promoted  the  convictions  of 
the  people.  A  surprising  concern  appeared  under  Brainerd's  first 
sermon :  out  of  twenty  adults,  scarce  two  had  dry  eyes. 

Fifty  persons  accompanied  him  to  the  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ment at  Cranberry,  and  were  much  affected ;  but  especially  on  the 
Monday  "they  were  universally  engaged  about  their  soul's  con- 
cerns.    One  woman  obtained  comfort." 

On  Tuesday,  there  was  nothing  remarkable  but  their  attention,  till, 
near  the  close  of  his  discourse,  scarcely  three  in  forty  could  restrain 
tears  and  bitter  cries :  they  seemed  in  an  agony  to  obtain  an  interest 
in  Christ.  "The  more  I  invited  them  to  come  to  Christ,  the  more 
their  distress  was  aggravated,  feeling  themselves  unable  to  come." 

The  next  day,  some  fell  flat  on  the  ground,  crying  incessantly  for 
mercy:  persons  from  remote  places,  as  soon  as  they  came,  were 
awakened. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  day  following,  the  power  of  God  seemed 
to  descend  on  the  assembly  like  a  mighty,  rushing  wind,  bearing 
down  all  before  it.  Old  people  and  little  children,  the  boaster  and 
the  drunkard,  the  conjurer  and  the  murderer,  were  bowed  down 
with  concern  together.  McKnight,  of  Cranberry,  was  present,  and 
says,  "While  Mr. Brainerd  urged  upon  them  the  absolute  necessity 
of  a  speedy  closure  with  Christ,  they  were  utterly  unable  to  con- 
ceal their  distress.  This  prompted  the  pious  to  gather  the  dis- 
persed congregation  together,  who  soon  seemed  to  be  in  the 
greatest  extremity,  begging  for  mercy,  and  some  unable  to  rise. 
A  white  person,  seeing  this,  was,  I  trust,  by  means  of  it,  savingly 
brought  to  Ciirist.  Indeed,  so  extraordinary  was  the  concern,  that 
I  am  ready  to  conclude  it  might  have  been  sufficient  to  convince 
an  atheist  that  the  Lord  was  there."  Through  the  week  he 
laboured  ceaselessly,  and  each  day  was  a  day  of  the  Son  of  man. 


0--  DAVID    BRAINERD. 

On  the  Sabbath  some  of  the  white  people  could  no  longer  be  idle 
Bpcctators :  a  great  concern  spread  through  the  whole  assembly. 

He  now  busied  himself  in  putting  in  execution  a  plan  for  settling 
the  Indians  together  in  a  body,  for  their  advantage  in  receiving 
instruction.  On  the  25th  of  August,  he  baptized  fifteen  adults  and 
ten  children. 

At  the  Forks  there  appeared  a  remai-kable  work  of  the  Di\'ine 
Spirit  among  the  Indians  generally.  lie  then  journeyed  to  Sha- 
niokin,  a  large  town  of  the  Delawares,  and  downward  to  Juniata 
homeward,  having  little  encouragement.  In  November,  he  bap- 
tized six  adults  and  eight  children  at  Crosswicks.  One  Avoman  was 
above  eighty,  and  two  of  the  men  were  above  fifty  years  old. 

A  sorcerer,*  artful,  able,  profligate,  gave  him  so  much  trouble 
that  he  thought  it  would  be  great  favour  to  the  design  of  gospel- 
izing  the  Indians  if  God  Avould  take  him  out  of  the  way ;  but  it 
pleased  Ilim  to  renew  him  unto  repentance. 

He  now  had  need  to  learn  a  third  language :  the  Delaware  was 
of  no  use  to  him  in  his  new  field.  At  his  suggestion,  the  Corre- 
spondents laid  out  eighty-two  poundsf  New  Jersey  currency  in  clear- 
ing off  the  debts  contracted  by  the  Indians,  lest  their  lands  should 
be  taken  away  by  their  creditors.  The  opposers  now  raised  the 
cry  that  Brainerd  was  a  papist,  supported  by  the  Scottish  friends 
of  the  Pretender  to  stir  up  the  Indians  to  sedition  and  murder. 
On  the  27th  of  April,  1746,  he  administered  the  Lord's  Supper  to 
twenty-three  persons :  there  was  a  sweet,  gentle,  and  affectionate 
melting.  They  soon  after  removed  to  their  lands  at  Cranberry,  and 
were  molested  with  claims  unjustly  set  up  by  men  in  power. 

"June  19,  1746. — This  day  makes  up  a  complete  year  from  the 
first  time  of  my  preaching  to  the  Indians  in  New  Jersey.  What 
amazing  things  has  God  wrought  in  this  space  of  time  for  this 
poor  people  !  What  a  surprising  change  appears  in  their  tempers 
and  behaviours !  morose  and  savage  pagans  transformed  into 
agreeable,  affectionate,  and  humble  Christians !  their  drunken 
and  heathen  bowlings  turned  into  devout  and  fervent  praises  to 
God !  It  is  remarkable  that  God  has  so  continued  and  renewed  his 
showers  of  grace  here  ;  so  quickly  set  up  his  visible  kingdom  among 

*  Peabody's  Braixierd. 

f  One  hundred  pounds  had  been  collected  to  pay  the  debts  of  the  Indians,  to 
build  a  school-house,  pay  the  teacher,  and  buy  books  for  the  children:  — 

£     s.     d.  &     s.  d. 


New  York 23 

Neshaniiny  aud  places  adjacent  14 

Freehuld 12 

Aliingdon  and  New  Providence  10 

Elizabethtown 7 

Kingston 5 

Friahold  Dutch  Congregation..     4 
Newark 4 


s. 

d. 

10 

2 

5 

10 

11 

0 

5 

0 

5 

0 

11 

0 

14 

8 

5 

0 

Shrewsbury  and  Shark  River  3  5  0 

New  Brunswick  Dutch  Cong.  3  5  0 

Jamaica,  Long  Island 3  0  0 

Woodbridge 2  18  2 

Middletou  Dutch  Cong 2  0  0 

Connecticut  Farms 1  18  0 

Morribtowu 1  5  0 


DAVID   BRAINERD.  623 

these  people,  and  so  smiled  upon  them  in  relation  to  their  acquire- 
ment of  knowledge  human  and  divine.  There  is  still  an  appear- 
ance of  the  power  of  divine  grace,  a  desirable  degree  of  tender- 
ness, religious  affection,  and  devotion,  in  our  assemblies.  In  eleven 
months,  thirty-eight  adults  and  thirty-seven  infants  Avere  baptized. 
They  have  inquired  concerning  the  doctrines,  to  obtain  light  and 
insight  into  them,  and  have  manifested  a  clear  understanding  of 
them.  They  took  pains  and  appeared  remarkably  apt  in  learning  to 
sing  psalm-tunes,  and  are  able  to  sing  becomingly  in  the  woi'ship  of 
God."  They  were  never  put  to  any  more  trouble  for  their  debts. 
Some  charged  Brainerd  with  striving  to  set  them  on  murdering  the 
whites,  and  others  attributed  his  compassion  to  the  most  abomina- 
ble and  vile  motives.  "  From  a  view  of  these  things,  I  have  had 
occasion  to  admire  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  in  providing 
so  full  and  authentic  a  commission  for  the  undertaking  and  carry- 
ing on  of  this  work." 

Tennent  attested  Brainerd's  narrative.  "  I  have  been  much 
conversant  with  the  Indians  at  their  own  place  and  in  my  own 
parish,  where  they  generally  convene  for  worship  in  his  absence. 
Their  conversation  hath  often  refreshed  my  soul.  It  is  my  opi- 
nion that  the  change  in  them  has  been  wrought  by  God,  through  a 
clear,  heart-affecting  sense  of  its  being  their  reasonable  service." 
McKnight  said,  "  I  have  frequently  beheld  with  pleasing  wonder 
what  I  am  inclined  to  believe  were  the  effects  of  God's  almighty 
power  accompanying  his  own  truths.  As  far  as  I  am  capable  of 
judging,  they  may  be  proposed  as  examples  of  piety  and  godliness 
to  all  the  white  people  around  them." 

Amid  these  glorious  scenes,  his  outward  man  was  perishing  un- 
aw\are  to  him.  He  administered  the  communion  for  the  third  time 
to  his  flock  on  the  13th  of  July.  Thirty-one  Indians  partook.  Most 
of  them  were  sweetly  melted  and  refreshed :  there  was  scarcely  an  eye 
dry  when  he  took  off  the  linen  and  showed  them  the  symbols  of  the 
broken  body.  The  afternoon  was  a  season  of  much  enlargement 
and  tenderness.     "  God  crowned  the  assembly  with  his  presence." 

In  his  last  journey  to  the  Susquehanna,  he  went  to  Philadelphia 
and  across  the  country  through  the  white  settlements,  to  avoid  the 
huge  mountains  and  hideous  wilderness  of  the  nearest  route.  Hav- 
ing assisted  Treat  in  the  sacrament  at  Charlestown,  he  went  with 
six  of  his  people  on  to  Paxton  and  up  the  river  to  Shamokin, 
where  things  appeared  as  encouraging  as  at  first  at  Crosswicks. 
He  went  as  far  as  Great  Island,  now  Lockhaven ;  and,  having  to 
lie  out  at  night,  and  being  without  an  axe,  he  climbed  a  young  pine- 
tree,  and  with  his  knife  lopped  off  the  branches  for  a  shelter  from 
the  dew.  His  linen  w^as  wringing  wet  with  sweat  in  the  night,  and 
he  awoke,  scarcely  able  to  sit  up. 

Neither  at  the  Delaware  town  nor  amono;  the  Shawnees  had  he 


624  DAVID    BRAINERD. 

any  encouragement ;  but  among  the  former  a  few  appeared  affected. 
The  increase  of  his  disorder  prevented  his  staying  ;  and  he  returned 
home  so  exhausted  that  he  was  no  longer  able  to  keep  a  regular 
diary,  lleaching  Elizabethtown  on  his  way  to  New  England,  he 
was  so  prostrated  that  he  was  obliged  to  remain  through  the  winter 
at  Dickinson's  house.  Four  months  passed  before  he  was  able  to 
ride  so  far  as  Newark :  he  was  sinking  with  cough,  fever,  and 
asthma,  having  neither  appetite  nor  digestion.  On  Friday, 
March  20,  he  walked  among  his  people,  inquired  about  their  state 
and  concerns,  and,  when  they  assembled,  explained  and  sung  a  psalm. 
This  was  his  last  interview  with  them,  though  he  knew  it  not. 

The  Correspondents  sent  for  his  brother  John  to  take  care  of  his 
congregation  in  his  absence.  He  came,  and  Brainerd  assisted  at 
his  examination  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York.  Setting  out  for 
New  England,  he  reached  Northampton  apparently  improved,  but 
in  confirmed  and  incurable  consumption.  Edwards  found  him 
remarkably  sociable,  pleasant,  and  entertaining  in  his  conversation, 
Bolid,  savoury,  and  very  profitable,  meek,  modest,  humble,  and  with- 
out affectation.  Even  in  asking  a  blessing  or  returning  thanks, 
there  was  something  remarkable  to  be  observed  in  the  manner  and 
matter  of  the  performance.  He  generally  made  it  one  petition  in 
his  prayer  in  the  family  that  we  might  not  outlive  our  usefulness. 

Riding  being  recommended  to  him,  ho  went  to  Boston,  accompa- 
nied by  Edwards's  daughter,  Jerusha,  then  in  her  eighteenth  year, 
to  whom  he  was  engaged  to  be  married.  Soon  after  he  came  there, 
he  was  brought  so  low  by  the  breaking  of  ulcers  and  by  fever  as  to 
be  almost  speechless ;  but  he  was  not  idle  or  useless.  The  Com- 
missioners of  the  London  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  con- 
sulted him  about  disposing  of  Dr.  Daniel  Williams's  legacy,  and 
intrusted  to  him  the  selection  of  two  missionaries  to  go  to  the  Six 
Nations.  Others  gave  Bibles  for  his  Indians,  and  in  many  ways 
testified  their  love  to  the  heathen. 

He  met  with  the  Rev.  Andrew  Croswell,  who  maintained  the  ex- 
tremest  notions  that  had  been  advanced  in  the  Revival,  in  his  de- 
nunciation of  Dickinson's  "Display  of  Grace,"  and  in  a  pamphlet, 
"  What  is  Christ  to  me  if  he  is  not  mine?"  He  claimed  that  the 
essence  of  saving  faith  and  the  first  act  of  it  was  the  belief  that 
Christ  has  died  for  mo  in  particular.  In  the  presence  of  several 
persons,  in  a  long  conference  with  Croswell,  he  mentioned  that  the 
faith  defined  by  him  had  nothing  of  God  in  it,  nothing  above  na- 
ture, nothing  above  the  power  of  devils,  and  Avas  only  a  delusion.* 

On  his  return  to  Northampton,  he  was  able  only  to  ride  sixteen 
miles  a  day :  he  grew  weaker  and  weaker.     He  had  the  pleasure 

*  Croswell  replied  in  print  th.at  be  honoured  Brainerd  as  highly  as  those  who 
canonized  hiui,  but  that  he  honoured  also  the  great  company  who  "were  in  Christ 
before  him,"  and  who  savoured  not  the  new  deliuitions  broached  at  Northampton. 


DAVID    BRAINERD.  525 

of  having  his  brother  John  come  to  him,  and  of  having  the  Com- 
missioners in  Boston  allow  two  hundred  pounds  to  support  another 
teacher  among  his  people.  He  wrote  to  Byram  on  the  subject  of 
the  examining  and  licensing  of  candidates.  "  Oh  that  God  would 
bless  and  succeed  that  letter  !  Oh  that  God  would  purify  the  sons  of 
Levi,  that  his  glory  may  be  advanced  !"  Towards  the  close,  his  dis- 
temper preyed  on  his  vitals,  in  an  almost  constant  discharge  of  puru- 
lent matter,  by  mouthfuls,  with  much  distress  and  pain.  Delightful 
views  of  heavenly  things  refreshed  him.  "  Soon  shall  I  see  the  Bible 
opened ;  the  mysteries  in  it  and  in  God's  providence  will  all  be  un- 
folded." In  broken  whispers,  he  said,"  He  will  come,  he  will  not  tarry ; 
I  shall  soon  be  in  glory.     I  shall  soon  glorify  God  with  the  angels." 

He  revived ;  and,  the  next  day,  his  brother  John,  who  had  re- 
turned to  New  Jersey  on  important  business,  came  to  him.  "My 
dear  brother!  I  love  him  the  best  of  any  creature  living!"  He  was 
aifected  and  refreshed  with  seeing  him.  After  a  day  of  unutter- 
able agony  through  bodily  distress,  amid  much  fear  of  dishonouring 
God  by  impatience,  he  had,  late  in  the  night,  much  proper  and  pro- 
fitable discourse  with  his  brother  concerning  Ids  mission.  At  6 
A.M.,  on  Friday,  Oct.  9,  1747,  he  died,  in  his  thirtieth  year. 

Shortly  before  him,  his  sister,  Mrs.  Spencer,  died ;  his  brother 
Israel  died  in  the  next  January,  while  preparing  for  the  ministry; 
Jerusha  Edwards  died  Feb.  14,  1748,  after  an  illness  of  five  days, 
esteemed  by  Brainerd  a  very  eminent  saint,  fitted  to  deny  herself 
for  God  beyond  any  young  woman  he  knew. 

Edwards*  describes  him  as  a  singular  instance  of  a  ready  inven- 
tion, natural  eloquence,  easy,  flowing  expression,  sprightly  appre- 
hension, quick  discernment,  very  strong  memory,  of  a  very  pene- 
trating genius,  close,  clear  thought,  and  piercing  judgment.  He 
had  a  great  taste  for  learning,  and  excelled  in  it.  To  extraordinary 
knowledge  of  men  and  things,  to  uncommon  insight  into  human 
nature,  was  joined  a  power  beyond  most  men  of  communicating 
his  thoughts  and  of  adapting  himself  to  those  he  would  instruct 
and  counsel.  For  the  pulpit  his  gifts  wei'e  extraordinary :  his 
manner  clear,  instructive,  nervous,  natural,  moving.  In  prayer, 
he  was  almost  inimitable.  He  excelled  in  conversation,  being 
social,  free,  entertaining,  profitable.  In  his  knowledge  of  theo- 
logy, he  was  an  extraordinary  divine,  with  uncommon  ability  de- 
fending truth  and  confuting  ei-ror. 

"  How  short  his  life,  his  work  how  great !" 

"Verily  I  say  unto  you,  wheresoever  this  gospel  shall  be  preached 
in  the  whole  world,  this  also  that  he  hath  done  shall  be  spoken 
of,  for  a  memorial  of  him." 

*  An  abridgment  of  his  Life,  with  a  preface  by  Doddridge,  was  speedily  published 
in  Eugland. 


526  WILLIAM   DEAN. 


WILLIAM   DEAN 

Was  probably  educated  at  the  Log  College.  The  first  notice  of 
him  is  on  the  records  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  Aug.  3, 1741, 
when  he  was  taken  on  trials.  He  was  licensed,  Oct.  12,  1742,  and 
■was  sent  to  Ncshaminy  and  the  Forks  of  Delaware.  The  Lehigh 
w^as  formerly  called  the  West  Branch  of  the  Delaware,  and  the  ter- 
ritory bounded  by  the  two  rivers  and  the  Kittatinny  Hills  was  long 
known  as  the  Forks.  It  was  inhabited  by  the  Lenni  Lenape,  or  the 
Delawares,  and  probably  by  other  tribes:  their  cabins  and  cultivated 
patches  did  not  deter  the  Proprietors  from  putting  up  large  tracts 
of  it  as  prizes  in  a  lottery,  besides  conveying  thousands  of  acres 
to  William  Allen,  of  Philadelphia.  Tavo  settlements  were  made  in 
1735  or  '36,  the  one  on  the  West  Branch  being  called  Craig's, 
and  the  one  on  the  North  Branch,  Hunter's  Settlement.  The 
people  were  from  Ulster ;  and  at  the  second  meeting  of  New  Bruns- 
wick Presbytery,  they  presented  their  case,  and  Gilbert  Tennent 
was  directed  to  go  to  them  in  the  fall.  Campbell  and  Robinson  were 
soon  after  sent,  and.  May  26,  1743,  the  Forks  presented  a  call  to 
Dean.  He  declined  it,  and  was  appointed  to  supply  there  and  at 
Cape  May ;  at  the  same  time,  at  the  request  of  Newcastle  Presby- 
tery, he  was  sent  to  the  Forks  of  Brandywine  and  Pequea. 

In  the  fall  he  was  sent  to  Greenwich,  in  West  Jersey,  and,  in 
Oct.  1744,  to  Cohanzy  and  the  Forks  of  Delaware. 

In  the  next  year  he  went  with  Byram,  of  Mendham,  into  Au- 
gusta county,  Virginia :  a  great  awakening  attended  their  labours, 
and  continued  till  1751.  He  was  ordained,  before  May,  1746,  pas- 
tor of  the  Forks  of  Brandywine :  three  acres  were  conveyed  to  him 
for  the  use  of  his  congregation,  and  a  meeting-house  erected.  In 
May,  1747,  a  call  was  sent  for  him  to  the  synod  from  Timber  Ridge 
and  the  Forks  of  James  River:  the  presbytery  were  directed  to 
meet  and  consider  whether  it  should  be  put  in  his  hands. 

He  died,  July  9,  1748,*  aged  twenty-nine,  and  lies  in  the  grave- 
yard at  Brandywine  Manor.  Daviesf  confirms  the  testimony 
recorded  on  his  tomb,  that  he  was  an  active,  zealous,  faithful 
minister :  he  laments  his  early  death,  and  speaks  of  him  and  Robin- 
Bon  as  our  most  useful  ministers. 


*  Dr.  J.  N.  C.  Grier's  Historical  Discourse  at  Forks  of  Brandywine. 
•)■  Davies  to  Bellamy. 


JACOB   GREEN.  521 


JACOB  GREEN 

Was  born*  at  Maiden,  Massachusetts,  Jan.  22, 1722,  (O.S.,)  and, 
losing  his  father  in  his  second  year,  removed  when  a  child  with  his 
step-father  to  Killingly,  Conn.  He  had  a  good  mother,  who  care- 
fully trained  him  in  the  fear  of  God :  many  were  his  serious  impres- 
sions in  boyhood,  but  especially  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  during  the 
dreadful  prevalence  of  the  throat-distemper  in  1738.  He  returned  to 
Massachusetts  soon  after,  and  began  to  study  the  languages.  Falling 
into  the  society  of  some  young  men  who  met  for  prayer,  he  joined 
with  them ;  and,  to  his  surprise,  the  minister  propounded  him  for 
admission  to  the  Lord's  table,  though  he  had  no  comfortable  sense 
of  pardon.  Entering  Harvard  College  in  July,  1740,  he  devoted 
himself  assiduously  to  study ;  he  was  charmed  with  Whitefield,  and 
followed  him  to  Leicester,  approving  all  he  did,  yet  not  awakened 
to  any  feeling  of  his  lost  condition,  and  buoyed  up  with  favourable 
judgment  of  his  state.  Gilbert  Tennent  preached  in  the  college 
hall  at  the  close  of  January,  17'41,  on  a  false  hope:  he  was'  over- 
come with  a  view  of  his  lost  condition,  and,  retiring  to  the  woods, , 
heard  a  man  in  distress,  praying  for  mercy.  The  next  day  Ten- 
nent preached  three  times  in  Cambridge,  and  his  mind  was  deeply 
exercised.  About  two  months  after,  he  began  to  obtain  clear  views 
of  Christ  and  the  gospel ;  nothing  seeming  so  much  to  relieve  his 
troubled  spirit  as  the  words,  "  Who  of  God  is  made  unto  us  right- 
eousness, wisdom,  sanctification,  and  redemption."  On  graduating, 
in  1744,  he  taught  school  at  Sutton,  Mass.,  and,  at  the  solicitation 
of  Whitefield,  consented  to  go  to  the  Orphan  House  in  Georgia. 
r  At  Elizabethtown,  being  released  from  his  engagement,  he  put  him- 
self, by  the  advice  of  Dickinson,  under  the  care  of  New  York 
Presbytery,  and  was  licensed,  Sept.  1745.  He  was  soon  called  to 
Hanover,  and  was  ordained  in  November,  1746. 

He  married  Anna  Strong,  of  Brookhaven,  Long  Island,  in  the 
next  year.  On  her  death,  in  1757,  he  was  much  "  stirred  up"  to  per- 
form his  work  more  zealously  and  faithfully.  His  second  wife  was 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Kev.  John  Pierson,  of  Woodbridge,  0 

In  1750,  the  congregation  of  South  Hanover,  formerly  called 
Bottle  Hill,  now  Madison,  was  erected;  and  a  new  meeting-house 
was  erected  on  Hanover  Neck,  and  another  at  Parsippany.     He 
confined  his  labours  to  Hanover  in  1757.     At  this  time  he  was  , 
elected  Vice-President  of  the  College,  and  for  a  few  months  was  | 
at  the  head  of  the  institution.     The  support  of  a  large  family  led 

*  Account  of  himself,  published  by  his  son  in  the  Cliristian  Advocate. 


528  JACOB   GREEN. 

him  to  engage  in  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  he  continued  it  for 
thirty  years,  conceiving  that  less  than  any  other  worklly  business 
it  took  him  off  from  his  appropriate  work. 

lie  was  diligent  in  catechizing,  in  endeavouring  to  promote  piety 
in  the  young,  and  to  encourage  heads  of  families  to  guide  their 
households  in  the  good  old  way.  He  had  been  led  by  Dickinson 
and  Burr  to  adopt  the  method  of  admitting  to  the  sacraments  all 
who  seemed  desirous  of  leading  a  godly  life :  the  reading  of  Watts 
and  Edwards  on  the  Terms  of  Communion  changed  his  views,  and 
he,*  first  of  all  our  ministers,  took  his  stand  that  only  those  who 
were  hopefully  pious  should  be  received  into  church-membership. 
The  Presbytery  of  New  York  asked  him  to  give  them  in  a  sermon 
his  views  on  Covenanting.  He  published  a  "View  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  Jewish  Church,"  embodying  his  opinions  on  that 
point. 

His  labours  were  without  much  remarkable  success  till  1764 :  he 
*' shared  in  his  own  soul  a  small  part  of  that  blessing,"  and  was 
unwearied  in  efforts  to  promote  the  good  work.  In  1774,  he  was 
again  honoured  to  win  many  souls. 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of  Independence,  he  was  fore- 
most in  his  country's  cause,  and,  against  his  will,  was  elected  to  the 
Provincial  Congress.  He  was  chairman  of  the  committee  which 
drafted  the  State  Constitution.  A  series  of  articles  from  his  pen, 
signed  Eumenes,  against  a  paper  currency,  drew  on  him  much  oblo- 
quy ;  and  his  sermon  at  the  Continental  fast,  on  "  The  Acceptable 
Fast,"  roused  the  slave-holders  of  Morris  county  to  come  to  his 
house  with  threats  and  insults. 

About  this  time  he  grew  dissatisfied  with  the  hinderances  in  the 
way  of  supplying  our  vacancies : — "firstf  we  make  them  gentlemen, 
and  then  ministers:"  he  proposed  to  Bellamy  to  establish  two 
schools,  one  in  New  Jersey,  and  one  in  Connecticut,  for  educating 
men  up  to  a  certain  point  in  languages  and  philosophy,  and  then 
licensing  them.  He  wished  to  imitate  the  Baptist  way,  that  our 
growing  country  might  not  be  left  unblessed  with  sound  doctrine 
and  firm  discipline.  Dissatisfied^  with  the  requirement  of  the 
synod  that  students  should  study  divinity  two  years  after  obtain- 
ing a  diploma,  and  that  ministers  should  keep  a  register  of  births, 
baptisms,  &c.,  and  with  their  practice  of  dissolving  pastoral  rela- 
tions to  place  men  at  the  head  of  the  college,  he  withdrew  from  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York.  Grover,  of  Parsippany,  Lewis,  of  War- 
wick, Orange  county,  NewY'^ork,  and  Bradford,  who  married  Eliza- 
beth Green,  also  withdrew;  and.  May  3,  1780,  they  formed  Morris 
County   Presbytery,    "as  we  consider  ourselves,  in  a  scriptural 

*■  Macwhorter  and  Caldwell :  in  Bellamy  Papers,     f  Letter  to  Bellamy,  1774. 
J  Letter  to  New  York  Presbytery,  on  withdrawing :  MS.  records. 


NATHANIEL  TUCKER — DAVID  BROWN.  529 

sense,  Presbyterians."  He  disliked  the  Congregationalism  of  New 
England  as  much  as  the  Scottish  mode  of  Presbyterianism. 

His  people  adhered  to  the  presbytery,  and  retained,  by  the  advice 
of  that  body,  their  aged,  honoured  pastor.  He  published,  in  a  quarto 
pamphlet,  "A  View  of  a  Christian  Church,  and  Church  Govern- 
ment, representing  the  Case  of  the  New  Presbytery."  He  died  of 
influenza,  after  a  short  illness.  May  24,  1790.  A  revival  of  reli- 
gion* was  then  in  progress,  but  so  noiseless  that  the  neighbouring 
ministers  did  not  know  of  it  till  they  came  to  his  funeral.  Thirty 
persons,  the  gleanings  of  the  harvest,  came  after  his  death  to  his 
son,  Dr.  Green,  to  seek  spiritual  direction,  and  to  lament  that  they 
had  not  turned  at  his  reproof  while  he  was  yet  with  them. 

He  published  sermons  on  "The  Nature  of  Natural  and  Moral 
Inability,"  "  The  Sins  of  Youth  Visited  with  Punishment  in  Sub- 
sequent Life,"  and  "A  Help  to  Heads  of  Families."  An  active, 
devout  man,  he  did  much  to  enstamp  on  the  community  a  high 
moral  and  religious  character."  "An  instructive,  plain,  searching, 
practical  preacher,  a  watchful,  laborious  pastor,  he  was  ever  intent 
on  some  plan  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  his  people, 
and,  by  the  divine  blessing,  was  happily  and  eminently  successful." 


NATHANAEL  TUCKER, 

Born  in  Milton,  Massachusetts,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1744.  Brainerd  was  present  at  his  ordination  by  New  York  Pres- 
bytery, April  9,  1747.  Edwards!  speaks  of  him  as  a  worthy,  pious 
young  gentleman,  having  made  his  acquaintance  shortly  after 
Brainerd' s  death.  Returning  from  a  visit  to  his  friends  at  Milton, 
he  was  taken  sick  at  Stratfield,  Connecticut,  and  died  there  in  De- 
cember,  1747.  q^^  ^^.^^^  ,  /   ^    ,    ^    ^^^   •, 


DAVID  BROWN, 

"  A  MINISTER  of  the  gospel  from  North  Britain,  being  admitted 
a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  took  his  place  among 
us"  in  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  in  May,  l'(48.  He  retui'ned  to 
Scotland  during  the  year. 

*  Di\  Green,  in  Sprague's  Lectures  on  Revivals.  f  Life  of  Brainerd. 

34 


630  JAMES   CAMPBELL. 


JAMES  CAMPBELL 

Was  born  in  Campbclton-on-Kintyre,  in  Argyleshire,  and  came 
to  America  in  1730.  He  was  probably  licensed  by  Newcastle 
Presbytery  in  1735,  and  was  "well  received"  by  Philadelphia 
Presbytery,  May  22,  1739.  He  spent  the  summer  at  Newtowa 
"^  and  Tehicken,  and  on  the  18th  of  September,  the  latter  place,  by 
Francis  Williamson  and  John  Orr,  their  commissioners,  asked  for 
his  services.  The  presbytery  granted  their  request;  but  he,  "after 
many  struggles  with  himself,  told  the  synod,  in  1739,  that  he  was 
unconverted,  and  dared  not  preach  till  he  was  born  again.  He 
had  been  preaching  four  years,  and  was  a  regular,  moral  liver,  and 
esteemed  a  very  good  man.  Within  these  few  months  he  was  con- 
vinced of  sin,  and  that  he  knew  nothing  experimentally  of  Jesus 
Christ,  though  he  had  pretended  to  preach  him  so  long.  He  has 
laboured  under  great  distress  of  soul,  and  is  looked  upon  by  some 
aa  melancholy  and  beside  himself;  but  Whitefield,  after  much  dis- 
course with  him  at  New  Brunswick  in  November,  really  believed 
these  humiliations  would  prepare  him  for  great  and  eminent  ser- 
vices in  the  church.  At  the  persuasion  of  Whitefield  and  Tennent, 
he  promised  to  preach  next  Sunday." 

Success  attended  his  labours.  In  April,  1740,  he  told*  White- 
field  that  he  was  trying  to  bring  back  his  people  to  convictions 
again  and  take  them  off  from  a  "floating  joy." 

In  the  spring,  Newtown  and  Tinicum  were  transferred  at  their 
request  by  the  synod  to  the  care  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery. 
Tinicum  is  the  name  of  the  township  in  Bucks  county,  and  Te- 
hicken is  the  creek  on  which  the  meeting-house  stood.  Campbell 
continued  to  serve  them,  and  was  sent  to  the  Forks  of  DelaAvare 
and  Mr.  Green's  as  a  frequent  supply, — Mr.  Green's  being  what  is 
now  Greenwich,  Mansfield,  and  Oxford,  New  Jersey.  On  the  rup- 
ture, he  was  sent  to  preach  to  all  the  New-Side  vacancies,  except 
James  River,  in  Virginia.     He  was  followed  by  Rowland. 

In  May,  1742,  he  was  directed  to  spend  one-fourth  of  his  time 
at  Forks;  and,  in  August,  Dm-ham  asked  for  a  portion  of  his  time. 
Durham  lies  between  Tinicum  and  Easton,  was  settled  at  an  early 
age  and  the  manufacture  of  iron  commenced.  It  was  the  birth- 
place of  the  celebrated  Daniel  Morgan,  the  hero  of  the  Cowpen?, 
who  in  old  age  became  a  Christian  under  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Hill, 
of  Winchester. 

Campbell  was  ordained  Aug.  3,  1742,  and  was  ordered  to  divide 

*  Seward's  JournaL 


JAMES  DAVENPORT.  531 

one-half  of  his  time  between  Forks  and  Greenwich.  He  was  in- 
stalled at  Tehicken,  May  24,  1744.  A  new  meeting-house  being 
needed,  a  controversy  arose  as  to  whether  it  should  be  built  on  the 
old  site  or  at  the  Red  Hill.  It  resulted  in  fixing  on  the  latter 
point,  and  in  the  dissolution  of  the  pastoral  relation  in  May,  1749. 

He  removed  into  Newcastle  Presbytery,  and  preached  at  Cone- 
cocheague,  Rocky  Spring,  and  the  neighbouring  churches. 

In  1758,  he  was  dismissed  to  join  South  Carolina  Presbytery, — a 
body  which,  in  1770,  proposed  to  unite  with  the  Synocl  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia.  He  became  the  minister  of  a  band  of  his 
countrymen  settled  on  the  left  bank  of  Cape  Fear  River,  above 
Fayetteville,  opposite  the  Bluff  Church. 

In  the  winter  of  1739,  Whitefield  preached,  "not  without  effect," 
at  Newton,  on  Cape  Fear  River,  where  among  the  congregation 
were  many  settlers  newly  come  over  from  Scotland.  The  rebel- 
lion of  1745  was  punished  by  the  expatriation  of  many  High- 
landers to  North  Carolina :  these  retained  the  Gaelic  speech,  which 
was  familiar  to  Campbell,  being  his  mother-tongue ;  and  he  became 
their  minister. 

The  Scotch-Irish  began  to  flow  in  a  steady  stream  southward 
from  Pennsylvania  before  the  French  War,  and  drew  to  them,  from 
their  native  land,  large  numbers. 

Campbell  united  with  Orange  Presbytery  in  1774,  and  is  not 
mentioned  on  the  records  after  1780. 


JAMES   DAVENPORT. 


The  name  of  Davenport  has  been  used  familiarly  and  of  old 
time  to  point  a  moral  on  enthusiasm ;  but  how  little  is  known  of 
him  !  Few  men  were  more  highly  eulogized,  living  or  dying,  by  the 
wisest  and  best  of  his  own  day ;  and  his  was  a  day  fertile  in  the 
production  of  good,  great  men.  But  the  sneers  of  Chauncey  have 
been  adopted  for  true,  as  though  the  professed  opponent  of  the 
doctrines  and  results  of  the  Great  Revival  could  be  safely  relied  on 
for  candour,  in  his  view  of  facts,  and  impartiality,  in  his  estimate 
of  character.  His  statements  cannot  be  verified ;  he  traduced  Po- 
meroy  and  Wheelock,  and  made  the  hearts  of  the  righteous  sad  by 
holding  up  to  contempt  and  abhorrence  a  work  which  was  really  a 
work  of  God,  and  the  men  whom  God  made  wise  to  win  souls. 

Wonderfully  successful  in  his  efforts  to  awaken  the  careless,  to 
reclaim  the  Indian  from  heathenism,  and  to  influence  the  pious  for 
good,  Davenport  was  for  a  time  successful  in  promoting  a  spirit  of 
bitter,  rancorous  fanaticism,  which  tore  asunder  and  consumed  the 


532  JAMES   DAVENPORT. 

churclics ;  hut  let  it  be  known  (for  it  is  so  entirely  lost  sight  of  in 
passing  judgment  on  him  that  we  cannot  suppose  it  to  he  known) 
that  the  period  of  his  excesses  was  one  of  acute  irritating  bodily 
disease,  and  that  his  restoration  to  health  was  followed  by  an  ample 
retraction  of  his  errors  and  an  entire  amendment  of  his  course. 
The  heaviest  censure  has  been  laid  on  him  ;  while  the  greatest  leni- 
ency has  been  exercised  towards  the  Tennents  and  Whitefield,  and 
him  who,  like  Hooker,  is  esteemed  by  all  "the  judicious," — Jona- 
than Edwards ;  for  Davenport  differed  from  them  not  in  the  spirit, 
principle,  and  matter  of  his  teachings  and  actings.  The  close  of 
his  career  is  as  little  visible  in  the  current  accounts  of  him  as  the 
motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies  after  they  sink  below  our  horizon  ;  but 
to  those  who  walked  with  him,  "  his  path  was  as  the  shining  light, 
brighter  and  brighter  to  the  perfect  day."  Men  who  longed  to 
see  the  salvation  of  Israel  come  out  of  Zion  lamented  for  him, 
Baying,  "  My  father,  my  father !  the  chariot  of  Israel  and  the 
horsemen  thereof."  They  are  ready  for  the  battle ;  but  where  is  he 
•who  shall  set  the  battle  in  array  ? 

The  name  of  Davenport  was  honourable.  John  Davenport,*  a 
famous  minister  in  the  city  of  London,  came,  with  many  of  his 
congregation,  to  Massachusetts  in  1637.  He  was  one  of  the 
fathers  of  the  colony  of  New  Haven,  and,  in  all  matters  of  public 
interest  in  state  or  church,  his  advice  was  sought  and  ordinarily 
followed.  His  grandson  was  the  minister  of  Stamford,  Connecti- 
cut, from  169-1  to  1731,  and  there,  in  1716,  James  Davenport  was 
born. 

He  entered  Yale  College  while  Elisha  Williams  was  rector.  In 
the  classes  above  him  were  Sergeant,  missionary  to  the  Indians, 
Parsons,  of  Newburyport,  the  excellent  Elisha  Kent,  and  Jonathan 
Barber.  Wheelock  and  Pomeroy,  Burr,  Wilmot,  and  Bellamy 
were  his  juniors.  Conspicuous  among  the  students  for  zeal  and 
pious  joy  was  David  Ferris. f  Born  in  1707,  at  Stratford,  his  pa- 
rents had  moved  in  his  infancy  to  New  Milford,  recently  settled 
and  almost  a  Avilderness.  Through  the  care  of  a  pious  mother,  he 
early  felt  himself  accountable  to  God,  and  in  his  twelfth  year  was 
deeply  exercised.  During  a  severe  illness  when  about  twenty, 
horror  and  anxiety  seized  him :  he  made  promises  of  amendment, 
but  these  gave  him  no  relief,  and  he  sunk  in  despair.  While  at  the 
plough  one  evening,  he  remembered,  "  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ, 
his  Son,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin;"  but  he  immediately  thought, 
*'  It  is  too  late."  The  text,  however,  came  with  power  and  authority, 
and  his  heart  leaped  up  at  the  sight  of  a  door  of  hope.  "•  If  his 
blood  cleanseth  from  all  sin,  why  may  it  not  cleanse  mine?" 
"  Then  a  living  hope  sprang  in  my  soul,  and  the  way  cleared  be- 

*  Trumbull's  History  of  Connecticut :   The  Davenport  family. 
f  Memoir  of  Ferris. 


JAMES   DAVENPORT.  533 

fore  me  like  a  road  through  a  thicket."  His  joy  was  unspeakable  ; 
he  was  humbled  and  "made  subject  to  the  cross."  Jesus  became 
his  director  in  all  things ;  a  season  of  assault  and  sorrow  followed, 
but  gave  way  to  thanksgiving  and  gladness,  "  which  did  not  leave 
me  one  moment  for  two  years." 

A  religious  excitement*  began  at  New  Milford  in  1726 ;  many 
of  the  subjects  of  it  separated  from  the  church  as  carnal,  and  pro- 
fessed to  enjoy  assurance  of  salvation  and  sinless  perfection.  The 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Daniel  Boardman,  regarded  Ferris  as  one  of  their 
leaders,  and  says  that,  on  his  entering  college  in  1729,  he  obtained 
a  great  ascendency  over  Wheelock  and  Pomeroy  and  Davenport. 
Ferris  says  nothing  of  this  in  his  own  account ;  only  that,  while  in 
New  Haven,  he  examined  his  principles,  discarded  the  doctrine  of 
election,  and  could  not  join  a  promiscuous  assembly  of  saints  and 
sinners  in  singing  the  Psalms  as  a  part  of  worship.  When  just 
about  to  graduate,  he  felt  that  he  could  not  accept  a  degree,  and 
returned  home,  much  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  his  friends.  "  The 
people  generally  had  undue  expectations  of  my  usefulness."  He 
told  no  one  the  reason  of  his  actions,  but,  going  over  to  Long 
Island,  he  saw  for  the  first  time  the  people  called  Quakers.  He 
had  long  thought  there  ought  to  be  such  a  people  ;  he  joined  them, 
and  removed  to  Philadelphia,  and  afterwards  to  Wilmington,  resid- 
ing there  from  1737  until  his  death,  December  12, 1769.  He  spoke 
as  a  minister  for  the  first  time  in  1755. 

Surely  the  experience  of  Ferris  was  at  the  outset  eminently 
scriptural :  every  thing  in  his  history  invalidates  Boardman's 
story  that  he  appeared  proud,  haughty,  and  desirous  of  applause. 
We  might  as  easily  credit  Dr.  Cutler,  the  Church  minister  of  Bos- 
ton, when  he  says  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  "  I  know  the  man : 
though  more  decent  in  his  language  than  Mayhew  and  Prince,  he 
is  odd  in  his  principles,  stiff,  haughty,  and  morose." 

How  far  this  man  influenced  Davenport  cannot  be  known ;  pro- 
bably very  little, — certainly  not  in  his  doctrinal  views,  or  his  attach- 
ment to  "the  standing  order"  of  the  churches.  As  for  singing, 
Davenport  delighted  in  it  to  excess. 

It  is  charged  as  a  prime  fault  in  Ferris  that  he  was  certain  that 
not  one  in  ten  of  the  communicants  in  New  Haven  would  be  saved. 
This  was  when  the  half-way  covenant  brought  into  church-mem- 
bership all  who  were  not  openly  immoral.  He  erred,  in  company 
with  Edwards,  Whitefield,  Tennent,  and  Blair,  in  uttering  such 
an  opinion.  The  state  of  the  churches  was  lamentable :  the  un- 
converted in  large  numbers  were  in  the  communion  and  in  the 
ministry. 

Absurdly  enough,  Ferris  is  blamed  for  saying  he  should  have  a 
higher  seat  in  heaven  than  Moses, — an  inference  of  his,  natural 

*  Quoted  by  Dr.  Hodge  from  Chauncey's  Seasonable  Thoughts. 


534  JAMES   DAVENPORT. 

if  not  just,  from  the  saying  of  the  Saviour,  that  he  that  is  least  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater  than  John  tlie  Baptist,  than 
•whom  none  greater  had  arisen  among  the  sons  of  women. 

Very  likely,  had  it  been  necessary,  the  "seasonable  thought" 
■would  have  occurred  to  Chauncey  of  charging  the  Quakerism  of 
Ferris  to  the  enthusiasm  of  Davenport. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-two,  Davenport  graduated.  He  seems 
to  have  preached  in  New  Jersey  in  the  close  of  1737 ;  for  Phila- 
delphia Presbytery  gave  leave,  March  12,  1738,  to  Maidenhead 
and  Hopewell,  (Lawrence  and  Pennington,)  to  send  for  him,  and 
also  wrote  a  letter  for  them  to  him.  He  preferred  to  settle  at 
Southold,  the  oldest  town  on  Long  Island,  left  vacant  in  1736  by 
the  removal  of  Mr.  Woolsey,  and  was  ordained  by  a  council, 
Oct.  26,  1738. 

He  began  to  preach  at  a  time  remarkable  for  increasing  atten- 
tion to  personal  piety.  Years  had  passed,  in  which  languor  in 
ministers  and  worldliness  and  formality  in  hearers  strangely  con- 
trasted with  severe  and  extensive  prevalence  of  disease  of  dreadful 
form  and  fatal  character.  The  year  1734  was  long  remembered 
for  the  desolating  ravages  of  the  throat-distemper  among  the  young. 

There  were  some  slight  awakenings ;  but  throughout  the  land,  in 
1737  and  '38,  there  was  a  general  decline,  like  the  sudden  closing- 
in  of  winter  after  an  early  spring,  destroying — at  least  injuring — 
the  premature  vegetation. 

The  method  generally  pursued  by  those  who  mourned  over  the 
secure  state  of  the  unconverted  was  to  preach  much  on  original 
sin,  on  repentance,  and  the  nature  and  necessity  of  regeneration. 
In  every  congregation  there  were  many,  esteemed  as  truly  pious, 
who,  on  examining  and  declaring  the  reason  of  their  hope,  were 
convinced  in  their  consciences  or  pronounced  by  the  minister  to 
have  nothing  for  their  foundation  but  sand.  Edwards*  was  com- 
plained of  for  announcing  to  some  that  he  believed  them  to  be  in 
Christ,  and  to  others  that  their  hope  was  as  the  spider's  web.  He 
justified  himself  on  the  ground  that  he  ought  not  to  keep  back 
from  the  godly  the  satisfaction  he  felt  in  perceiving  the  goodness 
of  their  state,  and  that  he  was  bound  with  all  authority  to  declare 
his  judgment  concerning  the  self-deceiver.  To  this  practice  may 
be  traced  the  fierce  opposition  of  some  to  the  Revival,  and  the 
backwardness  of  many  sincere  Christians  to  countenance  the  fa- 
vourers of  such  proceedings. 

The  practice  was  exactly  suited  to  such  a  mind  as  Davenport's, 
and  he  pursued  it  to  extremities.  Though  young,  such  was  the 
fervour  of  his  spirit,  so  unworldly  was  his  life,  that  he  was  reve- 
renced, and  men  rose  up  before  him  as  before  the  hoary  head.  His 
examination  of  "the  states"  of  his  hearers  was  rigorous  and  awful, 

*  Tracy's  "Great  Awakening." 


JAMES   DAVENPORT.  535 

as  tliougli  he  were  sitting  as  the  refiner  and  purifier.  He  dealt 
with  them  under  the  iuAdgorating  remembrance  that  "if  thou  sepa- 
rate the  precious  from  the  vile,  thou  shalt  be  as  my  mouth."  He 
magnified  his  oflfice ;  and  the  people  listened,  when  he  unfolded  the 
results  of  his  inquiry,  as  though  they  were  to  hear  from  him  the  de- 
cision of  the  Judge.  He  called  the  members*  of  his  church  of 
whose  state  he  formed  a  favourable  opinion,  brethren ;  the  others 
he  styled  neighbours,  and  withdrew  as  much  as  possible  from  inter- 
course with  them.  Afterwards  he  forbade  "neighbours"  to  come 
to  the  Lord's  table ;  and  we  may  imagine  the  distress,  excitement, 
and  exasperation  that  followed. 

At  that  time  every  wind  from  England  came  laden  with  the 
fame  of  Whitefield.  His  great  success  awakened  ardent  desires  and 
high  expectations  that  America  would  receive  a  like  refreshing. 
D'Israeli  remarks,  that  they  who  live  in  an  age  of  books  cannot  esti- 
mate the  effect  produced  in  the  hall,  on  the  baron  and  his  retainers, 
by  the  tales  of  pilgrims  from  the  Holy  Land ;  and  we,  who  live  in 
an  age  of  newspapers,  are  still  less  qualified  to  imagine  how  the 
hearts  of  the  community,  a  hundred  years  ago,  were  shaken,  as 
the  trees  of  the  wood,  by  the  reading  of  a  letter  or  the  hearing  of 
a  rumour  that  God  had  visited  his  people.  Then,  on  the  highways 
a  traveller  was  rarely  seen,  and  each  settlement,  like  Israel,  dwelt 
alone.  So,  when  the  news  reached  them  of  Whitefield's  progress 
as  an  evangelist,  or  as  the  angel  in  mid-heaven,  having  the  ever- 
lasting gospel,  it  had  free  course ;  no  other  exciting  topic  divided 
with  it  the  popular  mind.  "And  great  were  the  searchings  of 
heart." 

Another  peculiarity  of  that  time  was  the  cheapness  of  labour: 
the  divisions  of  employment  in  a  household  were  as  numerous  as 
the  divisions  of  a  sermon.  There  was  no  hurry :  large  portions  of 
weekdays  were  devoted  to  family  worship,  catechizing,  and  confer- 
ence. There  were  set  seasons  of  family  fasting;  servants  were 
required  to  spend  a  considerable  time  in  reading  the  Scriptures, 
and  in  retirement  for  secret  prayer.  The  minister  rarely  visited : 
he  came  at  stated  times,  and  for  his  coming  every  thing  was  pre- 
pared as  for  an  ambassador  of  the  Great  King  on  his  Master's 
business. 

At  Oysterponds,  now  Orient,  a  neighbouring  parish,  Jonathan 
Barber  was  employed.  Born  at  West  Springfield,  Massachusetts, 
January  31,  1712,  he  graduated  at  Yale  in  1730,  and  was  licensed 
when  about  twenty.  Having  preached  some  time  to  the  Indians  at 
Aggawam  and  Mohegan,  he  came  to  Long  Island.  Like-minded, 
these  two  spake  often  one  to  another,  framing  great  expectations 
from  the  visit  of  Whitefield  to  our  country.     An  enemy  hath  said 

*  Tracy. 


536  JAMES   DAVENPORT. 

that  Barber  meditated  and  fasted  till  he  fainted,  and  regarded  the 
impressions  on  his  mind  as  direct  communications  from  heaven. 
In  March,  1740,*  Barber  visited  Southold,  and  found  his  friend 
greatly  impressed  with  the  twelfth  verse  of  the  115th  Psalm : — "  lie 
■will  bless  the  house  of  Israel;  he  will  bless  the  house  of  Aaron;" 
gathering  assuredly  from  thence  that  the  Lord  had  called  him  to 
awaken  the  ministry  and  to  bless  them.  A  meeting  was  held  for 
twenty-four  hours:  as  a  matter  of  course,  opposers  became  more 
inveterate,  moderate  persons  distrusted  still  more  the  warrantable- 
ness  of  their  pastor's  proceeding,  w'hile  his  admirers  and  the  new 
converts  Avere  satiated  Avith  good.  A  mixed  multitude  came  out 
of  Egypt  with  Israel;  to  them  these  unheard-of  ways  were  as  the 
corn  of  heaven,  and  what  was  sorrowful  meat  to  the  wise-hearted, 
who  trembled  for  the  ark  of  God,  was  to  them  as  angels'  food. 

Davenport  left  home  with  "his  man,"  or,  as  Chauncey  calls  him, 
*'his  armour-bearer."  Before  entering  East  Hampton,  they  waited 
for  a  sign,  as  Jonathan  and  his  armour-bearer  did  before  discover- 
ing themselves  to  the  Philistine  garrison.  The  sign  was  given :  he 
entered,  and  twenty  were  soon  converted.  The  late  Dr.  Davis,t 
of  Hamilton  College,  says,  "  This  was  the  first  revival  in  East 
Hampton ;  many  untoward  and  ever-to-be-lamented  circumstances 
occurred ;  yet  lasting  good  was  done,  amid  a  great  shaking  and 
commotion." 

Whitefield  heard,  April  28,  1740,  of  "  two  ministers  on  Long 
Island  who  had  large  communications  from  God,  and  had  been  in- 
strumental in  bringing  many  souls  to  God.  They  have  walked  in  an 
uncommon  light  of  God's  countenance  for  a  long  while  together." 
He  met  Davenport  early  in  May,  and  styles  him  "one  of  the  minis- 
ters whom  God  has  lately  sent  out;  a  sweet,  zealous  soul."  Daven- 
port went  to  Philadelphia,  and  was  there  during  the  meeting  of  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia:  he  joined  with  the  Tennents,  Blair,  and 
Kowland,  in  preaching  daily  on  the  stand  on  Society  Hill.  To- 
wards the  close  of  the  synod,  Gilbert  Tennent  and  Samuel  Blair 
asked  for  an  "interloquitur"  or  private  session;  but  they  were  di- 
rected to  read  their  papers  in  the  face  of  a  great  assemblage. 
They  charged,  as  characteristics  of  the  state  of  the  ministry,  unre- 
generacy,  Phariseeism,  and  opposition  to  the  work  of  God,  de- 
claring that  the  church  was  burdened  with  a  carnal  ministry,  and 
that  ministers  said  "there  was  no  knowing  the  state  of  people's 
souls,"  because,  conscious  of  hypocrisy,  they  dreaded  discovery. 

These  things  on  the  part  of  Blair  and  Tennent  were  full  of 
power  on  the  mind  of  Davenport:  they  were  a  pattern  to  him. 

Whitefield  passed  the  summer  of  1740  in  Georgia.  At  New- 
port, Rhode  Island,  a  letter  was  put  into  his  hand ;  "  I  could  not  but 

*  Tracy.  •}■  Sprague  on  Revirals. 


JAMES   DAVENPORT.  537 

think  it  was  from  one  of  the  young  ministers  whom  God  has  lately 
made  use  of  in  such  a  remarkable  manner  on  the  east  end  of  Long 
Island."  It  was  from  Barber,  who  had  come  thither  with  the  full 
conviction  that  he  should  see  him.  Whitefield  took  sweet  counsel 
with  him,  and  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  Orphan-House :  this 
occasioned  a  bitter  outcry  against  him,  as  an  upholder  of  Quakerish 
delusions  and  enthusiastic  courses. 

Davenport  spent  the  summer  at  Southold.  In  the  fall  he  wrote 
to  his  mother  that  twenty  of  his  people  had  been  converted  in 
about  two  months;  in  almost  all,  the  Avork  of  conviction  seemed 
very  clear.  He  preached  for  a  season  at  Baskingridge,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  Cross,  the  pastor,  amid  an  awakening  of  extraordinary 
extent  and  power.  In  accompanying  Whitefield  to  Philadelphia, 
in  November,  he  twice  narrowly  escaped  drowning  in  the  swollen 
creeks :  he  returned,  after  a  few  days,  to  New  Brunswick,  to  remain 
there  a  portion  of  the  time  which  Tennent  spent  on  Long  Island, 
in  his  way  to  New  England.  Whitefield  rejoiced  to  hear  that  the 
Lord  was  with  him,  adding,  "Shortly,  I  believe,  you  will  evan- 
gelize." 

The  winter  he  probably  spent  in  his  own  parish,  where  the  pass- 
ing labours  of  Tennent  were  fruitful  of  good. 

In  July,  1741,  Davenport  went  into  Connecticut  "to  draw  the 
lingering  battle  on;"  and  his  high  reputation  gave  him  a  signal  ad- 
vantage. He  was  no  stranger,  but  sprung  from  one  of  the  most 
honourable  families  in  the  colony.  Whitefield*  said  of  him,  he 
knew  no  man  keep  so  close  a  walk  with  God.  Tennent  said,  he 
was  one  of  the  most  heavenly  men  he  ever  knew.  Pomeroy  said, 
he  went  far  beyond  Whitefield  for  heavenly  communion  and  fellow- 
ship. Parsons  said,  in  1742,  no  man  he  had  seen  lived  so  near  to 
God  and  had  his  conversation  so  much  in  heaven.  "I  greatly  loved 
him  for  his  piety." 

At  Stonington,  one  hundred  were  awakened  by  his  first  sermon. 

He  came  to  Westerly,  Rhode  Island,  accompanied  by  the  people 
in  solemn  procession,  singing  as  they  went.  He  preached  from  John 
V.  40 : — "Ye  will  not  come  unto  me  that  ye  may  have  life."  It  was 
plaint  and  awakening,  but  not  extraordinary ;  yet  there  was  a  cry 
all  over  the  house  from  conviction  of  sin.  Twenty  of  the  Niantic 
Indians  were  converted  under  his  preaching  at  East  Lyme:  "he 
was  a  great  blessing  to  many  souls  of  that  tribe,  and  of  the  Mohe- 
gan.  He  was  eminently  blessed  in  inclining  them  to  receive  reli- 
gious instruction,  all  the  great  pains  taken  by  others  having  been 
fruitless." 

Coming  to  Branford  of  a  Saturday,  the  pastor,  Philemon  Rob- 
bins,  asked  him  to  preach.     On  their  way  to  meeting  on  Sabbath, 

*  Tracy.  f  Rev.  Joseph  Park,  in  Christian  History. 


538  JAMES   DAVENPORT. 

he  proposed  to  sing  as  they  went ;  but,  though  Robbins  objected,  he 
Bung.  He  preached  well :  at  the  close  of  the  afternoon  service  he 
asked  "his  man"  to  pray,  "but  not  with  my  consent  or  liking," 
says  Mr.  Robbins.  Yet,  for  "improving"  Davenport  on  this  occa- 
sion, he  was  subjected  to  a  series  of  annoyances  from  the  New 
Haven  Association  for  years.  The  Patent-Office  contains  no  speci- , 
men  of  Yankee  ingenuity  equal  to  that  exhibited  by  that  body  in  | 
their  devices  and  machinations  to  ruin  him. 

At  New  Haven,  he  came  in  conflict  with  the  pastor,  Mr.  Noyes, 
"who  refused  to  submit  to  his  examination ;  but  his  preaching  power- 
fully influenced  Brainerd,  and  probably  Buell  and  other  students : 
Brainerd  destroyed  that  portion  of  his  diary  in  which  he  had  en- 
tered "the  irregular  heats"  to  which  he  then  gave  way. 

At  Saybrook,  the  Rev.  Wm.  Hart,  his  classmate,  declined  ad- 
mitting him  to  his  pulpit,  because  of  his  censures  of  the  standing 
ministry.  Davenport  warned  the  people  of  the  danger  of  hearing 
unconverted  preachers,  as  Tennent  had  done  in  his  Nottingham 
Sermon.  "  Truth  coming  from  the  lips  of  a  godless  man  was  as 
injurious  as  water  flowing  from  a  poisoned  trough;"  and,  as  they 
claimed  that  the  signs  of  unregeneracy  were  conspicuous,  all  were 
guilty  of  self-murder  on  their  own  souls  who  did  not  forsake  the 
hearing  of  them  as  enemies  of  the  cross.  "I  see  not,"  said  Ten- 
nent, "how  any  that  fear  God  can  sit  contentedly  under  the  minis- 
trations of  opposers  without  becoming  accessory  to  their  crimson 
guilt."  Samuel  Blair  said  to  the  synod,*  "Unless  we  can  see 
hopeful,  encouraging  signs  of  a  work  of  God's  converting  grace 
among  ministers,  we  shall  find  ourselves  bound  in  duty  to  our  glo- 
rious Lord,  to  answer  the  invitations  and  desires  of  a  people  groan- 
ing under  the  oppression  of  a  dead,  unfaithful  ministry,  by  going 
to  preach  to  them  wherever  they  are.  Let  those  who  live  under 
the  ministry  of  dead  men,  whether  they  have  the  form  of  religion 
or  not,  repair  to  the  living."    Tennent  said  it;  Davenport  echoed  it. 

He  probably  passed  the  winter  with  his  people.  Neither  his 
friends  nor  his  opponents  were  idle.  Burr  wrote  from  Newark,  to 
Bellamy,  Jan.  13,  1741-2,f  "I  can  join  with  you  in  expressing 
a  very  great  value  for  that  eminent  man  of  God,  Mr.  Davenport. 
But  I  dare  not  justify  all  his  conduct,  nor  can  I  see  through  it.  Our 
dear  brother,  Mr.  Edwards,  tells  me  in  a  letter,  he  thinks  he  does 
more  towards  giving  Satan  and  other  opposers  an  advantage  against 
the  work  than  any  one  person.  My  dear  brother,  if  his  conduct 
be  right,  why  do  you  not  imitate  him?  I  believe  you  don't  see  your 
way  clear  to  do  so  in  all  things.  I  would  ask  you,  what  you  think 
of  his  preaching : — whether  it  was  well  calculated  to  do  good  to 
mankind  in  general  ?     But  I  feel  no  heart  to  speak  about  these 

*  Quoted  by  Dr.  Hodge.  f  Printed  in  New  York  Observer. 


JAMES   DAVENPORT. 

things.  I  have  more  reason  to  complain  of  my  own  deadness  than 
of  others'  imprudences.  But,  my  dear  brother,  as  the  Lord  has 
given  you  such  clear  discoveries  of  his  love,  I  hope  you  will  appear 
open  and  bold  for  him  against  all  opposers,  and  also  withstand 
Peter  to  the  face  when  he  is  to  be  blamed." 

A  law*  Avas  passed  in  Connecticut,  in  May,  1742,  such  as  Queen 
Elizabeth  might  have  sanctioned  and  Sacheverell  applauded.  If  any 
minister  preached  without  express  invitation  in  a  parish  not  under 
his  care,  he  was  denied  his  salary  for  a  year ;  and  the  ministers  who 
licensed  a  candidate,  or  counselled  a  congregation,  not  under  their 
particular  association,  were  also  deprived  of  their  support.  No 
minister  could  draw  his  salary  till  he  had  a  certificate  of  the  clerk 
of  his  parish  that  he  had  not  been  complained  of  in  either  of  these 
things.  Ministers  of  the  colony,  preaching  out  of  their  own  parish, 
in  a  place  without  the  consent  of  the  pastor  and  a  majority  of  the 
people  there,  were  bound  over,  in  the  penal  sum  of  one  hundred 
pounds,  not  to  ofiend  again :  persons  not  inhabitants  of  the  colony, 
violating  the  statute,  Avere  to  be  carried  out  of  the  land  as  vagrants. 
The  law  allowing  "sober  dissenters  from  the  standing  order"  to 
form  congregations  was  repealed. 

Davenport  was  seized  in  May,  at  Ripton,  with  Pomeroy,  of  He- 
bron, having  met  there  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Mills,  the  pastor,  who 
favoured  the  revival  and  was  blessed  in  his  labours.  The  news- 
papers state  that  in  June,  1742,  Captain  Blackleach  and  Mr.  \Vm. 
Adams,  both  of  Stratford,  complained  to  the  General  Court  of  the 
disorders  to  be  apprehended  from  the  great  crowds  gathered  by 
Davenport,  and  that  thereupon  he  was  taken  up.  They  were  car- 
ried to  Hartford,  charged  with  having  exhorted  people  to  set  the 
law  at  defiance.  On  the  way  Davenport  exhorted,  and,  having  been 
examined  by  the  General  Court,  was  imprisoned,  and  sang  all 
night.  Edwardsf  wrote  to  a  friend,  March  9,  1741,  that  the  work 
was  wonderfully  breaking  out  at  Hartford.  There  Avas  a  great 
crowd  and  tumult,  as  though  Herod  stretched  forth  his  hands  a 
second  time  to  vex  certain  of  the  church,  and  to  kill  James.  To 
the  honour  of  Hartford  be  it  told  that  such  a  sense  of  the  horrid 
injustice  of  the  law  was  displayed,  that  the  craven  legislature 
called  out  forty  men  to  mount  guard  for  their  protection.  The 
expression  of  public  sentiment  had  its  effect ;  and,  assuming  that  he 
•was  disturbed  in  the  rational  faculties  of  his  mind,  the  legislature 
conveyed  him  to  his  settled  abode  on  the  island. 

Soon  after  he  went  to  Massachusetts,  but  was  not  countenanced 
by  the  ministers  of  Boston.  He  withdrew  from  the  communion  on 
the  Lord's  day,  at  Charlestown,  apprehending  the  minister  to  be 
unconverted.     He  appeared  before  the  Association,  "and  in  a  free 

*  Trumbull.  -j-  MSS.  of  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 


640  JAMES   DAVENPORT. 

and  ready  manner  gave  us  such  an  account  of  the  manner  of  God'a 
work  upon  Jiim  from  his  early  days,  and  his  effectual  calling  in  riper 
years,  as  that  he  appeared  to  us  a  man  truly  pious."*  They  issued 
a  declaration  expressive  of  their  disapprobation  of  his  course.  He 
immediately  denounced  them  as  the  prophets  of  Ahab's  court.  This 
was  saying  scarcely  more  than  he  had  heard  Gilbert  Tennent  say 
in  the  Synod  of  1740,  when  Dickinson  proposed  to  refer  the  con- 
troversy about  the  reception  of  candidates  to  the  Boston  ministers : — 
*'  The  most  of  them  are  dead  formalists,  if  they  have  even  got  so 
far  as  that." 

At  this  time  the  Presbytery  of  Boston  met  in  the  French  meet- 
ing-house in  that  city,  and  was  opened  with  a  sermon  by  the  Rev. 
John  Caldwell,  on  the  False  Prophets,  just  after  Davenport  had 
concluded  "a  warm,  stirring  exhortation"!  in  the  open  air.  Cald- 
well's sermon  was  printed :  it  was  sharp  and  biting,  placing  extracts 
from  Whitefield's  and  Tennent's  writings,  as  illustrative  of  the  apos- 
tolic descriptions  of  false  prophets, — with  a  frequent  reference  to 
Davenport's  methods. 

He  was  taken  by  the  sheriff,  and  was  desired  to  give  bonds  for 
his  good  behaviour;  he  was  kindly  treated  at  the  sheriff's  house 
till  evening,  when,  refusing  to  procure  bail,  he  was  sent  to  jail. 

The  grand  jury  presented  Davenport  as  a  defamer  of  the  minis- 
try :  he  was  treated  as  insane,  and  carried  to  his  home. 

In  October  a  council|  was  held  at  Southold,  at  the  instance  of 
his  dissatisfied  and  neglected  people :  he  was  censured,  but  not  dis- 
missed. In  March,  1743,  he  went  to  New  London,  and  organized 
a  separate  church,  his  followers  making  a  bonfire  of  the  religious 
books  and  the  clothes  he  condemned.  Among  the  books  were  some 
'of  Flavcl's,  the  sermons  of  Fish,  of  Groton,  and,  as  Chauncey 
jocosely  mentions,  the  famous  sermon  of  Parsons,  of  Lyme.  He 
adds,  that  Davenport  coatributed||  a  pair  of  plush  breeches,  in  the 
heat  of  his  zeal,  and  that,  for  the  want  of  them,  he  was  obliged  to 
keep  the  house.  Will  it  be  credited,  that  he  attributes  the  sickness 
which  confined  him  to  his  bed,  to  his  gross  immorality  ?  He  does 
so,  without  giving  the  name  of  "his  intelligencer."  Dr.  Cutler§ 
wrote  to  Dr.  Zachary  Grey,  that  Chauncey  might  have  put  many 
more  and  worse  things  among  his  seasonable  thoughts,  had  not  the 
"timid  pastors,"  who  were  "his  intelligencers,"  declined  to  have 
their  statements  published. 

*  Declaration  of  Boston  Ministers,  August  12,  1742. 

f  Thatcher's  Diary :  quoted  by  Tracy.  J  Tracy. 

II  The  newspapers  all  expressly  state  that  the  apparel  was  not  burnt :  "  each  bird 
went  away  in  its  own  feathers." 

^  Nichols's  Literary  Anecdotes.  He  attributes  the  vilest  profligacy  and  greedi- 
ness of  gaiii  to  Tennent  and  Whitefield.  Decency  forbids  the  printing  of  his 
calumny. 


JAMES   DAVENPORT.  541 

He  was  sick :  "  I  had  the  long  fever  and  tlie  cankery  humour 
raging  at  once,  and  was  lame  with  inflammatory  ulcerations :  my 
spirit  was  void  of  inward  peace,  laying  the  greatest  stress  on  exter- 
nals, and  neglecting  the  heart;  I  was  full  of  impatience,  pride, 
and  arrogance."  His  sufferings  were  extreme:  "his  leg  was  sore 
and  swollen  from  the  knee  to  the  ankle,  and  for  much  of  the  time 
the  sore  ran  day  and  night." 

While  thus  laid  aside,  his  brother-in-law,  Wheelock,  with  the 
excellent  Solomon  Williams,  of  Lebanon,  addressed  two  lettei-s  to 
him.  A  great  change  took  place  in  him,  and  he  passed  over  into 
New  Jersey,  a  man  of  another  spirit,  to  visit  the  places  whei^e  he 
first  made  proof  of  his  ministry.  In  October,  the  congregations 
of  Maidenhead  and  Hopewell  asked  leave  of  New  Brunswick  Pres- 
bytery to  employ  him  with  a  view  to  his  settlement.  The  presby- 
tery were  pleased  to  hear  him  express  "his  conviction  of,  and 
humiliation  for,  some  things  he  had  been  faulty  in ;  but  there  were 
other  things  which  he  approved  of,  but  they  could  not.  They  could 
not,  therefore,  encourage  the  people  to  make  out  a  call ;  but,  inas- 
much as  God  had  begun  to  show  him  his  mistakes,  they  were  willing 
to  use  all  means  to  obtain  so  desirable  an  end,"  and  gave  the  peo- 
ple liberty  to  "improve"  him  till  the  second  Wednesday  of  May. 
They  referred  the  matter  to  the  conjunct  presbytery  to  meet  at 
Philadelphia. 

"By  the  gentle  and  laborious  endeavours  of  Mr.  Williams,  and 
Mr.  Wheelock,"  says  Dr.  Trumbull,  "he  was  brought  to  a  deep, 
humiliating,  and  penitent  sense  of  his  errors,  and  of  the  false  spirit 
under  which  he  had  acted."  He  published,  July  28,  1744,  a  most 
ample  retraction  of  his  errors  in  denouncing  ministers,  and  exhort- 
ing the  people  to  forsake  them,  making  impulses  a  rule  of  conduct, 
encouraging  lay-exhorters,  and  singing  in  the  streets ;  praying  that 
God  would  guard  him  against  such  errors,  and  stop  the  progress 
of  those  he  had  corrupted  by  word  and  example. 

He  also  published  a  letter  written  to  Barber,  from  Maidenhead, 
rejoicing  in  hearing  from  him  of  the  revival  at  the  Orphan-House 
in  Georgia,  and  lamenting  "  the  awful  affair  of  the  clothes  and  the 
books."  These  publications  met  with  much  contempt,  "as  though 
his  change  in  some  few  things  would  cover  the  numerous  evil  prac- 
tices of  his  party,  or  undo  the  mischief  they  and  he  had  done." 

Not  through  the  press  only,  but  by  personal  acknowledgments, 
did  he  strive  to  repair  the  breach  he  had  made.  A  great  separa- 
tion had  occurred  through  him  from  the  church  of  Stonington,  and 
on  his  recantation  he  came  there,  "not  to  be  adored,  but  to  be 
denounced  as  dead  and  worldly."  "He  came,"*  says  Mr.  Fish, 
"  with  such  a  mild,  meek,  pleasant,  and  humble  spirit,  broken  and 

*  Quoted  by  Dr.  Hodge. 


542  JAMES   DAVENPORT. 

contrite,  as  I  scarce  ever  saw  excelled  or  equalled.  He  owned  his 
fjiult  in  private,  and  in  a  most  Christian  manner  asked  forgiveness 
of  some  ministers  he  had  treated  amiss,  and  in  a  large  assembly 
publicly  retracted  his  errors  and  mistakes." 

His  friends  who  had  mourned  over  his  extravagance  and  virulence 
recognised  the  hand  of  God  in  his  repentance.  Mrs.  Moorhead 
represents  him  as  visited  on  his  bed  by  angels : — 

"The  heralds  rise  and  touch  him  with  tlieir  wings; 
Now  in  his  breast  a  holy  shame  there  springs; 
He  starts  with  rosy  blushes  in  his  face, 
And,  weeping,  sweetly  sings  to  sovereign  grace." 

His  friends,  the  Rev.  Timothy  Allen  and  the  Rev.  Timothy 
Symmes,  seem,  as  well  as  Barber,  to  have  seen  their  errors :  the  two 
former  found  no  place  in  New  England,  and  came  into  New  Jersey. 

Davenport  became  a  member  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery, 
Sept.  22,  1746,  having  probably  for  some  time  been  preaching  in 
their  bounds.  They  resolved  to  make  an  effort  to  unite  the  Old 
and  New  Side  congregations  in  HopcAvell ;  but,  at  the  time  appointed, 
they  did  not  attempt  it,  seeing  the  way  not  at  all  clear.  In  1748, 
he  joined  New  York  Presbytery,  with  a  view  to  settle  at  Connecti- 
cut Farms,  near  Elizabethtown.  Having  recovered  his  health,  he 
spent  two  months,  in  the  summer  of  1750,  in  Virginia.  Davies 
speaks  highly  of  his  labours,  and  the  success  of  "  that  pious  Enoch ;" 
he  was  strongly  urged  to  settle,  and  was  inclined  to  do  so,  but  the 
matter  was  broken  off.  The  winter  of  1750-1,  he  spent  at  Cape 
May,  "with  little  or  no  success,  except  on  the  last  day."  In  Octo- 
ber, 1753,  he  was  called  to  Maidenhead  and  Hopewell,  but,  on  the 
day  of  installation,  the  people  were  found  so  negligent  that  the 
committee  could  not  proceed.  On  their  representing  their  sorrow 
for  their  fault  to  the  presbytery,  he  accepted  the  call,  and  was 
installed,  Oct.  27, 1754.  He  was  moderator  of  the  Synod  of  New 
York  that  year,  and  preached  the  opening  sermon  the  next  full 
from  2  Cor.  iv.  1.  It  was  printed  in  Philadelphia  at  "  the  newest 
printing-office,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Jersey  market,"  with  the 
title  "The  Faithful  Minister  Encouraged."* 

His  stay  at  Hopewell  was  harassed  by  a  number  asking  leave  of 
presbytery  to  join  adjacent  congregations,  and,  in  1757,  a  petition 
was  presented  for  his  removal.  He  died  in  the  autumn  of  that 
year,  and,  with  his  wife,  was  buried  in  the  New-Light  graveyard, 
about  a  mile  from  Pennington,  towards  the  Delaware. 

*  Gilbert  Tennent  and  Treat  prefixed  a  commendation.  "  Let  not  the  pious 
author  be  offended  with  our  freedom  in  saying  that  his  life  adds  weight  to  this  dis- 
course, for  the  latter  is  but  a  copy  of  the  former.  Nor  should  it  be  forgutten  that 
tlie  gracious  God  gave  manifest  tokens  of  his  special  presence  when  this  discourse 
was  delivered;  not  only  the  speaker,  but  divers  of  the  hearers,  both  ministers  and 
people,  being  solemnly  affected." 


JAMES    DAVENPORT.  643 

He  left  a  son  a  few  years  old,  who  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall 
in  1769 ;  he  studied  theology  with  Buell  and  Bellamy,  and  was 
ordained,  by  Suffolk  Presbytery,  pastor  of  Mattituck,  Long  Island, 
June  4,  1775.  He  was  among  the  first  on  the  island  to  restrict 
_baptism  to  the  cliildren  of  communicants.  Subsequently  he  was 
settled  at  Bedford,  New  York,  and  Deerfield,  New  Jersey,  and 
spent  the  close  of  his  life  as  a  missionary  in  AVestern  New  York, 
dying  at  Lysander,  in  1820,  an  amiable  and  excellent  man. 

Davenport*  bought  a  little  white  girl  from  a  party  of  strolling 
Indians,  for  a  bottle  of  rum  ;  she  knew  neither  her  parents  nor  her 
birthplace.  He  named  her  Deliverance  Paine,  and  reared  her  as 
his  own  child.  She  married,  and  removed  to  North  Carolina,  and 
was  the  mother  of  the  Rev.  William  Paisley. 

Of  the  extravagancies  charged  on  him,  many  are  plainly  untrue, 
coming  from  scoffers  and  worldly-wise  men,  to  whom  the  great 
truths  of  Christ's  redemption  were  far  more  odious  than  any  error 
into  which  Davenport  fell.  If  he  had  been  the  only  one  assailed, 
"we  might  receive  the  testimony  of  Chauncey  and  his  intelligencers ; 
but  when  we  know  that  Pomeroy  was  carried  to  prison,  and  deprived 
of  his  salary  for  a  year ;  that  Allen  and  Bobbins  were  accused  and 
condemned  on  frivolous  pretexts ;  that  three  ministers  were  sus- 
pended for  ordaining  Lee  at  Salisbury;  that  denunciations  fell  like 
hail  on  Whitefield,  and  that  Buell  and  Brainerd  were  held  up  as 
strollers  and  fanatics  whom  it  was  not  allowable  to  improve ;  that 
Pom-eroy,  Buell,  Davenport,  Moorhead,  Blair,  Croswell,  and  Row- 
land were  classed  as  "common  railers,"  "men  whom  the  Devil" 
drives  into  the  ministry ;  that  Dr.  Cutler  speaks  with  equal  dislike 
of  Dr.  Cooper,  Rodgers  of  Ipswich,  Tennent,  and  Buell,  styling 
Davenport  a  nonpareil,  and  lamenting  that  the  enthusiasm  is  still 
(1743)  breaking  out,  and  that  Finley  was  twice  carried  out  of  Con- 
necticut as  a  vagrant, — it  seems  reasonable  to  doubt,  whether 
Davenport  may  not  have  been  greatly  slandered. 

Who  does  not  reject,  with  equal  scorn,  Chauncey 's  assault  on 
Davenport's  moral  character,  and  Cutler's  insinuation  that  White- 
field  and  Tennent  embezzled  what  was  collected  for  the  poor,  and 
repeated  the  enormities  of  Hophni  and  Phineas  at  the  door  of  the 
tabernacle  ? 

Davenport  was  not  an  eloquent  orator,  moving,  by  dramatic 
skill,  his  audience  as  though  they  heard  the  groans  of  Him  who 
died  on  Calvary.  In  preaching,  he  exhausted  himself:  his  con- 
tortions of  face  and  body  probably  grew  out  of  his  acute  suffer- 
ings. His  strange,  singing  tone  in  speaking  was  imitated  and 
perpetuated  for  half  a  century  among  "  the  Strict  Congrega- 
tionalists"  at  the  East  and  the  "  Separate  Baptists"  at  the  South. 

*  Dr.  Foote :  Sketches  of  North  Carolina. 


644  JAMES    DAVENPORT. 

Mrs.  Moorhcad*    describes   the   closing   part  of  his   public  ser- 
vices : — 

•'  The  sacred  man  is  to  the  shade  convey'd, 
On  camomile  bis  achiug  temples  laid." 

Among  other  accusations  laid  against  the  New  Lights  was,  that 
they  preached  extempore.  Croswell  knew  only  two  who  did  so, 
even  occasionally, — Whitefield  and  Davenport;  and  "well  they 
might,  for  their  minds  were  perpetually  in  heaven." 

Singing  in  the  streets  was  "  an  enthusiastic  foolery"  in  the  eyes 
of  Tennent,  as  well  as  of  Dickinson.  It  was  then  not  at  all  com- 
mon to  sing  hymns  in  public  worship,  even  in  New  England. 
Twof  from  his  pen  were  printed, — "  Thanksgiving  for  Peace  of 
Conscience"  and  "For  Joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost," — and  are  fully 
equal  to  most  religious  poems. 

He  was  the  constant  correspondent  of  Jonathan  Edwards ;  and 
he,  writing  to  his  Scottish  friends,  frequently  transcribes  the  tidings 
he  had  sent  of  the  work  of  grace,  as  it  appeared  from  time  to 
time.  To  these  notices  we  are  indebted  for  several  interesting 
glimpses  of  our  ministers  and  churches  at  that  day.  He  was  also 
a  valued  correspondent  of  Samuel  Davies  and  of  Bellamy. 

Bostwick,  in  his  sermon  at  the  union  of  the  synods  in  May, 
1758,  said,  "  The  last  year,  in  particular  Avith  regard  to  ministers, 
may  be  called  the  dying  year^  in  which  the  God  of  heaven  has 
smitten  the  church  in  these  parts  with  repeated  strokes  of  sore 


*  Lines,  in  Harvard  College  Library, 
f  Harvard  College  Library : — 

*'  This  is  my  Saviour's  legacy, 
Confirmed  by  bis  decease  : — 
Ye  shall  have  trouble  in  the  world ; 
In  me  ye  shall  have  peace. 

"  And  so  it  is :  the  world  doth  rage. 
But  peace  in  me  doth  reign, 
Ajid  while  the  Lord  maintains  the  fight 
Their  battles  are  in  vain. 

"The  burning  bush  was  not  consumed 
While  God  remained  there  ; 
The  three,  when  Christ  did  make  the  foui'th, 
Found  fire  as  meek  as  air. 

**  So  is  my  memory  stufft  with  sin 
Enough  to  make  a  hell ; 
And  yet  my  conscience  is  not  scorcb'd, 
For  God  in  me  doth  d.well. 

"My  God,  my  reconciled  €^od. 
Creator  of  my  peace, 
Thee  will  I  love,  and  praise,  and  smg, 
Till  life  and  breath  shall  cease." 


DANIEL    LA  WHENCE.  S4S 

bereavement  In  a  close  and  awful  succession.  Scarce  had  we  time 
to  dry  our  weeping  eyes  for  the  loss  of  one  of  eminent  character 
and  usefulness,  (Burr,)  but  the  streams  of  grief  were  called  to  flow 
down  afresh  for  the  loss  of  another,  (Davenport,)  whose  zeal  for 
God  and  the  conversion  of  men  was  scarce  to  be  paralleled.  And 
yet,  for  all  this,  the  anger  of  Jehovah  was  not  turned  away,  but 
his  hand  was  soon  lifted  up  again,  and,  with  a  dreadful  aim  and  re- 
sistless stroke,  has  brought  down  to  the  dust  perhaps  the  greatest 
pillar  in  this  part  of  Zion's  buildings,  (Edwards.)  Oh,  how  does 
the  whole  fabric  shake  and  totter !  and  what  a  gloomy  aspect  do 
these  providences  wear !  as  if  God,  by  calling  home  his  am- 
bassadors, were  about  to  quit  the  affair  of  negotiating  peace 
with  mankind  any  more." 


DANIEL   LAWRENCE 


Was  born  on  Long  Island  in  1718,  and  is  said  to  have  been  a 
blacksmith.  He  studied  at  the  Log  College,  and  was  taken  on 
trials  by  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  September  11,  1744,  and 
was  licensed  at  Philadelphia,  May  28, 1745. 

The  original  organization  at  Newtown,  in  Bucks  county,  seems 
to  have  died  away ;  for  Beatty  was  sent,  in  the  spring  of  1745,  to 
"settle  a  church  there."  In  the  fall,  Newtown  and  Bensalem 
asked  for  Lawrence ;  so  did  Upper  and  Lower  Bethlehem,  and 
Hopewell  and  Maidenhead.  At  the  request  of  the  Forks  of 
Delaware,  he  was  sent,  May  24,  1746,  to  supply  them  for  a  year, 
with  a  view  to  settlement;  and,  in  October,  a  call  was  presented 
to  him.  He  was  ordained,  April  2,  1747,  and  installed  on  the 
third  Sabbath  in  June.  Treat,  of  Abingdon,  presided  and 
preached. 

The  Forks  North  and  the  Forks  West  had  been  favoured  with  a 
portion  of  Brainerd's  labours,  and  were  by  no  means  an  unpro- 
mising field,  having  many  excellent  pious  families.  But  it  was  a 
laborious  field, —  a  wide,  dreai-y,  uninhabited  tract  of  fifteen 
miles  lying  between  the  two  meeting-houses.  Lawrence  was  not 
robust;  and,  for  his  health,  he  was  directed  to  spend  the  winter 
and  spring  of  1751  at  Cape  May,  tlien  in  very  necessitous  cir- 
cumstances.    Chesnut  supplied  the  Forks  in  his  absence. 

His  health  still  continuing  feeble,  and  there  being  no  prospect 
of  his  being  able  to  fulfil  his  pastoral  ofiice  in  the  Forks,  he  was 
dismissed.  He  removed  to  Cape  May.  This  was  one  of  our 
oldest  congregations,  and  was  among  the  first  that  had  a  pastor, 

35 


546  SAMUEL    SACKETT. 

and  then  remained  vacant  nearly  thirty  years.  The  Revival  wag 
felt  there,  hut  the  congregation  was  feeble  in  numbers  and  re- 
Bources.  Beatty  visited  the  people,  and  laid  before  the  synod 
their  distressed  state.  Davenport  passed  some  time  there,  but 
with  no  effect  till  the  last  Sabbath.  Lawrence  was  called ;  but  a 
long  delay  occurred  before  his  installation,  which  was  not  till  June 
20,  1754.  Of  his  ministry  little  is  known.  The  records  mention 
him  as  a  frequent  supply  of  Forks,  and  as  going  to  preach,  in 
1755,  at  "  New  England  over  the  mountains." 

A  meeting-house  was  built  in  1762,  the  frame  of  which  re- 
mained in  use  till  1824. 

"  It  appears*  to  be  my  duty,  considering  the  relict  of  my  old 
disorder,  to  take  and  use  the  counsel  which,  I  have  heard,  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Blair  gave,  not  long  before  his  exit,  to  the  Rev. 
John  Rodgers : — in  preaching,  to  speak  low,  to  speak  slow,  and  to 
be  short." 

He  died  April  13,  1766. 


SAMUEL    SACKETT 


Was  a  nativef  of  Newtown,  Long  Island,  and  was  married, 
April  6,  1732,  to  Hannah,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Hazard,  an 
elder  in  New  York.  He  was  probably  engaged  in  business  in 
West  Chester  county,  New  York ;  and  having,  during  the  Revival, 
determined  to  devote  himself  to  the  ministry,  he  was  taken  on 
trials  by  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  August  3,  1741.  The 
minutes  of  the  meeting  at  which  he  was  licensed  are  not  recorded. 
He  was  ordained  October  13. 

In  May,  he  was  sent  to  the  Highlands,  to  White  Plains,  to 
Cronpond,  in  West  Chester  county,  and  to  Cortland  Manor. 
Cronpond  (Crumpond)  is  now  Yorktown,  and  Cortland  Manor  is 
Peekskill.  The  old  advertisements  all  name  the  locality  John 
Peek's  Kill.  He  was  installed,  October  12,  1743,  at  Bedford, 
and  was  directed  again  to  visit  the  Highlands.  He  was  sent  as  a 
supply  to  the  Presbyterian  Society  m  Milford,  Connecticut,  and 
preached  there. 

Crumpond  obtained.  May  19,  1747,  the  half  of  his  time, — Bed- 
ford being  weakened  by  the  Separates.  He  Avas  charged  with  the 
occasional  supply  of  Salem  and  Cortland  Manor.|     In  December, 

*  MS.  note  to  his  Sermons,  in  the  hands  of  his  descendants. 

•)■   Hiker's  History  of  Newtown. 

X   Samuel  Bayard  advertises,  in  1733,  that  thirty  or  forty  new  settlements  had 


SAMUEL    SACKETT.  547 

1749,  he  was  released  from  the  care  of  Crumpond.  Daven- 
port* wrote  to  Edwards,  April  9,  1751,  "Mr.  Sackett  has  lately 
been  favoured  with  peculiar  success  in  reducing  (bringing  back)  a 
number  drawn  away  and  infected  by  the  Separates;  and  some 
endeavours  that  I  have  since  used  with  him  have  been,  I  trust,  not 
altogether  in  vain.  At  Bedford  there  was  something  considerable 
of  an  awakening." 

In  1751,  he  is  reported  as  a  member  of  Long  Island  Presby- 
tery,— the  newly-erected  Presbytery  of  Suffolk  being  sometimes  so 
styled  inadvertently  by  the  synod's  clerk.  His  field  of  labour 
lay,  from  the  outset,  in  the  natural  and  long-established  bounds 
of  New  York  Presbytery ;  but  the  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick 
was  selected  by  him  and  his  congregations,  as  more  congenial  and 
embracing  more  decidedly  the  cause  of  Whitefield  and  of  the  op- 
pressed churches  in  Connecticut.  The  Presbytery  of  New  York 
rejoiced  in  the  Revival,  but  disapproved  of  the  misguided  doings 
of  those  who  seemed  most  successful  in  promoting  the  Awakening. 
Sackett  very  naturally  passed  it  by,  to  seek  the  fellowship  of  men 
more  decided  and  vehement, — of  men  prompt  to  succour  the 
struggling  minorities  that,  like  shipwrecked  Avretches  in  Nova 
Zembla,  dreaded  to  be  borne  down  or  congealed  into  lifeless 
rigidity  by  the  ecclesiastical  icebergs  towering  in  appalling  majesty 
around  them. 

When  Suffolk  Presbytery  applied  to  be  received  by  the  Synod 
of  New  York,  they  asked  that  some  of  its  members  might  be 
joined  to  them ;  and  Sackett  met  with  them.  May  22,  1751.  He 
resigned  the  care  of  Bedford,  April  4,  1753,  the  affections  of  the 
people  being  alienated  from  him.  His  change  of  opinion  in  the 
matter  of  baptism,  and  adopting  the  views  of  Edwards  and  Bel- 
lamy, had  much  to  do  in  unsettling  him.  Those  to  whom  he 
denied  baptism  for  their  children  refused  to  contribute  to  his  sup- 
port :  the  presby tei-y  assured  them  that  they  were  bound  to  pay. 

He  was  called  by  the  Presbyterian  Society,  of  Hanover,  in  Cort- 
land Manor,  immediately  on  leaving  Bedford,  and  settled  there. 
He  rarely  attended  any  meeting  of  presbytery.  He  was  dis- 
missed from  Hanover,  April  1,  1760,  and  is  said,  in  Bolton's 
History  of  West  Chester,  to  have  been  installed  at  Crumpond  the 
next  year.  The  people  of  Hanover,  however,  solicited  his  return, 
October  27,  1760.  The  Church  missionary  there  immediately 
wrote  to  England  that  the  New-Light  preacher  had  left  the 
town. 

The  congregation  of  Crumpondf  was  formed  in  1738  or  '39. 

been  laid  out  in  Cortland  Manor  in  farms,  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  and  two 
hundred  acres. 

*  Edwards's  Life. 

f  Bolton's  West  Chester  County:  called  sometimes  Cramp  Ponds. 


548  TIMOTHY    SYMMES. 

The  land  for  the  meeting-house  was  given  January  2,  1739.  The 
church  was  burned  by  tlic  American  troops  in  July,  1771*,  to  pre- 
vent it  from  being  converted  by  the  British  to  their  use.  Con- 
gress passed  a  vote  to  pay  three  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for 
the  property  destroyed :  the  payment  is  yet  to  be  made. 

When  Dutchess  Presbytery  was  formed,  he  was  annexed  to  it. 
In  1768,  he  declined  their  jurisdiction.  A  committee,  by  direc- 
tion of  the  synod,  met  at  Bedford,  and  settled  the  differenc-e. 
Their  proceedings  were  approved  of,  except  their  having  trans- 
ferred him  to  New  York  Presbytery.  He  acquiesced  in  the  de- 
cision, and  was  allowed  to  join  New  York  Presbytery  ;  but,  not 
long  after,  he  sought  a  reunion  with  Dutchess  Presbytery. 

He  died  at  Yorktown,  June  5,  1784.  His  tomb  bears  record 
that  he  was  judicious,  faithful,  laborious,  and  successful  in  his 
ministry. 

His  son,  born  in  1735,  died  before  him. 

In  September,  1711,  Philadelphia  Presbytery  made  certain 
arrangements  for '  Hopewell  and  its  associate  church,  to  take 
effect  if  they  are  not  engaged  with  Mr.  Sackett.  This  was  pro- 
bably Richard  Sackett,  minister  of  West  Greenwich,  Connecticut, 
fram  1717  to  1727. 


TIMOTHY  SYMMES 


Was  born  at  Scituate,  Massachusetts,  in  1715,  and  graduated 
at  Harvard  in  1733.  He  was  ordained,  December  2,  1736,  pastor 
of  Millington,  a  parish  in  East  Haddam,  Connecticut.  The  Rev. 
L.  Hosmer  preached  from  1  Tim.  vi.  20  : — "  0  Timothy,  keep  that 
which  is  committed  to  thy  trust." 

He  was  dismissed  on  account  of  his  fervour  in  promoting  the 
Revival.  He  erred,  with  Croswell,  Allen,  and  others,  in  denying 
that  we  must  seek  the  evidence  of  God's  having  forgiven  our  sins 
in  our  sanctification. 

He  is  said  to  have  preached  at  Acquebogue,  Long  Island,  from 
1741  or  '42  till  1744.  He  met  with  New  Brunswick  Presbytery, 
May  24,  1744,  and  was  sent  to  the  vacancies  in  West  Jersey. 
In  May,  1747,  he  is  mentioned  as  a  member  of  New  Y'^ork  Synod, 
u^ji-.-'/and  is  said  to  have  been  settled  at  Springfield  and  New  Provi- 
'dence,  in  East  Jersey,  from  1746  to  1750.  Dr.  Prime  says,  "he 
was  the  pastor  of  Connecticut  Farms."  Very  probably  Spring- 
field did  not  become  a  separate  charge  for  some  time  after,  it 
being  so  near  the  Farms  that  each  congregation  hears  the  ringing 
of  the  other's  bell. 


SAMUEL   DAVIES.  549 

His  first  wife  was  the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Cleaves,  of 
Ipswich ;  and  his  second  was  Eunice,  daughter  of  Francis  Cogs- 
well, Esq. 

He  settled  at  Ipswich,  and  died  there,  April  6,  1756,  aged 
forty-one. 

His  son  was  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  Jersey  in 
1788,  and  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Northwestern  Territory. 
He  died  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  in  1814.  His  first  Avife,  the  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Harker,  was  the  mother  of  the  well-known 
projector,  Captain  J.  C.  Symmes,  and  of  the  excellent  widow  of 
the  venerated  President  Harrison. 


SAMUEL   DAVIES 

Was  born  near  Summit  Bridge,*  in  the  Welsh  Tract,  in  New- 
castle county,  Delaware,  November  3,  1723.  His  father,  David 
Davies,  was  a  Welshman,  a  plain,  pious  planter.  His  mother  was 
an  eminent  saint;  and  having,  like  Hannah,  asked  a  son  of  the 
Lord,  and  having  in  her  heart  dedicated  him  to  the  ministry,  she 
named  him  Samuel.  She  was  his  only  instructor  for  the  first  ten 
years,  and  early  imbued  him  with  her  prevailing  desire  that  he 
might  be  a  minister.  Though  otherwise  careless  of  divine  things, 
he  was  mindful  of  his  nearness  to  death,  and  daily  prayed  to  be 
spared  to  preach  the  gospel.  He  was  sent  to  receive  the  rudiments 
of  classical  learning,  under  the  Rev.  Abel  Morgan,  afterwards  the 
Baptist  minister  at  Middletown,  New  Jersey.  Away  from  home- 
influences,  he  became  more  estranged  from  God  ;  but,  at  the  age 
of  twelve,  he  was  awakened  to  see  his  guilt,  vileness,  and  ruin. 
After  much  and  long-continued  distress,  he  obtained  peace  in  be- 
lieving. This  great  event  took  place  in  1736,  probably  under  the 
preaching  of  Gilbert  Tennent,  whom  he  called  his  spiritual  father. 
It  was  a  day  of  great  deadness ;  but  God  was  then  preparing  many 
wonderful  men  for  the  good  day  that  was  at  hand. 

He  commenced  keeping  a  diary,  which,  after  his  death,  was  exa- 
mined by  President  Finley:  it  is  a  record  of  great  distress  re- 
lieved by  large  measures  of  heavenly  comfort. 

"About  sixteen  years  ago,"  he  said,  in  1757,  "in  the  northern 
colonies,  when  all  religious  concern  was  much  out  of  fashion,  and 
the  generality  lay  in  a  dead  sleep  in  sin,  having  at  best  but  the 
form  of  godliness  and  nothing  of  the  power, — when  the  country  was 

*  Rev.  George  Foote's  Historical  Discourse  at  Drawyers. 


4- 


550  SAMUEL   DAVIES. 

in  peace  and  prosperity,  free  from  the  calamities  of  "Nvar  and  epi- 
demic sickness, — when,  in  short,  there  were  no  external  calls  to  re- 
pentance,— suddenly  a  deep  general  concern  about  eternal  things 
spread  through  the  country ;  sinners  started  from  their  slumbers, 
broke  off  from  their  sins,  began  to  inquire  the  way  of  salvation, 
and  made  it  the  great  business  of  their  life  to  prepare  for  the  world 
to  come.  Then  the  gospel  seemed  almighty,  and  carried  all  before 
it.  It  pierced  the  very  hearts  of  men.  I  have  seen  thousands  at 
once  melted  down  under  it,  all  eager  to  hear  as  for  life,  and  scarcely 
a  dry  eye  to  be  seen  among  them.  Thousands  still  remain  shining 
monuments  of  the  power  of  divine  grace  in  that  glorious  day." 

Amid  such  animating  scenes,  under  the  preaching  of  Whitefield, 
Blair,  Robinson,  Tennent,  and  Rowland,  Davies  pursued  his  stu- 
dies. There  were  obstacles  in  his  way,  but  his  uncommon  applica- 
tion was  followed  by  surprising  progress.  Robinson  supplied  his 
wants.  Blair  taught  him,  not  only  by  his  words,  but  by  his  holy 
example  as  a  man  and  his  inimitable  excellencies  as  a  preacher, 
lie  was  licensed  by  Newcastle  Presbytery,  July  30, 1746,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-three,  and  ordained  an  evangelist,  February  19,  1747. 
He  was  desired  by  all  the  vacant  congregations.  He  was  manly 
and  graceful ;  he  had  a  venerable  presence,  commanding  voice,  em- 
phatic delivery ;  his  disposition  sweet,  dispassionate,  tender. 

He  married,*  October  23,  1746,  Sarah  Kirkpatrick,  a  daughter, 
probably,  of  John  Kirkpatrick,  of  Nottingham.  She  died,  Sep- 
tember 15,  1747,  wdth  her  infant  son.  He  sunk,  soon  after  being 
licensed,  into  a  consumptive  state,  and  was  a  year  in  melancholy 
languishment  of  body.  Supposing  his  end  near,  he  went  down  to 
the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland,  "wheref  was  a  most  glorious  dis- 
play of  grace,  begun,  I  think,  in  1745,  under  Mr.  Robinson."  The 
churches  of  Buckingham,  Queen  Anne,  and  especially  those  in 
Somerset,  were  highly  favoured,  and  were  all  vacant.  "I  never 
saw  such  a  deep,  spreading  concern  in  my  life.  In  the  extremity 
of  a  cold  winter  the  attendance  was  numerous,  and  the  people  un- 
wearied; the  indications  of  distress  and  joy  were  plain.  Those 
■were  tlie  happiest  days  of  my  life." 

He  spent  two  months  there,  suffering  with  a  hectic,  preaching 
by  day  and  delirious  wdth  fever  at  night.  Bostwick  says  the  first- 
fruits  of  his  labours  were  glorious ;  he  was  especially  honoured  in 
the  remarkable  conversion  of  two  gentlemen.  He  was  sent,  by 
Newcastle  Presbytery,  in  the  spring  of  1747,  to  Hanover,  in  Vir- 
ginia, to  supply  a  few  weeks,  "when  our|  discouragements  from 
the  Government  were  renewed  and  multiplied.  A  proclamation  was 
set  up  at  our  meeting-house,  on  a  Lord's  day,  strictly  requiring  all 


*  Quoted  from  liis  family  record  by  Dr.  Foote. 

■j-  Davies  to  Bellamy.  J  Morris's  NarratiTe. 


SAMUEL   DAVIES.  551 

magistrates  to  suppress  and  prohibit,  by  all  lawful  means,  all  itine- 
rant preachers :  we  forebore  reading  that  day.  Soon  after,  Daviea 
came,  having  qualified  himself  according  to  law,  and  obtained 
license  for  four  meeting-houses.  The  people  received  him  as  an 
angel  of  God,  and  earnestly  urged  him  to  settle  among  them." 

"I  found  them,"  he  says,  "sufficiently  numerous  to  form  one 
very  large  congregation  or  two  small  ones,  having  three  meeting- 
houses in  Hanover,  one  in  Henrico,  and  one  in  Louisa." 

"  Sundry  congregations*  in  Pennsylvania,  my  native  country, 
and  in  the  other  northern  colonies,  most  earnestly  importuned  me 
to  settle  among  them,  where  I  should  have  had  at  least  an  equal 
temporal  maintenance,  incomparably  more  ease,  leisure,  and  peace, 
and  the  happiness  of  the  frequent  society  of  my  brethren." 

He  left  them,  intending  to  accept  the  call  to  St.  George's,  in 
Delaware ;  but,  a  supplication  signed  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  heads 
of  families  being  sent  to  the  presbytery  from  the  people  of  Hano- 
ver, Henrico,  and  three  other  places,  in  the  spring  of  1748,  he 
accepted  the  call  in  April,  and  was  installed  in  May.  He  was  then 
slowly  recovering ;  and,  looking  upon  it  only  as  the  intermission 
of  a  disease  that  would  prove  mortal,  he  put  his  life  in  his  hand, 
hoping  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  successor,  and  willing  to  expire 
under  the  fatigues  of  duty. 

He  was  accompanied  by  John  Rodgers,  then  just  licensed  by 
Newcastle  Presbytery :  they  waited  on  the  General  Court  at  Wil- 
liamsburg. Leave  was  refused  to  Rodgers  to  qualify  under  the 
Toleration  Act,  and  he  was  forbidden  to  preach  in  the  colony,  un- 
der penalty  of  a  fine  of  ,£500  and  a  year's  imprisonment.  In  the 
fall,  three  other  meeting-houses  were  licensed  as  preaching-places 
for  Davies,  making  seven  in  all,  lying  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  apart, 
and  the  people  being  greatly  dispersed.  He  preached  often  of  a 
weekday :  many  Church  people  attended  seriously  and  regulai-ly ; 
*'  fifty  or  sixty  families  have  thus  been  entangled  in  the  net  of  the 
gospel."  Davenport  wrotef  to  Edwards,  "I  heard  lately  a  credi- 
ble account  of  a  remarkable  work  of  conviction  and  conversion  at 
Hanover,  under  Mr.  Davies,  to  whose  support,  in  his  preparation 
for  service,  Mr.  Robinson  contributed  much,  if  not  mostly,  and  on 
his  death-bed  gave  him  his  books."  His  success  mostly  lay  in  the 
two  extremes,  gentlemen  and  slaves.  In  three  years  he  had  three 
hundred  communicants,  hopefully  pious ;  there  were  also  some  real 
Christians,  who,  through  excessive  scrupulousness,  did  not  seek 
admission  to  the  Lord's  table.  In  the  same  period  he  baptized 
forty  negroes  on  a  credible  profession ;  and  upwards  of  a  hundred 
of  them  were  often  present  when  he  preached.  "  The  remarkable 
work"  began  as  early  as  May,  1749;  and,  in  the  summer  of  1751, 

*  Davies  to  the  Bishop  of  London.  |  Memou-s  of  Jonathan  Edwards. 


652  SAMUEL   DAVIES. 

*'some  were  brought  under  concern,  and  God's  people  much  re- 
vived" by  the  labours,  for  two  months,  of  "that  pious  Enoch," 
Davenport. 

Davies  was  married,  October  4, 1748,  to  Jean,  daughter  of  John 
Holt,  of  Hanover.  He  regained  his  health,  grew  plethoric,  and 
frequent  journeyings  through  his  wide-spread  llock  gave  vigour  to 
his  frame. 

The  General  Court*  revoked,  April  12, 1750,  the  license  granted 
by  the  county  courts  to  the  meeting-houses  on  Owen's  Creek  in 
Louisa,  at  Tucker  Woodson's  in  Goochland,  Needwood  in  Caroline, 
and  St.  Peter's  in  New  Kent.  They  gave  as  a  reason  that  the 
right  to  license  belonged  to  them,  and  not,  as  in  England,  to  the 
justices  of  the  peace.  Davies  thought  the  revoking  was  "not  from 
an  oppressive  spirit  in  the  court,  but  of  misinformation,  and  of  the 
malignant  officiousness  of  some  private  persons."  He  appeared 
before  the  General  Court,  and  showed  that  if  the  Act  of  Toleration 
did  not  extend  to  Virginia,  neither  did  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  He 
was  opposed  by  the  distinguished  Peyton  Randolph,  the  attorney- 
general,  and  his  request  was  refused ;  though  it  was  openly  said 
that  Randolph  met  his  match  that  day.  He  also  addressed  the 
commissary,  Mr.  Dawson,  to  vindicate  himself  of  arrogance,  sec- 
tarianism, and  all  unkindness  to  the  State  Church.  He  was  treated 
with  great  courtesy  at  Williamsburg,  particularly  by  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Gooch;  Colonel  Lee,  the  president  of  the  Council,  told 
him  that  a  representation  of  the  case  had  been  sent  to  the  Bishop 
of  London.  Fearing  that  undesignedly  it  might  be  imperfect  and 
produce  a  wrong  impression,  he  wrote  to  the  bishop,  August  13, 
1750,  but  delayed  to  send  his  letter  till  the  fall  of  1751.  He  wrote 
also,  on  hearing  the  news  from  Colonel  Lee,  to  Dr.  Doddridge,  "his 
friend,  in  all  the  unreserved  freedom  of  friendship."  Doddridgef 
made  large  extracts  and  sent  them  to  the  bishop,  who,  under  date 
of  May  11,  1751,  sent,  in  return,  extracts  from  the  representation 
he  had  received  of  the  matter,  and  wrote  at  large,  mildly  and  kindly, 
signifying  his  concurrence  in  the  refusal  to  license  a  Dissenter  to 
preach  out  of  the  county  of  his  abode. 

On  receiving  the  papers,  Doddridge  despatched  them  at  once  to 
Davies,  who  transmitted  to  him  a  long,  courteous,  able  reply,  dis- 
claiming for  himself  and  the  brethren  of  the  New  York  Synod  all 
participation  in  the  effort  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  diocesan 
bishops  into  the  Plantations;  "for  I  was  not  without  hopes  it 
might  tend  to  purge  out  the  corrupt  leaven  from  the  Established 
Church,  and  restrain  the  clergy  from  their  extravagancies,  who  now 
behave  as  they  please,  as  there  is  none  to  censure  or  depose  them 
on  this  side  the  Atlantic." 

*  Dr.  Foote's  Sketches  of  Virginia. 

•j-  Printed  in  the  Biblical  Repertory,  and  in  Dr.  Foote's  Sketches  of  Virginia. 


SAMUEL   DAVIES.  553 

It  having  been  said  to  the  bishop  that  Davies  obtained  a  license 
for  a  house  in  New  Kent,  to  gather  a  congregation  where  there 
were  no  Dissenters,  he  replied  "  that  two  gentlemen,  of  good 
estates  and  good  character, — justices  in  their  time,  and  officers  in 
the  militia, — had  asked,  as  a  peculiar  favour,  that  he  would 
preach  on  weekdays,  occasionally,  in  their  county."  On  his  con- 
senting, fifteen  heads  of  families,  professed  Presbyterians,  asked, 
and  the  county  coui't  licensed  their  meeting-houses. 

But  to  the  bishop's  correspondent  it  was  grievous  that  Davies 
should  "  hold  forth  on  working-days  to  poor  people,  his  only  fol- 
lowers," leading  them  to  neglect  their  maintenance;  and  "  this,  in 
process  of  time,  may  be  severely  felt  by  the  Government,  and  is 
inconsistent  with  the  religion  of  labour,"  He  replied,  "A  great 
number  of  my  hearers  are  so  well  furnished  with  slaves  that  they 
are  under  no  necessity  of  confining  themselves  to  hard  labour. 
They  redeem  time  from  the  fashionable  riots  and  excessive  diver- 
sions of  this  age.  The  religion  of  labour  is  held  sacred  among 
us,  as  the  flourishing  circumstances  of  my  people  demonstrate." 

The  question  was,  in  a  measure,  put  at  rest  by  the  licensing,  in 

1752,  of  Todd,  and,  afterwards,  of  all  others  who  desired  to  settle 
or  itinerate.  Davenport  thought  of  removing  thither ;  and 
pavies  importuned  Jonathan  Edwards  to  take  a  pastoral  charge  in 
the  Old  Dominion.  But  they  still  lay,  in  1753,  under  "  some 
illegal  restraints,  particularly  as  to  the  number  of  their  meeting- 
houses, which  is  not  at  all  equal  to  what  their  circumstances 
require,  though  they  have  taken  all  legal  measures  to  have  a  suffi- 
cient number  registered  according  to  the  Act  of  Toleration."  The 
Synod  of  New  York  "  humbly  and  earnestly  requested  the  con- 
currence and  assistance  of  their  friends  in  Great  Britain  with 
Davies,  in  the  use  of  all  proper  means  to  relieve  a  helpless  and 
oppressed  people  in  a  point  so  nearly  concerning  their  religious 
liberties." 

As  early  as  1751,  some  of  the  trustees  of  Nassau  Hall  impor- 
tuned Davies  to  go  to  Great  Britain,  to  "represent  the  affair," — 
to  solicit  and  receive  contributions.  The  application  was  renewed 
in  the  next  fall ;  but  he  totally  declined.  Early  in  1753,  the 
trustees  unanimously  "  voted  him  to  undertake  the  voyage."  He 
consented,  on  condition  they  would  support  his  family  and  supply 
his   pulpit.      They   complied ;    and  he  left   home,   September  3, 

1753.  At  the  Commencement,  at  Newark,  (the  14th,)  he  de- 
livered a  thesis, —  Personales  Distinctiones  in  Trinitate  sunt 
seternte, — vindicated  it  against  three  opponents,  and  received  the 
degree  of  A.M. 

He  preached  on  Monday,  October  8,  after  the  adjournment  of 
synod,  on  Isa.  Ixvi.  1,  2.  "  Through  the  great  mercy  of  God," 
Jie  says,  "my  heart  was  passionately  affected  with  the  subject. 


654  SAMUEL   DAVIES. 

The  venerable  Gilbert  Tennent,  -weeping  beside  me  in  the  pulpit, 
was  refreshed  with  an  information  from  my  dear  and  valuable 
friend,  Captain  Grant,  of  a  person  that  was  awakened  by  this 
sermon.  Oh,  it  is  an  unspeakable  mercy  that  such  a  creature  is 
not  thrown  by  as  wholly  useless  !" 

Amid  many  other  anxieties,  he  was  "  uneasy  to  find  that  the 
trustees  expected  him  to  furnish  himself  with  clothes  in  this  em- 
bassy." He  took  counsel  of  the  Hon.  William  Smith,  of  New 
York,  who  assured  him  that  the  revocation  of  the  license  would 
be  a  sufficient  ground  of  complaint  in  England. 

In  Philadelphia  he  preached  six  times, — the  audience  steadily 
increasing;  and  some,  who  stood  aloof  from  Tennent  and  were 
accounted  Antinomians,  attended,  and  were  satisfied  with  his  doc- 
trine. These  latter  were  probably  Scotsmen,  who  were  no  Anti- 
nomians ;  some  of  whom  soon  after  received  a  minister  from  the 
Burgher  presbytery,  in  Scotland,  while  others  drew  to  the  Anti- 
Burghers,  who  had  much  success  in  the  city.  lie  visited  White 
Clay,  where  he  had  once  lived,  saw  his  relations  in  the  Tract, 
and  was  with  "dear  Mr.  Rodgers"  at  the  sacrament  at  St. 
George's. 

"  The  venerable  Tennent"  was  then  about  fifty.  He  refreshed 
his  young  associate  by  his  facetious  and  spiritual  discourse. 
Before  sailing,  November  17,  1753,  Tennent  sung,  prayed,  and 
made  an  address.  The  voyage  was  completed  before  Christmas, 
in  safety. 

Reaching  London,  Whitefield  sent  and  invited  them  to  make 
their  home  with  him.  This  placed  them  in  a  difficulty ;  and  they 
were  perplexed  what  to  do,  lest  they  should  blast  the  success  of 
their  mission  among  the  Dissenters,  who  were  generally  disaffected 
to  him.  "  The  advice,"  he  observes,  "of  our  friends  and  his,  was, 
that  public  intercourse  with  him  would  be  imprudent  in  our  present 
situation."  They  visited  him,  privately,  the  next  evening,  when 
"  he  spoke  in  the  most  encouraging  manner  as  to  the  success  of  our 
mission,  and,  in  all  his  conversation,  discovered  so  much  zeal  and 
candour,  that  I  could  not  but  admire  the  man  as  the  wonder  of  the 
age."  On  New  Year's  night,  he  heard  him  preach  in  the  Taber- 
nacle, on  the  barren  fig-tree.  "  The  discourse  was  incoherent;  yet 
it  seemed  to  me  better  calculated  to  do  good  to  mankind  than  all 
the  accurate,  languid  discourses  I  have  heard."  Whitefield 
thought  they  had  not  taken  the  best  method,  in  trying  to  keep 
in  with  all  parties,  but  should  "come  out  boldly;  for  this  would 
secure  the  affections  of  the  pious,  from  whom  we  might  expect  the 
moyt  generous  contributions." 

Sixty-seven  ministers  signed  a  recommendation  of  their  object, 
— Baptists  joining  with  Presbyterians  and  Independents.  While 
soliciting  theii'  concurrence,  they  received  two  hundred  pounds. 


SAMUEL  DAVIES.  555 

They  then  printed  fire  hundred  copies  of  their  petition  to  place  in 
the  hands  of  their  friends.  Before  the  7th  of  May  they  had  ob- 
tained seventeen  hundred  pounds  in  the  city.  William  Belcher, 
Esq.,  a  Churchman,  gave  fifty  pounds.  Mr.  Qromwell,  a  great- 
grandson  of  the  Protector,  thanked  him  with  tears,  on  hearing 
him  preach,  and  gave  him  three  guineas. 

At  Edinburgh  they  were  kindly  received,  although  a  letter  from 
Cross,  of  Philadelphia,  had  been  dispersed  to  their  disadvantage, 
and  the  Nottingham  Sermon  was  industriously  spread.  The  Com- 
mittee of  Bills  transmitted  the  petition  to  the  Assembly,  with 
their  recommendation.  On  Monday,  May  27,  the  petition  was 
introduced ;  and,  their  credentials  being  read,  Mr.  Lumsden,  Pro- 
fessor of  Divinity  at  Aberdeen,  spoke  of  the  duty  of  the  Assem- 
bly to  promote  such  institutions  among  the  Presbyterians  in  the 
colonies,  "  who  are  a  part  of  ourselves,  having  adopted  the  same 
standard  of  doctrine,  worship,  and  discipline  with  this  church." 
He  was  followed  by  Mr.  McLagan ;  and  the  petitions  were  agreed 
to  —  no  objection  being  made — without  a  vote,  granting  a  na- 
tional collection.  The  Scottish  Society  for  Propagating  Christian 
Knowledge  issued  a  letter  in  their  behalf. 

The  Rev.  John  Adams,  of  Falkirk,  said  to  Bellamy,*  in  1754, 
*'  He  did  me  the  favour — and,  indeed,  it  was  a  most  obliging  one — 
to  pass  two  or  three  days  at  my  house,  and  to  preach  to  my  con- 
gregation. I  think,  in  my  life,  I  never  met  with  a  more  agreeable 
person.     How  happy  is  America  in  ministers!" 

At  Glasgow  his  way  was  unexpectedly  prepared  by  the  kind- 
ness of  Governor  Dinwiddle,  of  Virginia,  who  had  written  in  his 
behalf  to  his  brother,  provost  of  the  town,  and  to  his  brother-in- 
law,  Mr.  McCulloch,  minister  of  Cambuslang.  The  freedom  of 
the  city  was  conferred  on  him  and  on  President  Burr,  and  all  due 
honour  was  given  them.  At  Cambuslang,  the  people  petitioned 
him  to  print  the  sermon  they  had  heard  from  him :  many  appli- 
cations to  print  a  collection  of  them  had  been  made  to  him  in 
America,  London,  and  Edinburgh.  His  sermon  before  Newcastle  —^ 
Presbytery  on  Isa.  Ixii.  1,  2,  with  some  of  his  poems,  had  been  ' 
printed  in  Philadelphia:  they  were  " very  acceptable  to  sundry" 
in  London,  and  he  was  pressed  to  let  them  pass  an  edition  there.f 
He  thought  seriously  of  finishing  and  publishing  some  of  them  on 
his  return  home:  "perhaps  they  may  be  of  service  in  places  far 
remote  from  the  sphere  of  my  usual  labours." 

Lord  Ravensworth,  coming  to  Newcastle  while  Davies  was 
there,  sent   for   him,  and,  after   a  long    conversation,   gave  him 


*  Bellamy  MSS. 

f  Mr.  Erskine,  afterwards  Dr.  John  Erskine,  of  Edinburgli,  published  the  notes 
of  his  sermon  ou  1  John  ii.  2,  with  a  preface  in  favour  of  the  college. 


556  SAMUEL    DAVIES. 

three  guineas ;  Jnmcs  Bowes,  Esq.,  member  of  Parliament  for 
the  county  of  Durham,  a  man  of  vast  estate,  gave  five  guineas. 
By  his  advice,  he  Avaited  on  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  who  couM  do 
nothing,  in  a  public  character,  for  his  design,  but  gave,  as  a  pri- 
vate person,  five  guineas.  Ahlerman  Ilankey,  of  London,  gave 
five  pounds  ;  Samuel  Buggies,  Esq.,  of  Braintree,  promised  thirty 
pounds,  but  gave  fifty  pounds.  He  visited  the  Rev.  James  Her- 
vey,  and  found  all  his  expectations  far  exceeded  in  his  society. 
He  also  waited  on  John  and  Charles  Wesley :  "  very  benevolent, 
devout,  zealous  men,  and  honoured  with  success." 

He  did  not  succeed  in  doing  any  thing  for  the  relief  of  the  Dis- 
senters in  Virginia,  owing,  among  other  causes,  to  the  death  of 
Henry  Pelham,  the  Prime  Minister,  leaving  the  Government  in 
confusion.  He  obtained,  however,  the  opinion  of  Sir  Dudley 
Rider,  the  attorney-general,  in  favour  of  the  claim  for  license  to 
the  meeting-houses. 

Tradition*  has  represented  that  there  was  disagreement  be- 
tween him  and  Tennent.  How  seldom  truth  is  transmitted  by 
tradition!  "As  we  enjoyed  the  happiness  abroad  to  pray  to- 
gether in  our  room  twice  a  day,  we  determined  to  observe  the 
same  method  in  our  lodgings,  besides  the  stated  devotions  of  the 
family."  "  How  solitary  shall  I  be  till  his  return" — from  Ireland 
— "a  month  hence!"  "My  father  and  friend  arrived,  and  his 
presence  and  conversation  was  very  reviving  to  me." 

Davies  sailed  direct  to  Vii'ginia,  and,  after  being  wind-bound  at 
Plymouth  five  weeks,  and  a  weary  voyage  of  nearly  eight  weeks, 
he  landed  at  York,  Feb.  13,  1755. 

The  second  day  after,  he  saw  his  family  in  health,  and  found 
that  "my  favourite  friend,  Mr.  Rodgers,  who  still  dwells  on  my 
heart,  had  been  universally  acceptable,  and  hopefully  successful,  in 
Hanover."  Within  the  next  six  weeks,  he  wrote  to  a  member  of 
the  London  Society  for  Promoting  Religion  among  the  Poor,  giving 
an  account  of  the  distribution  of  the  good  books  that  had  been 
intrusted  to  him.  To  poor  white  persons,  he  had  carried  "  The 
Compassionate  Address,"  "The  Rise  and  Progress,"  and  "Baxter's 
Call,"  with  the  best  advice  he  could  give;  charging  them  to  circu- 
late the  books  and  make  them  extensively  useful. 

Many  negroes  came  to  his  house,  pleading  for  books;  and  "I 
never  did  an  action  that  met  with  so  much  gratitude  as  the  distri- 
bution, to  them,  of  books.  Especially  were  they  delighted  with 
Watts' s  Psalms  and  Hymns ;  for  the  negroes,  above  all  the  human 
species  I  ever  knew,  have  an  ear  for  music,  and  a  kind  of  ecstatic 
delight  in  psalmody.  No  books  they  learn  so  soon,  or  take  so  much 
pleasure  in,  as  those  used  in  that  heavenly  part  of  divine  worship." 

"■  Mentioned  by  Dr.  Alexander,  in  the  Log  College. 


SAMUEL   DAVIES.  557 

A  larger  donation  was  followed  witli  happy  eiFects,  in  inducing 
more  of  the  slaves  to  learn  to  read,  and  in  moving  their  masters 
to  take  new  interest  in  their  welfare.  A  friend*  of  Davies  "  pleased 
himself  with  the  prospect  af  making  some  of  these  new  converts 
the  instruments  of  introducing  Christianity  into  their  own  native 
country,  by  redeeming  three  or  four  of  the  best  capacity  and 
warmest  hearts,  who  dare  face  the  dangers  of  such  an  attempt,  and 
educating  them  at  the  new  college  at  the  Jerseys  for  missionaries. 
If  such  can  be  procured,  from  eighteen  to  twenty  years  of  age, 
who  retain  their  native  language,  the  want  of  which  has  hitherto 
prevented  all  attempts  of  penetrating  into  these,  to  us,  unknown 
regions,  probably  three  years'  education  would  fit  them  for  the 
purpose." 

The  frontiers  of  Virginia  were  the  scene  of  Indian  ravages :  the 
governor  appointed  the  5th  of  March,  1755,  as  a  day  of  fasting ; 
for  the  drought  of  the  preceding  year  had  added  the  dread  of 
famine  to  the  miseries  of  war.  His  energies  were  exerted  to  rouse 
his  countrymen  to  vigorous  self-defence  and  patriotic  fortitude. 

The  wall  of  Jerusalem  was  built  in  troublous  times ;  and,  amid  all 
the  harassing  vexations  of  an  intolerant  State-church,  congrega- 
tions grew  in  numbers,  and  were  supplied  with  pastors.  Three 
ministers  were  labouring  near  him,  one  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge,  and 
another  in  North  Carolina.  Difficulties  still  existed  in  the  way  of 
procuring  license  for  additional  meeting-houses.  Davies  thought 
of  taking  out  licenses  in  the  Bishop  of  London's  courts.  The 
Board,  in  London,  for  the  Promotion  of  the  Secular  Interests  of  the 
Dissenters,  advised  him  that  application  should  be  made  to  the 
County  Court,  to  the  Governor  and  Council,  and  then  to  the 
Governor  alone,  for  licenses  when  needed;  and,  being  refused,  to 
use  the  place  as  if  it  had  been  licensed,  and  let  the  person  prose- 
cuted for  so  doing  appeal  to  the  King  in  Council.  "  The  com- 
mittee will  take  care  to  prosecute  the  appeal."  No  occasion  to 
appeal  ever  occurred. 

In  May,  1754,  there  were  considerable  appearances  of  success  in 
Heni'ico  and  Caroline,  where  he  thought  he  had  laboured  in  vain. 

A  correspondent  in  Richmond  county  writes,  in  1755,  "When  I 
go  among  Mr.  Davies's  people,  religion  seems  to  flourish ;  it  seems 
like  the  suburbs  of  heaven :  it  is  very  agreeable  to  see  the  gentlemen 
at  their  morning  and  evening  prayers,  with  their  slaves  devoutly 
joining  with  them." 

He  was  sent  frequently  to  distant  vacancies,  greatly  to  the  regret 
of  his  people :  in  two  months  of  1757,  he  travelled  five  hundred  miles 
and  preached  forty  sermons.  He  was  not  buoyed  up  by  sanguine 
expectations  of  success,  but  burdened  with  a  sense  of  unfitness. 

*  Gillies :  probably  Robert  Cruttenden,  of  London.  The  plan  was  sent  to  Davies 
in  1705. 


558  SAMUEL  DAVIES. 

In  1756,  Todd  assisted  him  at  the  sacrament :  it  was  a  refreshing 
season  to  hungry  souls.  There  were  forty-four  coloured  communi- 
cants. "  My  principal  encouragement  is  among  the  slaves.  A  con- 
siderable number,  in  the  land  of  their  slavery,  have  been  brought 
into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God."  At  the  close*  of 
the  year,  there  were  remarkable  revivings  among  the  negroes  of  liis 
congregation.     "  God  did  more  by  me  than  I  ever  expected," 

In  one  of  his  long  tours  for  preaching,  his  young  companion, 
John  Morton,  rode  ahead,  to  secure  him  a  night's  lodging  at  the 
house  of  his  relative,  Joseph  Morton.  The  New-Light  preacher 
was  welcomed,  "and  with  him  Christ  and  salvation  came  to  that 
house."  The  heads  of  the  family  became  eminently  pious:  their 
conversion  was  the  foundation  of  Briery  congregation. 

Benighted  while  going  to  visit  "a  little  knot  of  Presbyterians" 
in  Lunenburg,  necessity  brought  him  to  the  house  of  a  Swiss  family, 
named  De  Graffenried,  on  the  borders  of  North  Carolina;  while 
addressing  the  servants,  he  reached  the  hearts  of  the  master  and 
mistress. 

Adverting  to  his  experience  in  preaching,  he  observes,  "  Once 
in  three  or  four  weeks  I  preach  as  I  could  wish;  as  in  the  sight  of 
God,  and  as  if  I  were  to  step  from  the  pulpit  to  the  supreme  tribu- 
nal. I  feel  my  subject:  I  melt  into  tears,  or  shudder  with  horror, 
when  I  denounce  the  terrors  of  the  Lord ;  I  glow,  I  soar  in  ecsta- 
sies, when  the  love  of  Jesus  is  my  theme." 

Aged  persons  who  sat  under  his  ministry  have  said  that  his 
powers  of  persuasion  seemed  sufficient  for  the  accomplishment  of 
any  good  purpose.  He  introduced  standard  works  into  every 
family  ;  he  infused  into  his  hearers  a  delight  in  religious  knowledge  ; 
his  catechizings  drew  together  old  and  young,  to  be  examined,  and 
to  ponder  the  truths  of  God.  "  The  eflfect  of  this  discipline  remains 
to  this  day." 

Davies  was  elected  President  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 
Aug.  16,  1758.  The  Rev.  Caleb  Smith  went  at  once  to  urge  his 
acceptance.  Davies  referred  the  matter  to  the  presbytery,  giving 
a  large  written  statement  of  his  views  and  feelings.  His  people 
addressed  the  prcsbytery,f  "not  able  to  feel  support  under  the 
mighty  torrent  of  overwhelming  grief"  in  the  prospect  of  losing 
their  pastor.  "It  was  a  peculiar,  kind  Providence  that  first  gave 
him  to  us.  He  has  relieved  us  from  numberless  distresses,  as  our 
spiritual  father  and  guide  to  eternity.  The  crumbling  materials 
which  compose  this  congregation  will  fall  to  ruins,  and  we  shall 
never  be  gathered  together,  we  fear,  and  united  in  another  minis- 
ter. We  are  persuaded  he  is  animated  by  noble  motives,  and  that 
nothing  but  a  conviction  of  duty  will  remove  him  from  us.     We 

*  Wriglit,  in  Gillies.  f  Dr.  Foote's  Sketches  of  Virginia. 


SAMUEL   DAVIES.  559 

beseech  you  to  consult,  and  fall  upon  some  other  expedient  for  the 
relief  of  the  college,  that  will  not  roh  us  of  the  greatest  blessing 
we  enjoy  under  God,  and  leave  us  a  people  forever  undone."  The 
presbytery  wished  Davies  to  decide  for  himself:  their  judgment 
would  have  coincided  with  his.  Their  diffidence  of  their  ability  to 
manage  affairs  in  a  colony  of  so  much  difficulty  greatly  influenced 
their  decision,  and  they  advised  him  to  remain.  He  acquiesced  in 
their  judgment,  as  the  voice  of  God;  but  the  day  following,  his 
anxieties  revived ;  the  question  of  duty  was  opened  anew ;  he  feared 
he  might  have  done  the  college  an  injury,  and  the  more  so  on  learn- 
ing that  the  presbytery  were  not  fully  satisfied  with  their  decision. 
He  therefore  authorized  Cowell,  of  Trenton,  to  say  that  in  case 
the  trustees  could  not  elect  Samuel  Finley  with  any  tolerable 
degree  of  cordiality  and  unanimity,  and  should  think  proper  to 
renew  their  election  of  him,  he  would  accept.  He  highly  recom- 
mended Finley,  as  incomparably  better  qualified  than  himself. 
"  Like  an  inflamed  meteor,  I  might  cast  a  glaring  light  and  attract 
the  gaze  of  mankind  for  a  time,  but  the  flash  would  soon  be  over." 

The  trustees  sent  the  Rev.  Jeremy  Halsey  to  persuade  him  to 
act  as  vice-president  during  the  winter,  till  the  synod  should  sit : 
he  declined,  and  they  re-elected  him,  May  9,  1759.  The  Synod  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  heard  a  supplication  from  his  people, 
earnestly  requesting  his  continuance  with  them,  and  seriously  con- 
sidered it,  and  all  the  reasonings  on  both  sides ;  then,  engaging  in 
solemn  prayer,  they  dissolved  his  pastoral  relation. 

He  bade  his  people  farewell,  July  1,  preaching  from  2  Cor.  xiii. 
11:  "When,  after  many  an  anxious  conflict,  I  accepted  your  call, 
I  fully  expected  I  was  settled  among  you  for  life  :  whatever  advan- 
tageous offers  have  been  made  to  me,  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
have  not  had  the  force  of  temptations.  It  was  in  my  heart  to  live 
and  die  with  you.  Such  of  you  as  know  how  little  I  shall  carry 
from  Virginia,  after  eleven  years'  labour  in  it,  must  be  convinced  in 
your  own  conscience,  and  can  assure  others,  that  worldly  interest 
was  not  the  reason  of  my  attachment." 

He  entered  on  his  duties  at  Princeton,  July  26,  and  was  inaugu- 
rated, Sept.  26.  To  his  new  charge  he  applied  himself  assiduously. 
The  work  was  familiar  to  him.  He  had  trained  for  the  ministry 
John  Martyn,  Henry  Patillo,  and  William  Richardson,  and  pre- 
pared for  college  Wright,  of  Cumberland,  Hunt,  of  Bladensburg, 
and  Caldwell,  of  Elizabethtown.  While  in  England,  he  met  his 
former  pupil,  Thomas  Smith.  In  governing  and  instructing,  he 
was  skilful  and  successful ;  but  his  term  of  service  was  short.  He 
gave  himself  up  to  study,  rising  with  the  dawn,  and  continuing  at 
his  toil  till  midnight.  He  left  off  his  habit  of  riding,  which  his 
plethoric  habit  rendered  so  necessary. 

At  the  close  of  1760,  a  friend,  mentioning  the  expectation  of  a 


660  BAMUEL   DAVIES. 

sermon  from  him  on  New- Year's  day,  told  him  that  Burr  had 
opened  the  last  year  of  his  life  with  a  sermon  on  Jer.  xxviii.  16: — 
"  This  year  thou  shalt  die."  This  may  have  turned  his  attention 
to  it,  for  he  preached  from  that  text  on  New- Year's  day.  Being 
Bick  with  a  bad  cold  at  the  close  of  January,  he  was  bled ;  the 
same  day  he  transcribed  a  sermon  for  the  press,  and  the  next  day 
preached  twice  in  the  college  hall.  The  arm  inflamed,  the  cold  in- 
creased: at  breakfast,  on  Monday,  he  was  seized  with  chills.  In- 
flammatory fever  set  in,  and  he  died  in  ten  days,  having  recently 
entered  his  thirty-eighth  year.  Delirious  through  most  of  his 
sickness,  he  clearly  manifested  what  were  the  favourite  objects  of 
his  concern.  His  bewildered  mind  was  continually  imagining,  and 
his  faltering  tongue  uttering,  some  expedient  for  the  prosperity 
of  Christ's  church  and  the  good  of  mankind.  To  this  fatal 
attack  may  be  applied  his  account  of  his  sickness  in  1757: — 
"Blessed  be  my  Master's  name,  this  disorder  found  me  employed 
in  his  service.  It  seized  me  in  the  pulpit,  like  a  soldier  wounded  in 
the  field.  My  fever  made  unusual  ravages  upon  my  understand- 
ing, rendering  me  frequently  delirious  and  always  stupid.  When 
I  had  any  little  sense  of  things,  I  generally  felt  pretty  calm  and 
serene;  death  was  disarmed.  The  thought  of  leaving  my  dear 
family  destitute  and  my  flock  shepherdless  made  me  often  start 
back  and  cling  to  life.  Formerly  I  have  wished  to  live  longer,  that 
I  might  be  better  prepared  for  heaven;  but  when  I  consider  that 
I  set  out  when  about  twelve  years  old,  and  what  sanguine  hopes  I 
had  then  of  my  future  progress,  and  yet  have  been  almost  at  a 
stand  ever  since,  I  am  quite  discouraged.  It  breaks  my  heart ;  but 
I  can  hardly  hope  better.  I  very  much  suspect  this  desponding 
view  of  the  matter  is  wrong,  and  relate  it  only  as  an  unusual  reason 
for  my  willingness  to  die,  which  I  never  felt  before,  and  which  I 
could  not  express." 

"  In  my  sickness  I  found  the  unspeakable  importance  of  a  Medi- 
ator in  a  religion  for  sinners.  Oh,  I  could  have  given  you  the  word 
of  a  dying  man  for  it,  that  Jesus  is  indeed  a  necessary  and  an  all- 
Bufiicient  Saviour.  Indeed,  he  is  the  only  support  for  a  departing 
soul. 

"None  but  Christ!  none  but  Christ!  Had  I  as  many  good 
works  as  Abraham  or  Paul,  I  would  not  have  dared  build  my 
hopes  on  such  a  quicksand,  but  only  on  this  firm  eternal  rock.  I 
am  rising  up  with  a  desire  to  recommend  him  better  to  my  fellow- 
sinners.  He  has  done  a  great  deal  more  by  me  already  than  I  ever 
expected,  and  infinitely  more  than  I  deserved.  Oh,  if  I  might  but 
untie  the  latchet  of  his  shoes  or  draw  water  for  the  service  of  his 
sanctuary,  it  is  enough  for  me." 

He  died,  February  4,  1761.  His  father  spent  his  closing  years 
with  him,  and  died  in  Hanover,  August  11, 1759,  aged  seventy-nine. 


SAMUEL  DAVIES.  561 

His  mother,  as  she  gazed  on  him  in  his  coffin,  said,  "  There  is  the 
son  of  my  prayers  and  my  hopes, — my  only  son,  my  only  earthly 
supporter;  but  there  is  the  will  of  God,  and  I  am  satisfied." 
Dr.  Rodgers  received  her  to  his  house,  and  there  she  finished  her 
pious  course.  Her  son  looked  upon  the  most  important  blessings 
of  his  life  as  immediate  answers  to  her  prayers. 

Samuel  Finley  preached  his  funeral  sermon.  Bostwick,  of  New 
York,  delivered  a  eulogy  on  him  in  the  college  hall.  "  His  man- 
ner, as  to  pronunciation,  gesture,  and  delivery,  seemed  a  most  per- 
fect model  of  the  most  moving  and  striking  oratory.  The  God  of 
nature  and  grace  had  furnished  him  with  every  valuable  endow- 
ment. August  and  venerable,  benevolent  and  mild,  he  spoke  with 
commanding  authority  and  melting  tenderness.  He  seemed  to 
control  not  the  attention  only,  but  all  the  powers,  of  his  audience. 
With  what  majesty  and  grace,  with  what  engaging  and  striking 
sublimity,  what  powerful  and  almost  irresistible  eloquence,  would 
he  illustrate  the  truths  and  inculcate  the  duties  of  Christianity ! 
Sinai  seemed  to  thunder  from  his  lips  when  he  denounced  the  tre- 
mendous curses  of  the  law,  and  sounded  the  dread  alarm  to  guilty, 
secure,  and  impenitent  sinners.  The  solemn  scenes  of  the  last 
judgment  seemed  to  rise  in  view  when  he  arraigned,  tried,  and 
convicted  self-deceivers  and  formal  hypocrites.  How  did  the  balm 
of  Gilead  distil  from  his  lips  when  he  exhibited  a  bleeding,  dying 
Saviour  to  sinful  mortals  as  a  sovereign  remedy  for  the  wounded 
heart  and  anguished  conscience  !  He  spoke  as  on  the  borders 
of  eternity,  and  as  viewing  the  glories  and  terrors  of  an  unseen 
world,  and  conveyed  the  most  grand  and  affecting  ideas  of  those 
important  realities." 

Bostwick*  commends  his  engaging  manner  of  address,  his 
sprightly,  entertaining  conversation.  Jonathan  Edwards  said,  in 
1752,  "I  lately  had  the  comfort  of  a  short  interview  with  Mr. 
Davies,  and  was  much  pleased  with  him  and  his  conversation :  a 
man  of  very  solid  understanding,  discreet  in  his  behaviour,  polished 
and  gentlemanly  in  his  manners,  as  well  as  fervent  and  zealous  in 
religion."  John  Angell  James  says  "that  his  sense  of  the  power 
of  an  awakening  style  of  preaching  was  strengthened  by  the  pe- 

*  He  wrote  to  Bellamy,  March  17,  1761,  "The  loss  cannot  be  expressed.  I 
believe  there  never  was  a  college  happier  in  a  president  or  in  a  more  flourishing 
state.  He  far  exceeded  the  expectations  of  his  best  friends.  You,  who  did  not  know 
him,  can  hardly  conceive  what  prodigious  uncommon  gifts  the  God  of  heaven  had 
bestowed  on  that  man  to  make  him  useful  to  the  world.  But  he  is  gone.  Oh,  what 
he  might  have  been! 

"  One  thousand  copies  of  his  sermon  on  the  death  of  George  II.  have  been  printed 
and  sold:  a  second  edition  is  in  the  press.  They  have  subscribed,  in  Philadelphia^ 
ninety-five  pounds  for  three  years  to  educate  his  sons,  and  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia have  raised  four  or  five  hundred  pounds  for  his  widow  and  his  two  daughters; 
for  he  left  very  little  estate. 

36 


56S  SAMUEL  DAVIES. 

rusal  of  the  rousing  sermons  of  Davies:  admirable  specimens, 
formed  on«thc  model  of  Baxter,  of  personal,  hortatory,  and  impres- 
eive  prcacliing.  It  is  such  preaching  we  want.  In  these  striking 
discourses  may  be  seen  what  I  mean  by  earnest  preaching."  Some 
■who  had  heard  him  told  Dr.  John  H.  Rice  that  his  preaching  com- 
bined a  solemnity,  pathos,  and  animation,  truly  wonderful,  "as 
seeing  Ilim  that  is  invisible,"  with  a  most  tender,  fervent  benevo- 
lence to  souls.  He  seldom  preached  M'ithout  producing  some  visi- 
ble emotion  in  great  numbers  present,  and  seldom  without  leaving 
saving  impressions  on  one  or  more.  His  manner,  even  as  he 
walked,  was  that  of  the  ambassador  of  a  great  king.  Saving  con- 
version followed  from  the  impression  made  by  his  repeating  in  his 
text  the  words,  "Martha,  Martha!"  Many  in  Virginia  who  joined 
the  Baptists  ascribed  their  convictions  to  their  hearing  Davies 
preach  as  he  journeyed. 

"There  is  nothing,"  said  Davies,  "that  can  wound  a  parent's 
heart  so  deeply  as  the  thought  that  he  should  bring  up  his  children 
to  dishonour  his  God  here  and  be  miserable  hereafter.  I  am  en- 
deavouring to  cultivate  the  minds  of  my  children  as  they  open, 
unwilling  to  trust  them  to  a  stranger.  I  find  the  business  of  educa- 
tion much  more  difficult  than  I  expected.  My  dear  little  creatures 
sob  and  drop  a  tear  now  and  then  under  my  instructions ;  but  I  am 
not  so  happy  as  to  see  them  under  deep  and  lasting  impressions  of 
religion."  Only  his  daughter,  who  in  countenance  was  his  express 
image,  ever  made  a  profession  of  faith.  She  never  married.  Wil- 
liam, his  eldest  son,  a  man  of  extraordinary  abilities,  became  a 
colonel  in  the  Kevolutionary  War,  and  was  occupied  afterAvards  in 
adjusting  the  complicated  accounts  of  the  States  with  the  General 
Government.  Samuel  was  engaged  in  some  mercantile  business, 
and  removed,  with  his  family,  to  Tennessee.  John  Rodgers  was  a 
lawyer,  a  man  of  talents,  and  succeeded  well  in  his  profession. 

Besides  the  collection  of  his  sermons  so  generally  known,  he 
published  a  sermon  on  Isaiah  Ixii.  1,  2,  and  one  addressed  to  the 
young,  a  copy  of  which  is  in  the  Connecticut  Historical  Library ; 
and  a  volume  of  Miscellanies,  containing  his  poems ;  no  copy  of  it 
is  to  be  found,  to  our  knowledge,  in  any  public  library.  The  title* 
of  "Geneva  Doctor"  having  been  given  him,  in  a  satire  by  Arte- 
mas  on  the  evangelical  doctrines  he  preached,  and  the  tears,  the 
tremblings,  and  faintings  that  followed,  he  published  "A  Pill  for 
Artemas,"  and  in  it  evinced  the  power  of  his  sarcasm. 

He  had  an  extensive  correspondence  in  Great  Britain.  When 
Beatty  visited  Scotland  on  behalf  of  the  Widows'  Fund,  he  sent 
by  him  to  Mr.  McCulloch,  of  Cambuslang,  a  treatise  on  the  atone- 
ment.    McCulloch  dying  soon   after,  this  massy  volume  of  fair 

*  Dr.  Alexander,  in  the  Biblical  Repertory. 


JOHN  BRAINERD.  568 

manuscript  lay  unknown,  until  given  by  his  granddaughter,  Mrs. 
Coutts,  of  Brechin,  to  Dr.  Burns,  of  Toronto,  Canada  West.  It  is 
Bpoken  of  by  Dr.  Burns  as  "  valuable  for  its  theology  and  its  learn- 
ing, greatly  raising  our  impressions  of  his  talents  as  a  logician,  and 
his  attainments  in  the  literature  of  theology." 

Dr.  Rice  well  said,  "There  are  few  sermons  extant  superior  to 
those  of  Davies.  Their  chief  and  prominent  excellence  is  doubtless 
this : — they  abound  in  clear,  forcible,  and  affecting  delineations  of 
the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  the  gospel.  The  utter  depravity  of 
man,  the  sovereignly-free  grace  of  Jehovah,  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
the  atonement  in  his  blood,  regeneration,  and  sanctification  by  the 
Holy  Spirit, — these  were  his  favourite  themes:  on  these  he  never 
ceased  to  expatiate,  as  the  essence  of  the  Christian  scheme,  the 
grand  support  of  vital  and  practical  religion. 

"  So  luminous  and  striking  are  his  delineations  of  true  religion, 
and  so  accurately  do  they  distinguish  the  genuine  from  its  oppo- 
sites  and  counterfeits,  that  it  seems  scarcely  possible  for  any  one 
to  peruse  them  attentively  and  yet  remain  ignorant  of  his  real 
state. 

"  While  intelligible  to  the  meanest  capacities,  they  are  calculated 
to  gratify  persons  of  the  greatest  knowledge  and  refinement." 

Around  Davies  grew  up  a  valuable  body  of  elders.  Four  of  them 
long  survived  him, — viz. :  Mr.  James  Hunt,  Mr.  Samuel  Morris, 
Dr.  Shore,  and  Captain  William  Craighead,  all  men  of  great 
worth. 

We  may  say  of  Davies  what  he  said  of  Hervey: — "Blessed  be 
God  that  there  was  such  a  man  on  this  guilty  globe !" 


JOHN  BRAINERD 

Was  a  native  of  East  Haddam,  Connecticut,  and  was  the  bro- 
ther of  David  Brainerd.  While  a  student  at  college,  his  brother 
pressed  on  him  in  letters  the  great  matter  of  religion,  fearing  that 
he  had  not  a  proper  sense  of  the  ruinous  consequences  of  the  false 
religion  that  had  marred  the  blessed  Revival.*  He  graduated  at 
Yale,  in  1746 ;   and,  his  brother's  health  failing,  the  Correspond- 


*  Nor  how  much  of  it  there  was  in  the  world.  "Many  serious  Christians  and 
valuable  ministers  are  too  easily  imposed  upon  by  this  false  blaze.  Let  me  toll  you, 
it  is  the  devil  himself  transformed  into  an  angel  of  light.  It  always  springs  up 
with  every  revival  of  religion,  and  stabs  and  murders  the  cause  of  God,  while  it 
passes  current  with  well-meaning  multitudes  for  the  height  of  religion.' 


564  JOHN   BRAINERD. 

cnts  sent  for  him  to  take  his  place.  lie  came  to  Elizabethtown, 
April  10,  1747;  and,  having  been  examined  by  New  York  Presby- 
tery on  the  13th,  he  went  the  next  day  to  the  Indians  at  Cran- 
berry. He  came  to  Northampton,  in  September,  to  see  his  dying 
brother;  and,  being  peculiarly  dear  to  him,  he  refreshed  him  much 
by  his  unexpected  visit,  and  by  comfortable  tidings  of  the  state  of 
his  flock.  Called  to  New  Jersey  on  important  business,  he  hastened 
back,  and  was  witness  of  his  brother's  peaceful  end. 

The  Scottish  Society  sustained  him :  he  was  ordained,  by  New 
York  Presbytery,  early  in  1748.  In  the  outset  he  was  cheered  by 
the  access  of  Indians  from  distant  parts,  by  the  awakening  of  the 
unconverted,  hopeful  additions  to  his  church,  and  the  Christian  be- 
haviour of  those  converted  under  his  brother's  labours.  Elihu  Spen- 
cer and  Job  Strong,  having  been  selected  by  the  Society  in  Boston 
as  missionaries  to  the  Six  Nations,  spent  the  winter  with  him  to 
prepare  for  their  work.  Strong  wrote  to  his  parents,  at  North- 
ampton, January  14,  1748,  "  Though  my  expectations  were  much 
raised  by  the  journals  of  David  Broinerd,  and  by  particular  in- 
formation from  him,  they  are  not  equal  to  what  now  appears  to  be 
true  concerning  the  glorious  work  of  grace.  There  was  devout 
attendance  arjd  surprising  solemnity  in  public  worship  :  in  the 
catechetical  lectures,  theii-  answers  exceeded  my  expectations  very 
much." 

Governor  Belcher  bade  him  be  sure  of  him  as  a  father  and  a 
friend  to  the  missionaries  this  way,  "  and  of  all  my  might  and 
encouragement  in  spreading  the  gospel  of  our  God  and  Saviour 
wherever  God  shall  honour  me  with  any  power  or  influence." 

Most  of  those  converted  under  the  influence  of  his  brother 
adorned  their  profession.  He  travelled  to  the  Forks  of  Delaware 
and  to  Wyoming  several  times,  to  induce  the  Indians  to  leave  their 
unsettled  life  and  dwell  near  him.  Numbers  came,  from  time  to 
time ;  but  he  succeeded  in  doing  little  more  than  civilizing  them. 
There  was  something  of  a  work  of  awakening  all  along  carried  on 
among  his  flock ;  some  of  the  new-comers  were  awakened  and 
hopefully  converted,  and,  in  general,  the  behaviour  of  the  praying 
Indians  was  good  and  pious.  Early  in  1751,  he  had,  through 
mercy,  some  special  success:  nine  or  ten  appeared  to  be  under 
convictions,  and  about  twelve  of  the  whites  near  them,  that  used 
to  be  stupid  as  the  heathen.  Many  others  were  thoughtful  and 
serious.  Two  years  of  great  mortality  reduced  their  numbers ;  but 
in  October,  1752,*  he  had  forty  families  near  him,  and  thirty-seven 
communicants.  There  Avere  fifty  children  in  the  school.  "We 
have  a  very  considerable    number  of  serious,  regular  Christians, 

*  Genuine  letter  to  a  friend  in  England,  giving  an  account  of  his  mission,  by 
Kev.  John  Brainerd:   8vo,  Lond.  1753. — New  York  Historical  Society's  Library, 


JOHN    BRAIXERD.  565 

who  are  an  ornament  to  religion;  but  some  have  backslidden.  In 
seven  years  at  least  forty  have  been  savingly  converted  here,  where 
there  are  not  two  hundred  souls,  old  and  young."  In  1753,  he 
baptized  one  adult,  a  hopeful  convert,  but  lost,  by  quick  consump- 
tion, a  young  Indian,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the  College  of 
New  Jersey  for  nearly  two  years,  preparing  for  the  ministry. 

As  early  as  1748  or  '49,  some  gentlemen,  particularly  Robert 
Hunter  Morris,  Chief-Justice  of  New  Jersey,  a  professed  deist,  sued 
the  Indians  for  their  lands  at  Cranberry,  under  pretext  of  a  will 
from  the  Indian  king,  which  was  undoubtedly  forged;  but  "he  is 
a  man  of  such  craft  and  influence,  that  it  is  not  known  how  it  will 
issue."  Brainerd  sought  to  engage  them  in  husbandry  and  in 
mechanical  trades:  to  this  they  were  adverse.  Indolence  and 
drunkenness  were  their  almost  universal  propensity, — Buell  said, 
"their  constitutional  sin." 

In  1752,  Brainerd,  with  only  one  attendant,  spent  a  fortnight 
on  the  Susquehanna :  their  horses  were  stolen,  the  guidervas  too 
lame  to  go  on  foot,  and  they  remained  three  days  where  tnere  was 
no  house.  Having  no  means  but  a  salary  of  fifty  pounds,  he  could 
not  take  with  him  a  number  of  disciples,  who,  by  discourse  and 
example,  might  aid  his  endeavours  among  the  savages. 

In  1752,  the  General  Court  of  Connecticut,  on  the  petition  of 
the  Correspondents,  granted  a  brief  for  a  general  collection  to  aid 
him  in  his  school.  Davies  lodged  with  Brainerd,  October  1,  1753, 
and  was  pleased  with  his  accounts  of  religion  among  the  Indians. 
The  next  day  he  took  a  view  of  the  Indian  town,  and  was  pleased 
at  the  affection  of  the  poor  savages  for  their  minister  and  his  con- 
descension to  them. 

Early  in  1753,  he  met  with  much  trouble  from  the  enemies  of 
religion,  and  his  people  were  much  distressed  in  relation  to  their 
lands.  The  Correspondents  proposed  that  he  should  remove  with 
them  somewhere  to  the  country  of  the  Six  Nations.  The  place 
proposed  was  Onoquaga,  near  the  head  of  the  Susquehanna,  where 
Spencer  had  formerly  laboured.  Edwards  thought  the  Oneidas, 
■who  resided  there,  were  the  best-disposed  of  all  the  tribes,  and 
would  do  the  utmost  to  encourage  missionaries  among  them. 

Brainerd  wrote  to  the  Rev.  Gideon  Hawley,  who  was  ordained 
a  missionary  in  1754,  dated 

"Bethel,  April  19,  1753. 

"Yours  of  the  2d  instant  I  received  last  evening,  which,  with 
some  other  letters  from  London  and  other  parts  of  England  that 
came  to  hand  at  the  same  time,  was  very  refreshing  and  comfort- 
able. Nothing  in  all  the  world  ever  cheers  my  spirits  like  the  ob- 
servation or  news  of  something  that  gives  a  prospect  of  spreading 
the  gospel  among  the  poor  Indians.  This,  in  the  main,  my  heart 
has  been  on  for  many  years ;  and  when  I  have  been  engaged  in  this 


JOHN    BRAINERD. 

desirable  business,  or  any  tiling  I  could  think  had  a  tendency  to 
promote  it,  then  only  did  I  breathe  my  own  proper  air  and  enjoy 
myself.  But,  alas,  I  have  been  miserably  fettered  and  pinioned 
since  I  have  been  employed  in  this  excellent  undertaking ;  the  situa- 
tion of  the  Indians  I  have  had  the  peculiar  charge  of,  being  at 
least  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  any  considerable  number  of 
Indians  elsewhere,  and  my  annual  income  far  short  of  what  was 
necessary  to  carry  on  such  a  design. 

"  I  have  never  been  satisfied  with  this  place  from  my  first  en- 
gaging in  the  business,  and  have  been,  from  time  to  time,  engaged 
in  endeavours  to  procure  one  better  suited  to  the  important 
design  of  spreading  the  gospel  among  the  Indians ;  but,  as  yet, 
Providence  has  not  opened  a  door  for  our  remove.  Of  late,  how- 
ever, there  seems  to  be  a  great  prospect  of  it.  Some  of  our 
principal  Indians  have  lately  disposed  of  a  great  part  of  their 
land,  on  which  they  live,  notwithstanding  all  we  could  do  to  the 
contrary,  and  it  is  finally  gone  from  them;  so  that  now  they 
have  not  enough  to  subsist  upon  long. 

"  Just  at  this  juncture  there  came  a  messenger  from  the  Six 
Nations,  and  two  or  three  nations  more,  with  wampum,  &c.,  in- 
viting our  Indians  to  go  and  live  on  Whawomung,  on  Susque- 
hanna, a  place  I  have  visited  several  times.  The  Six  Nations 
offer  to  give  lands  to  them  and  their  children  forever,  and  that 
they  shall  be  abridged  of  none  of  their  privileges.  Our  Indians, 
after  two  days'  consideration,  thought  best  to  accept  the  offer  their 
uncle  was  pleased  to  make,  and  concluded  to  remove  there  about 
this  time  twelvemonth.  I  was  present  at  their  consultations  on 
this  head,  and  laid  every  thing  before  them  in  the  best  manner  I 
could,  and  then  left  them  to  determine  for  themselves.  But,  not- 
withstanding all  this,  I  don't  see  wdiy  the  scheme  of  going  to  Ona- 
quaga  might  not  be  prosecuted ;  for,  if  all  things  suit  there,  I  am 
inclined  to  think  our  Indians  would  be  as  well  pleased  to  move  to 
that  place  as  Whawomung,  if  they  had  the  same  invitation  to  the 
former  as  the  latter.  And,  though  they  should  be  actually  re- 
moved as  above,  yet  if  we  could  be  admitted  to  live  among  the 
Oneidas,  the  report  of  our  being  there  would  soon  cause  them  to 
supplicate  their  uncle  for  liberty  to  come  there  too. 

"  For  my  part,  I  am  heartily  willing  to  make  trial,  and  earnestly 
desirous,  if  the  Lord  in  his  providence  should  open  a  door,  to 
spend  my  life  in  this  service.  But  my  taking  a  journey  with  you, 
this  ensuing  summer,  must  depend  very  much  on  the  determination 
of  the  Correspondents.  As  things  appear  to  me  at  present,  I  am 
inclined  to  think  we  had  better  defer  the  journey  till  next  spring; 
but  time  and  consultation  on  that  head  may  better  discover  what 
is  duty  in  that  regard.  Let  us,  in  the  mean  time,  be  waiting 
upon  God,  and  have  our  eyes  to  Him  who  only  can  make  our  en- 


JOHN    BRAINERD.  667 

deavours  effectual.  I  was  never  more  desirous  of  prosecuting  the 
Indian  affairs  than  now;  and,  though  many  things  look  discouraging, 
yet  I  cannot  but  hope  that  God  will  yet  do  glorious  things  among 
the  poor  Indians.  Let  us  be  instant  in  prayer  to  God  for  so  great 
a  blessing " 

The  Correspondents  wavered  between  Wyoming  and  Onoquaga : 
the  prospect  of  a  troublesome  war  made  a  mission  in  those  distant 
regions  disagreeable  and  dangerous ;  and,  in  the  fall  of  1755,  the 
Correspondents  wholly  dismissed  him  from  the  mission,  that  he 
might  preach  as  a  probationer  for  settlement  at  Newark. 

The  Indians  at  Cranberry  were  kindly  cared  for  by  Tennent, 
of  Freehold,  who  often  visited  them,  and  gave  the  synod,  in  1775, 
an  agreeable  account  of  their  being  in  better  circumstances  than 
ever  about  their  lands,  and  in  a  religious  point  of  view.  White- 
field  preached  to  them,  through  an  interpreter,  and  was  charmed 
with  Tennent's  assiduity  for  them. 

Edwards  was  not  satisfied  with  the  action  of  the  Correspondents 
in  releasing  Brainerd  from  his  post,  but  found  it  impracticable,  by 
reason  of  Mrs.  Brainerd's  feeble  health,  to  reinstate  him  or  send 
him  to  a  new  mission. 

He  settled  comfortably  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  at  Newark, 
and,  in  June,  1757,  was  favoured  with  something  of  encouragement. 

In  1763,  they  aided  in  building  a  school-house,  and  allowed  the 
teacher  thirty  pounds;  and  a  yearly  collection  was  ordered  to 
maintain  the  school.  It  was  reported  to  be  in  successful  opera- 
tion in  1772,  and  he  continued  his  supervision  of  it  through  his  life. 

His  home  was  at  Mount  Holly.  He  had  a  meeting-house  there, 
which  was  burned  by  the  British  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  Seven 
other  places  were  regularly  and  frequently  visited  by  him.  The 
synod,  in  1767,  granted  him  twenty  pounds,  besides  his  salary,  for 
"  his  extraordinary  services  in  forming  societies,  and  labouring 
among  the  white  people,  in  that  large  and  uncultivated  country." 
The  grant  was  renewed  the  next  year  for  his  extensive  services 
and  labour  in  those  uncultivated  parts.  From  1760  to  1770  he 
received  from  the  congregations  between  Egg  Harbour  and  Mana- 
hawken  fifty-nine  pounds  nineteen  shillings,  though  he  had  preached 
to  them  five  hundi-ed  times.  He  continued  to  supply  these 
numerous  vacancies,  and  the  annual  allowance  of  twenty  pounds 
was  promised  by  the  synod  for  that  service.  In  1773,  it  was 
increased  to  twenty-five  pounds.  The  next  year  he  gave  an  ac- 
count of  his  labours  and  prospects  of  success,  and  the  interest  of 
the  Indian  Fund  was  reserved  for  him, 

In  1777,  he  removed  to  Deerfield,  and  preached  there  till  his 
death,  March  21,  1781. 

The  places  where  Brainerd  bestowed  his  labours  on  the  coast 


668  JOHN   BRAINERD. 

have  long  been  abandoned:  some  of  them  have  been  Bearched 
out,  and  once  more  favoured  with  Presbyterian  ministrations. 
In  1767,  there  -vvas  a  new  Presbyterian  meeting-house  at  Barne- 
gat,  and  probably  as  early,  was  one  at  Manahawken.  At  the 
Forks  of  Little  Egg  Harbour,  or  Mullica  River,  was  Clark's 
meeting-house,  of  cedar  logs,  and  lined  throughout  with  cedar. 
Elijah  Clark,  a  man  of  fortune  and  piety,  was  a  ruling  elder. 
The  land  at  Cedar  Bridge,  on  which  Blackman's  meeting-house 
Stood,  was  conveyed  by  Andrew  Blackman  to  the  Presbyterians  in 
1774.  The  place  of  worship  at  Great  Egg  Harbour,  or  Champion's, 
was  probably  near  Tuckahoe.  Brainerd  preached  near  Bridge- 
port, on  Wading  River,  under  a  spreading  oak,  which  still  casts  its 
shade  on  land  bequeathed  by  John  Leak,  for  the  use  of  the  Pres- 
byterians. The  burial-ground  is  there,  but  the  church  has  passed 
away.  Steelman's  was  a  mile  north  of  Absecom;  and  Clark's  Mill 
Meeting-house,  where  was  a  regularly-constituted  congregation, 
was  in  the  northeastern  part  of  Atlantic  county,  nearly  one  mile 
from  Unionville. 

As  the  agent  of  New  Jersey  College,  he  went,  in  January,  1758, 
with  Caleb  Smith,  to  solicit  the  concurrence  of  the  Council,  con- 
vened at  Stockbridge,  in  the  removal  of  Edwards  to  the  presi- 
dency of  that  institution.  The  Council,  at  the  request  of  the 
English  and  Indian  congregations  at  Stockbridge,  wrote  to  the 
commissioners  at  Boston  to  appoint  Brainerd  to  succeed  Edwards: 
they  also  wrote  to  the  trustees  of  the  college  to  use  their  influence 
for  this  purpose.  The  Housatonic  tribe  offered  a  part  of  their 
lands  to  the  Indians  at  Cranberry,  to  induce  them  to  remove  to 
Stockbridge. 

About  this  time,  the  province  of  New  Jersey  purchased  all  the 
Indian  title  in  their  limits,  and  then  bought  for  the  Indians  a  tract 
of  four  thousand  acres  at  Edge  Pillock,  in  Evesham  township, 
Burlington  county.  The  governor  requested  Brainerd  to  resume 
his  mission.  He  was  present  at  synod  in  May,  1759,  with  his 
elder,  Joseph  Lyon,  and  applied  for  advice  whether  it  was  his 
duty  to  comply  with  the  proposal.  Arguments  on  both  sides  were 
fully  heard ;  and,  though  tenderly  affected  with  the  case  of  New- 
ark congregation,  yet,  in  consideration  of  the  great  importance 
of  the  Indian  mission,  they  unanimously  advised  him  to  resume  it. 
With  this  advice  he  readily  and  generously  complied,  giving  up  a 
very  comfortable  settlement  for  hardships  and  an  uncertain  and 
scanty  support.  The  annuity  from  Scotland  was  not  renewed. 
The  synod  gave  him  the  interest  of  the  Indian  Fund,  and,  in 
1761,  allowed  him  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  out  of  the  general 
collection :  "  It  is  agreed  that,  to  the  utmost  of  om-  power,  we 
will  support  Mr.  Brainerd."  He  had  under  his  care  two  Indian 
congregations,  embracing  one  hundred  and  twenty  families. 


JOB    PRUDDEN.  569 


JOB   PRUDDEN 

Was  the  great-grandson  of  the  Rev.  Peter  Prudden,  whose 
ministry — in  Hertfordshire,  on  the  borders  of  Wales — was  at- 
tended with  uncommon  success.  Many  good  people  followed  him, 
when  he  sailed  with  the  first  settlers  for  New  Haven,  that  they 
might  enjoy  his  pious  and  fervent  ministrations.  He  was  of  the 
strictest  order  of  Independents;  and  when  the  town  of  Milford, 
Connecticut,  was  settled,  the  church  was  "gathered  to  him"  and 
the  six  principal  planters,  as  the  seven  pillars  which  "Wisdom 
hewed  out,  when  shebuilded  her  house."  (Prov.  ix.  1.)  "All  those 
"who  had  desired  to  be  received  as  free  planters  had  settled  in  the 
plantation,  with  a  purpose,  resolution,  and  desire  that  they  might 
be  admitted  into  church  fellowship  according  to  Christ."  "Church 
members  only  should  be  free  burgesses." 

When  Mr.  Prudden  was  installed,  April  18,  1640,  three  of  the 
pillars,  by  the  appointment  of  the  church,  laid  on  hands,  even  aa 
the  prophets  and  teachers  at  Antioch  laid  hands  on  Barnabas  and 
Saul,  "separating  them  to  the  work  whereunto  the  Holy  Ghost 
called  them."  (Acts  xiii.  2.)  He  died  in  1656,  aged  fifty-six. 
Mather,  in  his  "Magnalia,"  describes  him  as  "a  zealous  preacher, 
a  man  of  excellent  spirits,  signally  successful  in  reconciling  and 
preserving  peace."  He  left  a  large  landed  estate  at  Edgton, 
Yorkshire,  (England,)  still  possessed  by  his  descendants.  His 
second  son,  John,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1668,  and  was  the 
minister  of  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  and  of  Newark,  New  Jersey, 
•where  he  died,  at  an  advanced  age,  in  1725° 

In  1737,  difficulties  arose  in  the  congregation  in  relation  to  the 
settlement  of  Mr.  Whittlesey  as  pastor, — a  respectable  minority 
regarding  his  doctrine  as  Arminian  and  his  preaching  as  un- 
edifying.  They  urged  their  objections  so  strongly,  and  with 
such  apparent  concern  and  conscientiousness,  that  the  majority 
of  the  Council  declined  to  ordain.  The  majority  of  the  people, 
headed  by  Deputy-Governor  Law,  insisted  on  their  rights ;  and 
it  was  finally  agreed  to  ordain  him,  and  that  the  minority  should 
hear  him  for  six  months,  and,  if  not  satisfied,  should  settle  a 
colleague  according  to  their  liking.  They  heard  him  two  years, 
but  were  more  dissatisfied,  and,  in  1740,  applied  to  the  church, 
and  then  to  the  town,  for  relief  according  to  the  agreement.  But, 
finding  them  intractable,  they  asked  advice  of  the  Association-, 
but  they  obtained  neither  advice  nor  countenance.  They  then — 
according  to  the  statute  for  the  relief  of  conscientious  scruplers — 
declared  "their  Sober  Dissent  from  the  Standing   Order"  esta- 


670  JOB    PRUDDEN. 

blished  in  the  colony,  professing  themselves  to  be  PresLjterians 
according  to  the  church  of  Scotland;  and  agreed,  November  30, 
1741,  to  set  up  a  separate  society,  if  thirty  heads  of  families 
would  unite  for  that  purpose.  On  the  following  Sabbath,  they 
met  for  worship  at  the  house  of  George  Clark,  Jr.;  and,  on  the 
last  Tuesday  in  January,  they  qualified  themselves  before  the 
county  court,  according  to  the  Toleration  Act.  In  this  act  thirty- 
nine  persons  took  part.  The  Rev.  Benajah  Case,  of  Simsbury,  was 
fined  and  imprisoned  for  having  preaclied  for  them  on  the  17th  of 
the  month.  Whittlesey  refused  his  pulpit,  on  Sabbaths  when  he 
did  not  use  it,  to  the  ministers  who  came  to  preach  for  them. 
One  of  them  preached  from  the  door-stone  to  an  assembly  of  a 
thousand. 

Whitefield  had  preached  at  Milford,*  Connecticut,  with  unusual 
success,  in  October,  1740,  and  Gilbert  Tennent  was  there  in  the 
next  spring. 

The  people  made  preparations  to  build  a  meeting-house  in  May, 
1742  ;  but  the  town  refused  to  allow  them  to  erect  on  the  Com- 
mon. The  county  court  granted  them  liberty  to  build,  November 
9 ;  and,  in  that  month,  they  raised  it  on  land  given  by  Bartholo- 
mew Sears.  The  Rev.  John  Eels,  of  Canaan,  preached  the  first 
sermon  in  it,  and  the  constable  was  ordered  to  apprehend  him ; 
a  like  order  was  issued  against  the  Rev.  Elisha  Kent,  of  New- 
town ;  but  they  both  escaped  his  search. 

Mr.  Jacob  Johnson, f  a  native  of  Groton,  Connecticut,  who 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1740,  preached  to  them,  having  taken  the 
necessary  oaths.  Having  made  him  a  call,  they  applied  to  some 
members  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  to  receive  them  under  their 
care,  and  take  Mr.  Johnson  on  trials  with  a  view  to  ordination. 
They  constituted  theufselves  a  church,  and  elected  ruling  elders. 
^'Accordingly,  said  members  did  send  to  him  pieces  of  trial :  a 
sermon  on  Rom.  viii.  14,  and  a  Latin  exegesis, — 'An  regimen 
ecclesijB  presbyteriale  sit  Scripturae  et  rationi  congruum?'  "  The 
presbytery  met,  April  6,  1743,  to  hear  the  exercises,  and  John- 
son, with  the  commissioners,  Benjamin  Fenn  and  George  Clerk, 
were  present;  and,  having  taken  the  congregation  under  their 
care  and  proceeded  some  length  in  the  examination,  they  paused, 
and  advised  that  a  further  attempt  be  made  towards  a  recon- 
ciliation with  the  First  Church.     If  this  attempt  should  fail,  then 

*  History  of  Milford. 

f  Johnson  graduated  at  Yale  in  1740,  and  settled  at  Groton,  Connecticut.  He 
was  employed  as  a  missionary  among  the  Indians  at  Canojoharie ;  and,  for  his 
eeal  in  ferreting  out  the  evidence  of  the  Connecticut  title  to  the  Susquehanna  pur- 
chase, he  was  styled  by  Conrad  Weiser,  the  Pennsylvania  agent,  "  that  -wicked 
priest."  He  was  called  to  Westmoreland,  now  Wilkesbarre,  and  was  the  minister 
there  for  a  number  of  years.  Was  tliis  "  New  England  over  the  mountains,"  to 
which  Abingdon  Presbytery  sent  supplies? 


JOB    PRUDDEN.  571 

they  shall  be  allowed  to  have  supplies ;  and  they  sent  Treat,  of 
Abingdon,  thither,  to  obtain  further  information  for  them.  He 
spent  two  Sabbaths  in  June  with  them,  and  was  called  July  20 ; 
but  the  presbytery,  out  of  regard  to  the  remonstrances  of  his 
people,  refused  to  put  the  call  in  bis  hands.  They  then  requested 
the  presbytery  to  send  them  Samuel  Finley.  He  preached  two 
Sabbaths,  August  25  and  September  1.  For  this  offence  he 
was  prosecuted,  tried,  and  condemned.  Governor  Law  ordered 
him  to  be  transported  as  a  vagrant — disturbing  the  peace  of  the 
community — by  the  constable,  from  town  to  town,  out  of  the 
colony.  This  treatment  was  considered,  by  some  of  the  ablest 
civilians  in  Connecticut  and  the  city  of  New  York,  to  be  so  con- 
trary to  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  British  Constitution,  that,  had 
complaint  been  made  to  the  king  in  council,  it  would  have  vacated 
the  colonial  charter. 

Pomeroy,  of  Hebron,  preached  to  them  occasionally,  and  was 
arrested,  and  carried  to  Hartford,  to  answer  to  the  General  As- 
sembly for  his  conduct. 

In  May,  1744,  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  laid  before  the  con- 
junct presbytery  an  important  affair  from  the  Presbyterian 
Society  of  Milford.  It  was  probably  an  application  for  supplies  ; 
for  the  presbytery,  in  July,  sent  Sackett,  of  Bedford,  Youngs,  of 
Southold,  and  Lamb,  of  Baskingridge,  thither,  and  advised  the 
people  to  try  to  get  Mr.  Graham's  son  for  their  minister. 

Job  Prudden  was  a  native  of  Milford.  He  graduated  at  Yale 
in  1743,  and  was  licensed  by  New  York  Presbytery.  He  was  re- 
ceived under  the  care  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  October  10, 
1746,  and  was  called  to  Milford,  May  19, 1747:  two  commissioners 
attended,  and  he  was  ordained  and  installed  at  that  time.  Up  to 
May,  1750,  they  were  taxed  for  the  support  of  Whittlesey. 
They  were  then  released  by  the  General  Assembly ;  but  not  until 
ten  years  after,  did  the  Assembly  invest  them  with  the  full  privi- 
leges of  an  ecclesiastical  society. 

When  Norwalk*  called  William  Tennent,  Jr.,  in  1765,  to  be 
colleague  with  Moses  Dickinson,  he  expressed  to  the  presbytery 
his  desire  to  remain  in  connection  with  them.  They  accordingly 
appointed  his  father,  Hait,  Prudden,  and  Kirkpatrick,  to  install 
him.  The  town,  under  a  misapprehensionf  of  the  design  of  the 
presbytery,  resolved  to  withdi'aw  the  call  unless  Tennent  united 
with  the  Association  and  conformed  to  the  Standing  Order.  In 
this  state  of  things  Tennent  succumbed. 

Prudden^  was  a  laborious,  prudent,  and  faithful  pastor,  sound 
in  doctrine,  and  experimental  in  his  preaching.     His  people  were 

*  MS.  Records  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery. 

•}•  Dr.  Hall's  History  of  Norwalk.  '  %  Trumbull. 


572  THOMAS    LEWIS. 

entirely  and  universally  satisfied  with  his  talents,  meekness,  pru- 
dence, and  piety.  They  increased  in  numbers  under  his  ministry, 
and  lived  down  the  rancorous  opposition  of  misguided  men. 

He  died  June  24,  1774,  aged  fifty-nine,  having  taken  the  small- 
pox while  visiting  a  sick  person.  He  gave  one  hundred  pounds 
to  "  his  Society's"  fund,  and  bequeathed  to  it  all  his  real  and 
personal  estate. 


THOMAS  LEWIS 


Graduated  at  Yale,  in  1741,  in  the  class  with  Governor  Living- 
ston, Buell,  Hopkins,  Brainerd,  and  Youngs.  He  was  installed 
pastor  of  the  North  Society,  in  New  Fairfield,  Connecticut,  March 
28,  1744.  He  was  zealous  for  the  Revival,  and  joined  in  inviting 
Whitefield  to  visit  the  colony.  In  common  with  Kent,  Symmes, 
and  Allen,  he  sought  rest  in  a  new  field. 

Bethlehem,  in  Hunterdon  county.  New  Jersey,  was  a  vacancy  of 
Philadelphia  Presbytery,  in  173G,  and  was,  in  1745,  divided  into 
Upper  and  Lower.  Lewis  accepted  the  call  thither,  October  14, 
1747.  Davenport  learned  from  him  that  "there  had  been  a  re- 
markable work  of  conviction  prevailing  in  his  place  since  Decem- 
ber, 1748.  I  think  he  spoke  of  about  forty  under  some  concern,  a 
considerable  number  under  strong  convictions,  and  some  hopefully 
converted."  In  June,  1752,  Kingwood  had  leave  to  build  ;  and  in 
the  fall  he  had  permission  to  divide  his  labours  between  Bethlehem 
and  Kingwood.  Out  of  this  grew  dissatisfaction :  in  May,  1754, 
he  was  released  from  Bethlehem  on  the  Delaware,  now  called  Alex- 
andria, and  two  years  after  the  pastoral  relation  was  dissolved, 
May  25,  1756. 

Previously  he  had  been  employed  for  a  part  of  the  time  at  Ox- 
ford, or  Upper  Greenwich,  Oxford  Furnace  fii'st  asking  for  supplies 
in  May,  1746. 

He  settled  at  Hopewell  and  Maidenhead,  June  13,  1758,  and 
was  dismissed,  May  20,  1760.  Smithtown,  on  Long  Island,  had 
him  for  their  minister  from  1763  to  1769,  Avhen  he  became  the  pas- 
tor of  Mendham,  New  Jersey.     He  died  there,  in  May,  1778. 


ANDREW  STERLING ANDREW   BAY.  573 


ANDREW   STERLING 

Was  ordained  by  the  New-Side  Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  in 
17-47  or  '48,  at  Upper  Octorara,  the  majority  of  the  congregation 
having  withdrawn  from  Boyd  in  1741.  On  the  union  he  refused 
to  meet  with  the  presbytery,  because  the  Protest  of  1741  had  not 
been  publicly  disowned  by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia :  he  was  at 
length  persuaded  to  regard  it  as  the  act  of  the  individual  signers. 
He  was  very  deaf,  and  this  was  his  standing  excuse  for  neglecting 
to  attend  the  presbytery,  or  call  his  session  together ;  he  was  also 
complained  of  for  not  being  thorough  or  regular  in  catechizing  the 
congregation,  and  also  for  refusing  to  settle  with  the  people,  that 
they  might  know  how  much  of  his  stipend  was  unpaid.  He  was 
arraigned,  in  1766,  for  an  act  of  childish  simplicity,  or  boorish  dis- 
regard of  his  ministerial  character.  It  involved  no  criminality, 
but  gave  rise  to  much  scandal.  The  presbytery  deposed  him,  in 
1766,  on  account  of  several  previous  missteps,  and  of  there  being 
no  reasonable  prospect,  from  his  deafness  and  other  infirmities  of 
age,  and  the  public  clamour,  of  his  being  at  all  useful  in  the  minis- 
try.    He  died  soon  afterwards. 


ANDREW  BAY 


Was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  a  weaver  by  trade.*  He  was  or- 
dained by  the  New-Side  Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  before  1748,  and 
was  the  pastor  of  Round  Hill,  near  York,  and  of  Marsh  Creek,  in 
Adams  county,  Pennsylvania. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Barton,  Church  missionary  at  Lancaster,  was  very 
zealous  for  the  formation  of  associations  to  defend  the  frontiers ; 
and  he  wrote,  November  5, 1755,  to  the  Provincial  authorities,  "Mr. 
Bay  heads  a  company  at  York." 

His  brother  Hugh  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall,  in  1750,  and  was 
a  physician  at  Herbert's  Cross  Roads,  near  Deer  Creek,  in  Harford 
county,  Maryland.  Deer  Creek,  now  Churchville,  had  been  sup- 
plied by  Donegal  Presbytery  from  1738,  but  its  existence  as  a 
church  is  said  to  be  owing  to  the  labours  of  Whitefield.  Bay  be- 
came the  pastor  in  1760,  and  many  were  his  troubles  there. 

Bay  is  said,  by  Dr.  Martin, f  to  have  been  an  eloquent  man,  but 

*  Pamphlet  by  a  Covenanting  Presbyterian.        f  MS.  Letter  to  Rev.  A.  B.  Cross. 


574  ANDREW  BAY. 

was  charged  with  having  a  worldly,  grasping  disposition.  lie  wa3 
annoyed  by  all  sorts  of  vexatious  prosecutions  before  the  presby- 
tery ;  and  tradition,  with  her  drag-net,  has  gathered  the  evil  reports 
of  him,  and  neglected  the  good.  He  was  charged  with  drunken- 
ness, before  the  presbytery;  and  all  the  proof  was,  that  on  the 
afternoon  of  a  fast-day  he  had  stammered  in  announcing  his  text, 
and  had  not  been  so  clear  in  his  division  of  the  subject  as  usual. 
He  was  charged  also  with  taking  up  his  neighbours'  horses  and 
using  them ;  and  the  proof  was,  that  he  had  confined  a  stray  beast 
that  broke  his  fence,  and  had  used  no  reasonable  means  to  advertise 
the  owner,  who,  on  taking  her  away,  said  she  had  been  so  well  fed 
she  hardly  knew  her.  He  was  charged  with  heresy  in  having  said 
that  to  deny  predestination  was  worse  than  murder;  whereas  he 
had  only  said,  that  if  the  soul  were  of  more  worth  than  the  body, 
then  he  who  destroyed  the  soul  by  turning  it  away  from  the  truth, 
was  guilty  of  a  worse  crime  than  taking  away  the  life  of  the  body. 
Bay  had  property ;  and  his  success  in  adding  to  it  seems  to  have 
drawn  upon  him  all  the  petty  rancorous  malice  of  the  envious  and 
the  lazy.  In  1765,  the  synod  heard  Bay's  appeal  from  the  action 
of  Newcastle  Presbytery ;  and,  while  disapproving  their  untender 
expressions  and  the  severity  of  their  judgment  and  censure,  yet, 
considering  the  ferment  of  the  people,  the  virulence  of  the  prose- 
cutors, and  the  necessity  of  compromising  the  difiFerences,  they 
approved  what  they  had  done.  But  they  set  Bay  and  his  con- 
gregation off  to  the  newly-erected  Presbytery  of  Carlisle.  In 
1767,  Bay  was  sent  by  the  synod  to  the  South  to  supply  the  many 
vacancies  which  earnestly  supplicated  help,  and  he  was  directed  in 
going  to  visit  the  South  Branch  of  Potomac,  and,  in  returning, 
Wilmington,  Newbern,  Edenton,  and  Williamsburg.  He  appears 
to  have  travelled  extensively  in  Virginia  and  North  and  South 
Carolina,  and  was  solicited  to  settle  at  Three  Creeks  and  the  upper 
part  of  Catawba  River.  He  also  made  a  tour  in  New  England, 
and  was  sent  by  the  synod,  in  1768,  to  the  vacancies  above  Albany, 
"for  which  he  is  to  receive  six  pounds." 
\>'  The  church  in  Albany  was  of  Scottish  origin,  the  majority  of 
the  congregation  being  emigrants  from  that  country.  Some  were 
Jerseymen.  There  is  a  tradition  that,  owing  to  a  dislike  of  Mr. 
Browne,  the  rector  of  St.  Peter's,  a  number  of  families  withdrew 
from  the  Episcopal  Society  and  united  with  the  Presbyterian 
church.  The  original  application  to  the  synod  was  made  in  1760 
in  a  very  pressing  manner  by  the  English  Presbyterian  gentlemen 
of  that  city.  Supplies  were  appointed ;  but  Mr.  William  Hannah, 
a  licentiate  of  Litchfield  Association,  went  there,  and  soon  received 
a  call.  He  was  a  native  of  Litchfield  county,  and,  having  studied 
a  while  with  Finley,  at  Nottingham,  graduated  at  King's  College, 
New  York,  in  1759. 


ANDREW    BAY.  575 

He  went  into  Pennsylvania  and  laboured  for  a  season  at  Shrews- 
bury and  York ;  but  Newcastle  Presbytery  declined  to  employ  him, 
because,  among  other  objectionable  things,  he  practised  medicine. 
The  Old-Side  ministers*  in  Philadelphia  recommended  him  to  Al- 
bany, and  a  council  was  called  to  ordain  him.  It  consisted  of  Mr. 
John  Graham,  of  Southbury,  Mr.  Lee,  of  Salisbury,  Mr.  Gold  and 
Mr.  Cotton  Mather  Smith,  of  Sharon.  Dr.  Bellamy  wrote  to  them, 
October  1,  1761,  beseeching  them  not  to  proceed,  as  Hannah  had 
owned  to  him  that  he  believed  a  man  might  be  saved  who  held  Til- 
lotson's  scheme  of  doctrine.  They  ordained  him,  and  the  church 
placed  itself  under  the  care  of  Dutchess  Presbytery,  and  he  was 
received  as  a  member,  October  18, 1763.  In  May,  1767,  the  synod 
heard  of  some  difficulties,  and  directed  the  presbytery  to  adjust 
them ;  and  in  July  they  suspended  him  on  the  representation  of  the 
three  elders,  David  Sim,  David  Edgar,  and  John  Macomb,  that  he 
had  accepted  a  civil  commission  from  the  governor  to  practise  as 
an  attorney.  Hannah  was  licensed  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  June 
11, 1772,t  and  settled  in  Culpepper,  Virginia. 

Dr.  Rodgers  visited  the  city,  by  direction  of  the  synod,  at  this 
juncture,  the  congregation  being  in  a  distressing  condition  through 
the  debt  on  their  house  of  worship.  It  stood  on  a  hill,  long  since  \ 
removed,  not  far  from  the  corner  of  South  Pearl  and  Hudson 
Streets.  In  it  were  four  square  pews  with  canopies, — one  for  the 
governor  and  the  Corporation,  one  for  Mr.  John  Shaboy,  a  wealthy 
English  merchant,  one  for  Mr.  Robert  Henry,  and  a  fourth  for 
distinguished  strangers.  The  minister  officiated  in  a  silk  cloak, 
and  tokens  were  served  before  the  communion. 

The  synod,  in  1768,  expressed  sympathy  with  the  congregation, 
but  could  give  them  no  relief.  In  1770,  Bay  attended,  with  his 
elder,  Robert  Henry. J  It  was  stated  that  the  church  had  cost 
X2813,  and  that  only  ^811  had  been  raised  to  pay  for  it.  Mr. 
Henry  had  advanced  .£1086,  and  was  bound,  with  two  others,  to 
pay  the  rest.  They  were  cheerfully  recommended  to  the  assistance 
of  all  charitable  and  well-disposed  persons. 

Whitefield  visited  Albany  in  the  summer  of  1770,  and  preached 
to  a  large,  attentive,  and  affected  auditory. 

The  congregation,  for  its  convenience,  was  annexed  to  New  York 
Presbytery.  Bay  joined  that  body  in  1773,  having  accepted  a  call 
to  Newtown,  Long  Island.  The  records  of  New  York  Presbytery 
have  been  rudely  and  wilfully  mutilated :  they  commence  on  the 
20th  of  June,  1775,  in  the  midst  of  Bay's  troubles.     The  people 

*  Hazard  to  Bellamy. 

I  Collections  of  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  Historical  Society. 

j  Mr.  Henry  was  a  merchant  of  great  worth.  His  son,  John  Vernor  Henry,  was  a 
distinguished  lawyer,  and  Attorney-General  of  New  York.  His  grandson  is  the  Rev. 
James  V.  Henry. 


676  JOHN   GRANT — JOHN   EODGERS. 

gave  prudential  and  moral  reasons  for  desiring  his  removal,  and 
were  directed  to  present  tliem  in  writing.  The  elders  declined  to 
prosecute,  but  stated  generally  the  circumstances.  He  said  he 
would  resign  if  fourteen  persons  desired  it:  there  being  thirty- 
Beven  present,  they  were  asked;  eighteen  desired  that  he  should 
go,  and  nine  that  he  should  stay.  Further  inquiry  showed  that 
there  were  two  to  one  against  him.  The  pastoral  relation  was  dis- 
solved: the  use  of  the  parsonage  till  April  was  allowed  him,  but 
not  any  winter  wood,  nor  might  he  sow  any  winter  grain.  lie  ap- 
pealed to  the  synod,  in  1770:  the  act  separating  the  pastoral  tie 
was  confirmed,  but  they  regretted  that  the  matters  relating  to  the 
glebe  had  not  been  left  to  arbitrators  mutually  chosen.  Bay  in  a 
solemn  manner  declared  that  he  declined  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
synod,  and  would  not  have  any  further  connection  with  it.  He  is 
said,  by  Riker,  in  his  "History  of  Newtown,"  to  have  died  soon 
after. 

His  wife  was  the  daughter  of  Elihu  Hall,  of  Nottingham,  Mary- 
land ;  his  son,  Elihu  Hall  Bay,  was  an  eminent  jurist,  and  Chief- 
Justice  of  South  Carolina. 


JOHN    GRANT 


Graduated  at  Yale  in  1741,  and  was  ordained,  by  New  York 
Presbytery,  pastor  of  Westfield,  New  Jersey,  before  October,  1746. 
He  died,  September  16,  1753,  aged  thirty-seven. 


JOHN  RODGERS 


Was  born  in  Boston,  August  5,  1727.  His  parents  came  from 
the  city  of  Londonderry  in  1721,  and  removed,  in  1728,  to  Phila- 
delphia. 

During  the  first  visit  of  Whitefield  to  Philadelphia,  in  1739, 
while  preaching  at  night  on  the  court-house  steps,  he  pressed  near, 
and  held  a  lantern  for  his  accommodation.  Absorbed  and  deeply 
interested,  he  became  so  much  agitated  as  to  be  scarcely  able  to 
stand ;  the  lantern  fell  from  his  hand,  and  was  dashed  to  pieces. 
"When  little  more  than  twelve  years  old,  he  became  hopefully 
pious. 


JOHN    RODGERS.  577 

Resolving  to  enter  into  the  ministry,  he  began  to  study  the 
learned  languages,  and,  in  1743,  was  placed  under  Samuel  Blair, 
at  Fagg's  Manor.  He  was  a  favourite  pupil,  and  "  profited  beyond 
many  of  his  equals ;"  for  Davies  says  of  Blair, — 

'♦  Rodgers,  whom  he  as  his  own  soul  refined." 

Gilbert  Tennent  was  his  instructor  in  theology.  He  put  him- 
self under  the  care  of  Newcastle  Presbytery  in  June,  1747,  and 
was  licensed  October  14.  The  winter  was  employed  in  supplying 
the  numerous  vacancies  earnestly  supplicating  at  each  session  of 
presbytery.  In  the  spring,  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  Davies, 
he  went  with  him  to  Virginia.  Governor  Gooch  repeatedly 
directed  the  clerk  of  the  Council  to  take  the  testimonials  which 
Rodgers  presented,  that  they  might  be  read,  and  that  he  might  be 
licensed  under  the  Toleration  Act.  The  General  Court  insisted 
that  no  step  should  be  taken  till  they  should  sit  in  council.  At 
the  suggestion  of  the  governor,  after  the  Council  had  refused,  they 
memorialized  the  court;  but  in  vain,  for  Rodgers  was  forbidden 
*'  to  preach  within  the  colony,  under  a  penalty  of  a  fine  of  five 
hundred  pounds,  and  a  year's  imprisonment  without  bail  or  main- 
prize."  He  regretted  afterwards  that  he  had  not  appealed  to  the 
king  in  council,  and  have  secured  redress  in  his  own  case,  and  pre- 
served others  from  being  hampered  in  their  missions  by  illegal 
and  vexatious  treatment.  Doddridge  thought  that  a  favourable 
decision  might  have  been  obtained  and  been  extensively  useful. 

He  spent  the  summer  of  1748  in  Somerset  county,  Maryland, 
where  the  revival — begun,  in  1745,  under  Robinson's  labours — had 
been  more  powerful  than  anywhere  else  in  the  colony.  There 
Davies  had  spent  the  preceding  winter.  Rodgers  was  successful 
in  winning  souls ;  among  others,  William  Winder,  Esq.,  of  Wico- 
mico, a  gentleman  of  wealth,  worth,  and  high  standing.  He  gave 
up  his  Arminian  notions  and  his  Episcopal  predilections,  and 
became  a  distinguished,  exemplary,  and  useful  member  of  our 
church  and  a  valuable  ruling  elder.* 

The  hom^  of  Rodgers  was  at  Captain  Venable's,  on  the  Head 
of  Wicomico:  it  was  the  home  of  Makemie.  Captain  Joseph 
Venable  sat  on  the  bench  when  Somerset  Court  licensed  McNish 
and  Hampton  to  preach ;  and  the  meeting-house  on  Wicomico  was 
on  Venable's  land. 

The  summer  on  the  Eastern  Shore  was  one  of  the  most  pleasant 
and  useful  of  his  life.     In  a  very  uncommon   degree  his  labours 


*  One  of  his  sons  was  Governor  of  Maryland.  His  daughter  Leah  miMried 
J.  R.  Morris,  of  Worcester  county;  and,  being  left  a  widow  in  1795,  slie  removed 
to  the  house  of  her  son.  Dr.  W.  W.  Morris,  at  Dover,  Delaware.  Dr.  Morris  has  b««a 
for  many  years  a  ruling  elder  and  zealous  supporter  of  the  church. 

37 


1B78  JOHN    RODGERS. 

'were  blessed :  the  triumphs  of  the  gospel  were  numerous  and  sig- 
nal, and,  in  several  cases,  remarkable. 

In  the  fall,  the  chui'ches  of  Monokin  and  Wicomico  called  him, 
)^  as  also  did  Pequca,  Conecocheague,  and  St.  George's.  The  last 
was  the  feeblest;  but  the  presbytery  urged  him  to  accept  it,  and 
he  did  so  at  once. 

There  Robinson  had  spent  his  closing  days.  Davies  was  the 
first  choice  of  the  people,  and  he  would  gladly  have  settled  there ; 
but  he  was  constrained  to  go  Virginia,  Rodgcrs  was  ordained 
at  St.  George's,  March  16, 1749.  Finley  preached,  and  Blair  pre- 
sided. 

The  revival  begun  in  Whitefield's  early  visits  increased  under 
Robinson,  and  still  more  under  Rodgers.  The  congregation 
rapidly  enlarged ;  a  new  house  of  worship  was  erected,  and  was 
soon  too  strait  for  them.  When  an  addition  was  built,  often  the 
aisles,  the  doors,  and  the  windows,  were  filled  with  attentive  and 
/  "weeping  hearers.  Drawyers  and  Pencader  could  scarcely  support 
a  minister,  so  many  chose  to  go  to  St.  George's  and  the  Forest. 

Near  St.  George's,  an  Episcopal  church  had  been  built  early  in 
the  century.  The  services  were  conducted  in  the  Welsh  lan- 
guage ;  and  the  Venerable  Society  sustained  for  many  years  mis- 
sionaries at  North  and  South  Appoquinimy,  or,  "  apud  Quin- 
quionera  et  Appoquinquionem."  The  congregation  became  extinct, 
several  of  the  families  connecting  themselves  with  the  Presby- 
terian church. 

The  Forest  Church,  near  Middletown,  had  a  third  part  of  his 

time.     The  meeting-house  was  built  in  1750:  those  who  had  been 

J(     hearers  and  elders  in  Hutcheson's  church  at  Bohemia  united  in 

erecting  the  building,  under  the  style  of  the  Congregation  of  Bo- 

'  hernia    and    Appoquinimy.      Some    families    held   pews    in    both 

churches,  and  attended  regularly  at  both. 

Rodgers  established  and  maintained  successfully  the  public 
stated  catechizing  of  the  congregation,  not  confining  the  service 
by  any  means  to  the  young,  and  connecting  it  with  the  annual 
pastoral  visit  to  every  family. 

With  far-seeing  sagacity,  he  raised  among  his  people,  in  1751, 
money  to  establish  a  permanent  fund ;  little  thinking  that,  even  in 
his  lifetime,  the  congregation  would  be  so  reduced  in  numbers  as 
to  owe  to  the  annual  proceeds  of  that  fund  the  privilege  of  hearing 
the  gospel  statedly  preached. 

He  did  not  neglect  the  vacancies  hopelessly  sinking  out  of  ex- 
istence all  along  the  peninsula.  lie  often  visited  them.  At 
Church  Hill,  in  Queen  Anne's,  where  the  labours  of  Robinson  and 
Davies  had  been  greatly  blessed,  he  baptized  twenty-nine  adults 
on  the  same  day  in  which  many  others  were  admitted  to  the  com- 
munion. 


^  JOHN    RODGERS.  579 

In  1754,  lie  declined,  as  soon  as  it  was  tendered,  an  invitation 
to  visit  New  York  with  a  view  to  settlement.  He  was  called 
thither  in  January,  1765 ;  and  the  presbytery  referred  to  the 
synod  for  advice  whether  they  should  put  the  call  in  his  hands.  / 
Tennent  and  Finley  both  recommended  him  highly :  "  some*  say 
he  is  nearly  equal  to  the  late  Mr.  Davies."  A  few  days  after,  he 
received  a  call  from  the  Independent  Church  in  Charleston. 
Whitefield  was  at  St.  George's  soon  after,  and  told  him  he  thought 
his  work  was  done  there ;  but,  though  familiar  with  the  condition 
of  the  two  cities,  he  could  not  decide  which  call  he  should  accept. 
The  synod,  after  considering  the  matter  for  three  days,  was  nearly 
unanimous  as  to  his  duty  to  go  to  New  York.  The  pastoral  re- 
lation was  dissolved,  May  18,  1765,  and  he  was  installed  in  his 
new  charge,  September  4,  having  the  Rev.  Joseph  Treat  as  col- 
league: Johnes  presided,  and  Caldwell  preached.  So  fearful  had 
they  been  of  not  securing  him,  that  they  applied  to  Suffolk  Pres- 
bytery to  use  their  influence  in  their  behalf,  and,  with  their  com-  t, 
missioner,  sent  Caldwell,  of  Elizabethtown,  to  plead  for  them 
before  Newcastle  Presbytery. 

"A  considerable  revival  of  religion  almost  immediately  ensued: 
a  large  number  were  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth."  So 
much  did  the  congregation  increase  that,  in  the  spring  of  1766, 
the  foundation  of  the  Brick  Church  was  laid,  and  the  house  was 
opened  on  New  Year's  day,  1768. 

A  new  attempt  was  made  to  obtain  a  charter,  in  March,  1766. 
Lord  Dartmouth,  President  of  the  Privy  Council,  sincerely 
favoured  it;  but  the  Bishop  of  London  appeared  twice  before  the 
Lords  of  Trade  and  Plantations  to  oppose  it.  His  lordship  8aid,f 
the  Churchmen  in  New  York  were  fearful  at  that  time  that  the 
Dissenters  would  unite  with  the  Established  Church  of  Scotland. 
The  petition  was  rejected,  August  26,  1767.  Dr.  Chandler, 
Church  minister  of  Elizabethtown,  boldly  avowed,  that  the  reason 
why  it  was  refused  was  because  William  Smith,  Esq.,  was  one  of 
the  petitioners.  His  opposition  to  Church  encroachments  was  not 
to  be  forgiven.  Dr.  Johnson,  of  King's  College,  told  Archbishop 
Seeker  that  "  the  book  by  Smith  was  the  principal  cause  of  the 
complaints  against  the  Venerable  Society  and  the  missionaries : 
there  is  nothing  the  Dissenters  will  stick  at." 

Dr.  Laidlie,  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  and  Dr.  John 
Mason,  of  the  Associate  Church,  joined  with  Rodgers  and  the 
three  eminent  lawyers  of  his  congregation  (William  Livingston, 
William  Smith,  and  John  Morin  Scott)  in  a  number  of  publica- 
tions on  the  impolicy  and  dangers  of  the  introduction  of  bishops 

*  Bellamy  MSS. 

f  Collections  of  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  Historical  Society. 


^- 


680  JOHN    RODOERS.  , 

into  the  colonies :    "  De  Laune's  Plea  for  Non-conformity"  wag 
printed  and  widely  circulated. 

Governor  Tryon  was  the  bearer  of  a  petition  for  a  charter  in 
1774,  and  obtained  an  order  from  the  king  in  council,  granting 
the  request.  The  charter  was  drafted,  and  passed  the  governor 
and  Council,  and  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Kemp,  the  king's 
attorney,  to  report  thereon.  There  it  laid  till  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  divested  king,  Council,  and  attorney  of  power 

"  To  tithe  and  toll  in  these  dominions." 

In  the  close  of  February,  1776,  Rodgers,  with  many  others,  re- 
moved their  families  from  New  York,  expecting  that  a  speedy 
eifort  would  be  made  to  seize  the  city  and  hold  it  for  the  Crown. 
Placing  his  family  with  his  son-in-law, —  the  Rev.  William  M. 
Tennent,  of  Greenfield,  Connecticut, — he  became  chaplain  of 
General  Heath's  brigade  in  April,  and,  on  resigning,  spent  the 
winter  in  Georgia.  He  was  elected  chaplain  of  the  State  Con- 
vention, and  then  of  the  Council  of  Safety  and  of  the  first  legis- 
lature, and  continued  in  the  discharge  of  these  duties  till  the 
burning  of  Esopus,  in  October,  1777.  From  that  time  till  the 
war  closed,  he  laboured  at  Amenia,  in  Dutchess  county,  then  at 
Danbury,  Connecticut,  and,  for  eighteen  months,  at  Lamington, 
New  Jersey. 

On  his  return  to  New  York  the  parsonage  was  gone,  having 
been  consumed  in  the  great  fire,  soon  after  the  royal  troops  en- 
tered the  city.  The  Wall  Street  Church  had  been  converted  into 
barracks,  and  the  Brick  Church  into  a  hospital,  and  left  in  a 
ruinous  state.  The  vestry  of  Trinity  Church — "  Whig  Episco- 
palians"— offered  the  use  of  St.  Paul's  and  St.  George's;  and 
Rodgers  preached  in  them,  alternately,  from  November,  1783,  till 
June,  17 — . 

The  congregation  had  lost  some  valuable  members,  but  it  was 
still  large.  The  churches  were  repaired,  almost  rebuilt ;  and. 
Treat  having  been  dismissed,  though  a  number  warmly  urged  his 
stay,  a  colleague  was  sought;  and,  in  a  few  years,  another  was 
needed.  A  third  church  was  built  in  1796,  and  another  minister 
associated  with  the  three  others  in  one  joint  session. 

Rodgers  was  the  moderator  of  the  first  General  Assembly,  in 
1789.  After  1803,  he  ceased  to  preach  more  than  once  on  the 
Sabbath,  and,  from  that  time,  read  his  discourses,  being  then 
seventy-seven.  He  preached  for  the  last  time  in  September, 
1809.  At  the  communion,  in  December,  he  attempted  to  serve  a 
table;  but  his  recollection  so  entirely  failed  him  that  with  the 
utmost  difiiculty  he  got  through  the  service.  "  The  tears  of  hun- 
dreds witness  their  mingled  respect  and  sympathy  for  the  beloved 
pastor,  now  sinking  into  the  grave." 


JOHN   RODGERS.  5Sl 

His  memory  failed,  but  no  pious  habit  declined,  no  devout 
affection  abated.  In  the  evening  preceding  his  death,  he  prayed 
with  his  family,  three  times  making  supplication  for  his  beloved 
people.  The  next  morning  he  proposed  to  convene  the  family  for 
prayer,  but  soon  fell  asleep.  He  awoke  speechless ;  and,  by 
Bigns  expressing  his  wonted  hope  and  consolation,  he  waited  his 
appointed  time.  At  about  four  in  the  afternoon  of  May  7,  1811, 
in  his  eighty-fourth  year,  he  entered  into  rest. 

Sixty  and  four  were  the  years  of  his  ministry.  Dr.  Griffin 
testifies  that  his  influence,  and  that  of  McWhorter,  in  their  old 
age,  was  most  healthful,  and  kept  alive  in  our  church  a  remem- 
brance of  the  years  of  the  right  hand  of  the  Most  High,  a  sense 
of  the  importance  of  revivals,  and  a  longing  for  their  return,  such 
as  was  not  to  be  found  in  New  England.  He  overlived  all  the 
ministers  who  had  seen  the  Great  Revival  and  had  felt  the  evils 
of  the  disruption,  and  who  had  rejoiced  in  the  successful  esta- 
blishment of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  and  the  union  of  the 
church  in  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  He  lived  to 
see  the  gloomy  clouds,  that  hung  over  our  land  so  ominously  for 
years  after  the  Revolution,  roll  away,  and  to  witness  the  enlarge- 
ment and  prosperity  of  our  church  beyond  all  the  most  sanguine 
expectations  of  his  youth. 

Whitefield,  who  had  failed,  though  using  the  agency  of  the 
Marquis  of  Lothian,  in  procuring  a  Doctorate  in  Divinity  for 
Burr,  was  successful,  by  the  aid  of  Franklin,  in  obtaining  that 
honour  for  Rodgers  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  in  1768. 

He  married,  in  1752,  the  daughter  of  Colonel  Peter  Bayard,  of 
Bohemia,  in  Cecil  county,  Maryland,  of  whose  family  six  were 
converted  under  Whitefield.  She  was  the  mother  of  Dr.  John  R. 
B.  Rodgers,*  an  eminent  physician  and  a  ruling  elder,  and  of  the 
wife  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tennent,  of  Abingdon. 

It  was  the  good  fortune  of  our  church  that  Rodgers  should 
have  had  associated  with  him  that  admirable  man.  Dr.  Samuel 
Miller;  for  through  his  indefatigable  and  wise  care  was  pre- 
served, in  his  "  Memoir  of  Rodgers,"  all  that  was  then  known  of 
our  early  history. 

*  Named  after  her  only  brother,  who  died  in  1756,  aged  seventeen. 


682  AARON   RICHARDS — CALEB   SMITH. 


AARON   RICHARDS 

Graduated  at  Yale  in  1743,  and  -was  ordained  by  New  York 
Presbytery,  in  1749,  pastor  at  Rahway,  New  Jersey. 

Davies,  on  the  way  from  Elizabethtown  to  the  synod,  in  1753, 
called  on  him,  in  company  with  Spencer  and  Brown,  of  Bridge- 
hampton.  "A  pious  minister,  under  the  deepest  melancholy  and 
temptation,  harassed  with  perpetual  suggestions  to  cut  his  own 
throat.  Davies  gave  him  his  best  advice,  with  an  account  of  his 
own  melancholy  some  years  ago."  The  gloom  continued,  with 
intermissions,  through  his  life,  although  it  is  said  that  naturally  he 
was  of  a  remarkably  gay  and  lively  turn. 

During  the  war  of  the  Revolution  he  retired  for  a  season,  to  be 
out  of  the  reach  of  the  enemy,  who  had  carried  off  McKnight,  of 
Shrewsbury,  and  Roe,  of  Woodbridge.  He  supplied  the  church  of 
South  Hanover  while  absent  from  home.  For  many  years  he  was 
sent  yearly  to  preach  at  the  East  and  West  Houses,  on  Statea 
Island, — the  congregation  being  so  small  as  to  receive  no  more 
ministerial  services  besides,  except  a  similar  visit  from  Horton,  of 
NcM'town. 

Towards  the  close  of  his  days  Richards  sunk  under  hypochondria, 
and  became  a  prey  to  imaginary  terrors ;  and,  in  1790,  he  ceased 
to  preach.  The  congregation  made  the  kindest  arrangement  for 
the  comfort  of  his  family,  and  petitioned  the  presbytery  to  dissolve 
the  pastoral  relation.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Chapman,*  of  Orange,  was 
sent  to  confer  with  him ;  but,  by  the  advice  of  his  family,  he  did 
not  speak  to  him  of  the  matter :  they  expressed  their  satisfaction 
with  the  measures  of  the  people  in  their  behalf,  and  acquiesced  in 
their  petition.  He  was  dismissed,  May  3, 1791,  and  died,  May  16, 
1793,  in  the  forty-fifth  year  of  his  ministry,  and  the  seventy-fifth 
year  of  his  age. 


CALEB   SMITH 


Was  born  in  Brookhaven,  Long  Island,  December  29, 1723,  and 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1743,  having  been  converted  in  his  sixteenth 
year.     He  was  the  son  of  William  Smith,  a  descendant  of  the 

*  MS.  Records  of  New  York  Presbytery. 


TIMOTHY  ALLEN. 


^83 


principal  early  settler  of  that  town.  New  York  Presbytery 
licensed  him  in  April,  1747,  and  ordained  him,  November  30, 1748, 
pastor  of  Newark  Mountains,  now  Orange,  New  Jersey.  His  pre- 
decessor, the  Rev.  Daniel  Taylor,  graduated  at  Yale  in  1707,  and 
preached  for  some  time  at  Smithtown,  Long  Island,  and  died  Janu- 
ary 8,  1748.  This  congregation  is  probably  the  one  alluded  to  by 
Andrews,  in  his  letter  of  March,  1729,  as  "back  of  Newark,"  and 
as  being  the  only  one  in  the  province  that  did  not  conform  to 
the  Presbyterian  mode.  It  retained  the  Independent  form  until 
Taylor's  death. 

Smith  was  an  untiring  friend  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 
making  long  journeys  to  collect  funds,  and  going  to  Virginia  to 
prevail  on  Davies  to  accept  the  presidency. 

He  was  not  an  attractive  preacher:  his  monotony  and  his  lia- 
bility to  vertigo  in  the  pulpit  are  mentioned  in  his  funeral  sermon. 
He  was  indefatigable  in  study :  he  delighted  in  prayer,  and  excelled 
in  pastoral  visiting  and  catechizing. 

His  first  wife  was  Martha,  the  youngest  child  of  President 
Dickinson:  she  died,  August  20,  1767,  leaving  three  daughters. 
His  second  wife  was  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Major  Isaac  Foote,  of 
Branford,  Connecticut. 

Smith  died  October  22,  1762,  aged  thirty-nine.     His  only  son,  f 
on  reaching  manhood,  went  to  the  South,  and  was  never  heard  of 
by  his  friends. 

A  short  memoir  of  Caleb  Smith,  with  some  extracts  from  his 
diary,  was  published.  He  printed  his  sermon  on  the  death  of  Burr, 
and  his  charge  at  the  ordination  of  Thane. 


TIMOTHY  ALLEN 


Is  said  to  have  been  much  under  the  influence,  while  in  college, 
of  David  Ferris,  to  whom  great  prominence  is  given  by  Chauncey, 
in  his  "Seasonable  Thoughts,"  as  the  originator  of  the  eccentric 
views  and  course  of  Davenport.*  Chauncey  inserts,  at  length,  a 
letter  from  Allen,  while  a  sophomore,  to  the  Rev.  Daniel  Bliss,  a 
classmate  of  Davenport,  and  whose  name  is  brought  forward,  as  a 
disturber  of  Israel,  by  those  who  cried  "Peace  when  there  was  no 
peace."     The  letter  is  dated  July  1,  1734.     Allen  thought  he  had 

*  One  of  Dr.  Chauncey's  "intelligencers"  mentions  Allen  as  joining  with  Daven- 
port in  making  the  bonfire  of  clothes  and  pious  books  at  New  London. 


584  TIMOTHY   ALLEN. 

not  long  to  live,  and  ought  to  commence  preaching  without  finish- 
ing his  studies:  "The  arm  of  the  Lord  is  not  shortened,  and  there- 
fore lie  does  not  need  the  aid  of  human  learning."  This  boyish 
effusion  was  treasured  up  by  Mr.  Clap,  the  rector,  and  Allen  was 
regarded  with  distrust  and  coldness. 

He  graduated  in  1736,  at  a  time  when  the  town  and  college  were 
favoured  with  a  reviving :  among  the  fruits  of  it  was  the  conversion 
of  Burr. 

He  was  the  pastor  of  West  Haven,  Connecticut,  from  1738  to 
1742.  His  zeal  in  promoting  the  Revival  drew  on  him  much  oppo- 
sition from  the  ministers  who  held  the  New  Light  in  contempt. 
Allen  preached  clearly  and  fully  the  truth  concerning  man's  help- 
lessness through  the  inveterate  enmity  of  his  heart  to  God.  He 
asserted  the  ineflBcacy  of  all  means  to  convert  the  natural  man, 
and  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  new- creating  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  The  New  Haven  Association  laid  hold  on  his  expression 
that  the  Bible  could  not,  of  itself,  or  by  any  man's  efforts,  do  the 
unregcnerate  sinner  any  more  good  than  the  reading  of  an  old  al- 
manac :  for  this  they  deposed  him  in  1741.  Turell,  in  his  "  Dialogue 
with  a  Parishioner,"  suggests  that,  if  the  reading  of  the  Bible  and 
an  old  almanac  be  of  like  value,  a  statute  should  be  made  declar- 
ing it  to  be  a  desecration  of  the  Sabbath,  and  punishable  by  the 
magistrate,  for  sinners  to  read  the  Scriptures  on  the  Lord's  day. 

After  the  arrest  of  Davenport  by  the  Connecticut  magistrates  in 
May,  1742,  it  was*  impressed  on  many  minds  that  they  must  go 
forth  and  erect  a  "shepherds'  tent"  at  New  London,  to  educate 
persons  of  the  right  stamp  for  the  ministry.  The  school  was 
opened  under  the  care  of  Allen.  The  New  Haven  Association  de- 
nounced it  as  "that  thing  called  a  Shepherds'  Tent."  The  Synod 
of  Philadelphia,  in  writing  to  the  Rev.  Thomas  Clap,  Rector  of 
Yale,  in  1746,  say,  "We  shall  be  shy  of  the  proposals  of  the  New 
York  Synod,  until  they  show  us  in  what  way  they  intend  to  have 
their  youth  educated  for  the  ministry,  and  be  ready  to  discourage 
all  such  methods  of  bringing  all  good  learning  into  contempt  as 
the  Shepherds'  Tent." 

The  act  of  the  legislature  in  October,  1742,  prohibiting  the 
establishment  of  seminaries  by  private  or  unknown  persons,  was 
especially  directed  against  it,  and  compelled  its  removal  to  Rhode 
Island. 

When  Jonathan  Dickinson  published  his  dialogue  on  "A  Display 
of  Divine  Grace,"  the  Rev.  Andrew  Croswell,  of  Groton,  Connecti- 
cut, published  a  reply,  stigmatizing  it  as  a  most  dangerous  book, 
and  of  the  worst  tendency.  Allen  and  Symmes,  with  several 
ministers  in  New  England,  prefaced  the  pamphlet,  giving  it  their 

*  Tracy's  Great  Awakening. 


ISRAEL   REID.  585 

concurrence,  and  especially  testifying  against  Dickinson's  inex- 
cusable error  in  teaching  that  the  proof  of  our  justification  must 
be  found  in  the  evidences  of  our  sanctification.  They  fancied  that 
Libertinus,  one  of  the  speakers  in  the  dialogue,  was  designed  as  an 
odious  caricature  of  the  friends  of  the  Revival.  Dickinson  replied 
that  it  was  intended  as  a  display  of  the  Moravians,  whom  his  assail- 
ants, equally  with  himself,  regarded  as  dangerous  and  Antinomian, 
He  reminded  them  that  the  Antinomian  doctrines  were  in  vogue  in 
several  parishes  of  Southold,  Long  Island,  and  that  in  East  Jersey 
many  people,  though  duly  warned,  followed  and  upheld  a  scandal- 
ous, deposed,  and  excommunicated  minister. 

The  Shepherds'  Tent  becoming  cheerless  as  Jonah's  withering 
arbour,  Allen  removed  to  Long  Island,  and  probably  laid  aside, 
with  Davenport,  the  extreme  views  he  had  held.    He  met  with  Suf- 
folk Presbytery,  June  14, 1748,  and  laid  before  them  "the  absolu- 
tion" by  which  the  censure  laid  on  him  in  New  England  was  taken 
off.     He  joined  New  Brunswick   Presbytery,  October  12,  1748, 
and  supplied  Hopewell  and  Maidenhead  for  three  or  four  years. 
From  1753  to  '56  he  laboured  at  Woodbridge,  and  was  a  member  r-*^-^^  ^'' 
of  New  York  Presbytery  till  1761,  although  he  was  installed  at  "^  t«^**^ 
Ashford,  Massachusetts,  October  12, 1757.     He  became  the  minis-  Cvcw  p^-*^^ 
ter  of   Chesterfield,  in  that  State,  at  the  age  of   seventy,*  and  *^^    •■"»^3-^ 
preached,  by  the  request  of   the  people,  at  his  own  installation, 
June  15,  1785.     His  labours  were  not  in  vain.     He  rested  from 
them  May  1,  1794,  though  then  in  vigorous  health,  with  mind  and 
body  little  affected  by  the  weight  of  almost  a  century.     He  de- 
parted January  12,  1806,  in  his  ninety-first  year,  full  of  the  com- 
forts of  the  gospel. 

After  his  return  to  New  England,  he  published  a  large  number 
of  occasional  sermons. 

Dr.  Trumbull  says,  he  was  a  man  of  genius  and  talents,  an 
able  and  zealous  defender  of  the  doctrines  of  grace  from  the  pul- 
pit and  the  press,  of  strict  morals,  and  a  powerful  and  fervent 
preacher. 


ISRAEL  REID. 


The  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  in  May,  1747,  appointed  the  com- 
mission to  be  the  committee  for  the  school,  to  meet  the  second 
Wednesdays  of  October  and  March,  and  "then  to  examine  Mr. 
Israel  Reid,  and  to  give  him  a  certificate  if  he  be  approved."     He 

*  History  of  Western  Massachusetts. 


586  DANIEL    THANE. 

graduated  in  the  first  class  sent  forth  from  the  College  of  New  Jer- 
sey ;  and,  being  licensed  by  New  York  Presbytery,  he  placed  him- 
self under  the  care  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  October  12, 
1748,  to  answer  the  supplication  from  Bound  Brook.  He  was 
called,  December  0,  174U,  and  ordained  pastor,  March  7,  1750, — 
the  first  graduate  of  the  College  who  became  a  member  of  synod. 
Davenport  says,  "he  was  encouraged  by  tokens  of  good  among  his 
people  in  1751." 

New  Brunswick  asked  for  one-fourth  of  his  time  in  April,  1768, 
and  Millstone  made  the  same  request  the  next  year.  He  died, 
November  28, 1793. 


DANIEL   THANE 


Is  said  to  have  been  a  native  of  Scotland,  and  to  have  studied 
at  Abei'deen.  He  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1748,  and  was 
ordained,  by  New  York  Presbytery,  pastor  at  Connecticut  Farms, 
New  Jersey,  August  29,  1750,  when  Arthur  preached,  and  Caleb 
Smith  gave  the  charge. 

In  1754,  he  was  sent  by  the  synod  to  Virginia  and  the  Caro- 
linas.  Ramsey,  in  his  "History  of  South  Carolina,"  says  that  he 
preached  in  the  fork  of  Broad  and  Saluda  Rivers,  where  there  were 
only  six  families.  These  were  driven  away  by  the  Indians,  be- 
tween 1755  and  '63;  but  they  returned  and  set  up  congregations, 
served  in  after-times  by  Dr.  Joseph  Alexander,  Mr.  Simpson,  and 
Mr.  Tate.  In  1808,  there  was  a  flourishing  congregation,  with  a 
meeting-house,  on  the  spot  where  Thane  preached,  in  1754,  under 
a  tree. 

He  is  said  to  have  been  dismissed  from  Connecticut  Farms  in 
1757  ;  and,  on  the  union,  the  synod  left  him  at  liberty  to  join  either 
.the  Presbytery  of  Newcastle  or  Lewes.  He  was  settled  in  the 
-1  united  congregations  of  Newcastle  and  Christina  Bridge,  and,  in 
1763,  he  dissolved  the  pastoral  relation  himself.  He  was  accused 
of  drunkenness,  but  was  cleared  by  the  presbytery  on  the  ground 
that  the  appearances  which  were  against  him  might  easily  be  ac- 
counted for  from  his  disordered  state  of  mind  and  body.  He  died 
soon  after. 

Dr.  Hosack,  in  his  "Memoir  of  De  Witt  Clinton,"  says  that 
eminent  man  was  under  Thane's  tuition,  and  that  he  was  the  minis- 
ter of  New  Windsor,  in  Orange  county.  New  York. 


ENOS  ATKES — ELIHU    SPENCER.  5B7 


ENOS  AYRES 

Was  probably  a  pupil  of  Bellamy,  to  whom  he  wrote  from 
Elizabethtown  in  September,  1745,  mentioning  the  erection  of 
"the  Sinnard"  of  New  York,  and  the  estrangement  of  our  minis- 
ters from  Whitefield  on  account  of  his  seeming  to  favour  the 
Moravians. 

He  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1748,  and  his  name  stands 
first  on  the  roll  of  alumni. 

He  was  ordained  by  New  York  Presbytery,  before  May,  1750, 
as  the  minister  of  Blooming  Grove,  in  Orange  county,  New  York, 
and  died  there  in  1765. 


ELIHU  SPENCER 


Was  born  at  East  Haddam,  Connecticut,  February  12,  1721, 
and  was  a  descendant — as  was  also  David  Brainerd — of  Jared 
Spencer,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  that  town,  and  who,  with  four 
brothers,  came  at  an  early  day  to  New  England.  He  graduated 
at  Yale  in  1746. 

The  Commissioners  at  Boston*  of  the  London  Society  for 
Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians  had  received  from 
the  estate  of  the  famous  Dr.  Williams  a  sum  for  the  maintenance 
of  two  missionaries  among  the  Six  Nations.  Having  a  very  high 
esteem  of  Brainerd,  they  intrusted  to  him  the  affair  of  finding  out 
and  recommending  suitable  persons.  He  recommended  Spencer 
and  Job  Strong,f  "undoubtedly,"  said  Jonathan  Edwards,  "well- 
qualified  persons,  and  of  good  abilities  and  learning,  and  of  pious 
dispositions."  They  spent  the  winter  with  John  Brainerd,  at 
Bethel,  in  New  Jersey,  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  Indian 
tongue,!  with  the  other  accomplishments  necessary  for  the  mission. 
Spencer  passed  the  summer  with  Jonathan  Edwards,  and  accom- 
panied him  to  Albany,  to  be  present  at  an  Indian  treaty. 

John   Brainerd   had   intended  to  accompany  them  when  they 

*  Edwards  to  his  Scottish  correspondents. — S.  E.  Dwight's  Life  of  Edwards. 

f  A  graduate  of  Yale,  and  a  native  of  Northampton.  His  health  did  not  permit 
his  going  to  the  Indians,  and  he  settled  at  Torringford,  Connecticut. 

J  Edwards  said  the  Moheekanew  tongue  was  used  by  all  the  Indians  north  of 
Maryland,  except  the  Iroquois. 


ELIHU    SPENCER. 

•went  to  the  Susquehanna  Indians;  and  Governor  Belcher  assured 
them,  once  and  again,  of  his  kindness  and  respect,  and  that  they 
should  have  all  his  encouragement  and  assistance,  by  letters  to 
the  king's  governors  where  they  may  pass,  and  to  the  sachem,  or 
chief,  of  those  Indians.  They  were  discouraged,  as  to  their  in- 
tended journey,  by  learning  that  the  Susquehanna  Indians  greatly 
objected  to  entertaining  them  ■without  the  consent  of  the  Six 
Nations.  They  were  subject  to  them,  and  stood  in  great  fear  of 
them,  and  insisted  that  they  should  go  to  the  Six  Nations  first. 
Spencer  and  Strong  went  with  Governor  Shirley  to  treat  with  the 
Six  Nations  about  receiving  missionaries.  The  Oneidas  were  par- 
ticularly dealt  with :  they  appeared  free  and  forward  in  consent- 
ing. Edwards  regarded  them  as  superior  in  moral  qualities  to  all 
the  other  Indians,  and  says  they  were  held  in  high  esteem  by  the 
other  nations  of  the  confederacy. 

Having  made  his  arrangements  as  to  the  field  of  his  labour,  he 
"went  to  Boston,  and  was  ordained,  September  14,  1748,  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  the  Oneidas.  Delay  occurred  from  the  want  of  an 
interpreter;  but,  in  the  winter,  one  was  found,  and  the  people  of 
Northampton  engaged  to  support  her.  It  was  a  woman  who  had 
been  a  captive  among  the  Caughnawagas,  in  Canada.  He  pro- 
ceeded in  the  winter,  with  his  interpreter,  to  Onoquaqua,  (now 
Unadilla,)  in  Otsego  county.  New  York,  on  the  head-waters  of  the 
Susquehanna,  one  hundred  and  seventy  miles  southwest  of  Albany, 
and  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  distant  from  any  white  settle- 
ment. 

He  continued  there  till  the  spring,  through  many  difficulties 
and  hardships,  having  little  or  no  success ;  for  his  interpreter  was 
accompanied  by  her  husband,*  a  Separatist,  and  he  showed  what 
spirit  he  was  of,  there  in  the  wilderness.  He  differed  with 
Spencer,  and  opposed  him  in  his  measures.  His  wife  refused  to 
interpret  but  one  discourse  a  week,  and  did  that  very  unfaithfully. 
She  utterly  declined  assisting  him  in  discoursing  to  the  Indians, 
and  conversing  with  th«m  through  the  week. 

He  left  in  the  spring ;  and,  not  being  able  to  find  another  inter- 
preter, or  a  fellow-missionary,  he  was  released  from  his  engage- 
ments. 

He  prepared  a  vocabulary  of  the  language,  complete,  and  of 
great  value. 

He  was  called  to  Elizabethtown,  and  installed,  September  7, 
1750.  Edwards  said,  "  He  is  a  person  of  very  promising 
qualifications;   and  will  hopefully,  in  some  measure,  make  up  the 


*  Probably  Daniel  Marshall,  -who  afterwards  became  a  Baptist  preacher,  and, 
■with  Shubael  Stearns,  removed  to  Yirgiiiin,  and  was  largely  successful  in  pro- 
jnotiug  religion. — Morgsiu  Edwards's  MS.  Uistory  of  the  Virginia  Baptists. 


ELIHU    SPENCER.  589 

great  loss  that  people  have  sustained  by  the  death  of  Dickin- 
son." 

He  married  Joanna  Eaton,  of  Eaton's  Town,  near  Shrewsbury, 
New  Jersey. 

In  October,  1753,  the  synod  directed  his  pulpit  to  be  supplied 
all  the  time  he  shall  be  absent  at  the  request  of  his  Excellency 
Governor  Belcher.  Probably  he  was  desired  to  attend,  with  the 
New  Jersey  Commissioners,  the  Congress  at  Albany,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1754,  to  which  seven  provinces  sent  delegates,  to  treat 
with  the  Indians,  and,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Hon.  William 
Smith,  to  transact  the  most  important  business  the  British  Colo- 
nies ever  engaged  in.  Franklin  presented  a  plan  for  the  union  of 
the  colonies  in  a  general  government :  it  was  unanimously  adopted 
by  the  Congress,  but  rejected  by  the  king. 

Resigning  his  pastoral  charge  in  1756,  he  removed  to  Jamaica, 
but  "  never  came  under  any  obligation  to  that  people  to  stay  with 
them."  In  May,  1758,  he  prepared  to  go  as  chaplain  to  the  New 
York  forces  in  the  expedition  against  Canada. 

Under  date  of  July  2,  1759,  he  sent  to  President  Stiles  a  sum- 
mary view  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey. 
On  the  3d  of  November,  he  sent  some  corrections  and  additions, 
and  informed  him  that  he  had  removed  his  family  to  Shrewsbury, 
to  reside  with  his  mother-in-law.  He  laments  being  so  far  from 
New  England ;  but  comforts  himself  that  he  could  keep  up  a  cor- 
respondence with  his  friends  there,  by  the  boats  going  to  New 
York. 

He  joined  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  on  dismission  from  Suf- 
folk Presbytery,  May  20,  1761,  and  supplied  Shrewsbury  regu- 
larly, going,  occasionally,  to  Middletown  Point  and  Amboy,  south- 
ward. In  October,  1762,  he  was  directed  to  spend  one-fourth  of 
his  time  at  the  latter  place;  and,  in  1764,  to  visit  the  sea-coast 
towards  Egg  Harbour. 

In  1755,  in  answer  to  pressing  supplications  from  North  Caro- 
lina, Spencer  and  John  Brainerd  were  appointed  to  go  thither; 
but  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country  after  Braddock's  defeat  pre- 
vented their  going.  In  May,  1764,  the  synod,  considering  the 
great  importance  of  having  the  congregations  in  that  colony  pro- 
perly organized,  sent  Spencer  and  McWhorter  to  form  societies, 
help  them  in  adjusting  bounds,  ordain  elders,  dispense  the  sacra- 
ments, instruct  the  people  in  discipline  and  the  best  way  to  obtain 
the  stated  ministry.  A  collection  was  ordered  in  all  the  churches, 
to  defray  their  expenses,  and  make  them  a  proper  acknowledg- 
ment for  the  damage  they  may  sustain  in  their  domestic  affairs. 

No  record  has  been  found  of  this  visit.  He  was  called  to  Cathy's 
Settlement,  now  Thyatira,  and  to  Fourth  Creek,  and  was  requested 
to  settle  between  the  Yadkin  and  Catawba- 


^ 


690  ELIHU    SPENCER. 

New  Brunswick  Presbytery  supplied  Shrewsbury  and  Sharp 
River  in  his  absence.  On  his  return,  Rodgers  and  his  people  re- 
quested the  synod  that  he  might  supply  them  four  Sabbaths  before 
their  pastor  left  them.  He  received  a  call,  September  28,  1705, 
to  St.  George's  and  Appoquinimy,  in  Lancaster  Presbytery.  He 
accepted  it,  and  removed  thither.  The  Forest  Church,  as  the 
latter  was  commonly  styled,  continued  nearly  as  large  and  pros- 
perous as  under  Rodgers;  but  symptoms  of  decline  appeared. 
Some  left  as  soon  as  the  morning  service  closed  ;  and  this  steadily, 
and  so  much  increased,  that  the  afternoon  service  was  given  up  by 
his  successor. 

At  the  end  of  four  years,  owing  to  the  ill-health  of  his  family, 
he  returned  to  Shrewsbury ;  and,  a  few  days  after  being  released, 
he  was  called,  October  17,  1769,  to  Trenton  and  Lawrence.  He 
joined  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  May  17,  1771,  and  seems  never 
to  have  been  installed. 

A  delegate  from  the  Provincial  Congress  of  North  Carolina  peti- 
tioned the  presbytery,  December  26,  1775,  to  send  him  thither,  to 
unite  the  people  in  the  cause  of  independence.  McWhorter  went 
with  him.  They  accomplished  little,  as  Franklin  predicted,  on 
the  first  mention  of  the  scheme. 

He  died,  December  27,  1784.  Possessed  of  fine  genius,  great 
vivacity,  eminent  and  active  piety,  he  edified  the  church  by  his 
talents  and  example,  and  "finished  his  course  with  joy."  His 
talents  were  prompt,  popular,  excellent:  he  was  one  of  the  most 
ready  extempore  speakers  of  the  day. 

He  published  a  pamphlet  on  the  "  Origin  and  Growth  of  Epis- 
copacy." 

Among  his  grandchildren  were  the  Hon.  John  Sergeant, 
Thomas  Sergeant,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  widow  of  the  venerable  and  beloved  Dr. 
Miller. 

What  must  Spencer  have  been !  Loved  by  Brainerd  and  Ed- 
wards in  his  youth ;  the  successor  of  Dickinson  and  Rodgers  in 
the  pastoral  work ;  selected  by  the  governors  of  two  colonies  aa 
chaplain  to  the  forces  on  important  expeditions  ;  intrusted  by  the 
synod  with  momentous  responsibilities  among  the  new  settlers  in 
Carolina ;  and  performing  those  duties  so  well,  that,  at  the  lapse 
of  ten  years,  the  Provincial  Congress  called  him  from  his  distant 
home,  to  allay  the  conscientious  scruples  deterring  the  Scots  from 
throwing  oS"  their  allegiance  to  Britain. 


SYLVANUS   WHITE.  §9| 


SYLVANUS  WHITE 

Was  born  in  1704.  His  father,  Ebenezer  White,  came,  with 
his  parents,  from  England  to  Massachusetts  at  an  early  age,  and 
was  the  minister  of  Bridgehampton,  Long  Island,  from  its  first 
organization  as  a  parish  in  1695.  His  son  graduated  at  Harvard 
University  in  1723,  and  was  ordained,  by  a  council,  November  17, 
1727,  pastor  of  the  church  of  Southampton.  He  married  Phebe, 
only  daughter  of  Hezekiah  Howell,  of  that  town. 

While  in  almost  every  town  on  the  island,  there  were  confusions 
and  divisions  growing  out  of  the  Great  Revival,  Southampton 
seems  to  have  dwelt  in  peace,  united  in  their  minister.  In  the 
formation  of  Suffolk  Presbytery,  White  and  his  venerable  father 
took  an  active  part,  and  Southampton  promptly  and  unanimously 
placed  itself  under  its  care,  April  27,  1747.  Bridgehampton  was 
in  circumstances  of  great  difficulty:  a  separation  had  occurred, 
and  much  animosity  existed.  The  presbytery  "  treated  with  the 
venerable  and  aged  pastor  to  resign."  He  consented  to  do  so; 
and  then,  on  the  settlement  of  James  Brown,  they  spent  much 
time  at  Mr.  Job  Parson's,  with  the  people  of  the  Separation,  on 
the  point,  whether  they  had  not  violated  the  rules  of  the  gospel 
in  their  treatment  of  Mr.  White.  "Much  seeming  stiffness"  ap- 
peared; but,  at  length,  sixteen  men  and  twelve  women  signed  an 
acknowledgment  "that,  though  according  to  their  present  light 
they  were  right  as  to  the  cause,  they  were  wrong  in  the  manner." 
The  aged  minister  signed  a  full,  humble  avowal,  that,  under  "  the 
sore  and  awful  frown  of  a  holy  God,  in  a  time  of  much  disorder, 
temptation,  and  provocation,  he  had  spoken  unadvisedly  with  his 
lips;  and  asked  forgiveness  for  having  spoken  to  the  disparage- 
ment of  a  work  of  grace,  while  intending  to  condemn  what  seemed 
fraught  with  evil."  The  Separates  were  then  received  back. 
On  the  3d  of  October,  he  wrote  to  the  presbytery,  expressing  his 
opinion  that  they  had  been  treated  with  too  much  lenity.  They 
replied,  "  the  object  of  church  government  was  edification,  not 
destruction." 

Southampton  shared  in  the  great  revival  of  1764. 

White  lived,  in  uninterrupted  health,  through  a  ministry  of  fifty- 
five  years,  and,  after  a  week's  illness,  died,  October  22,  1782,  his 
mind  not  enfeebled  by  age,  and  his  hope  strong  and  cheerful.  He 
lived,  honoured  and  revered,  happy  in  the  affections  of  a  large  and 
warmly-attached  congregation.  He  left  seven  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter :  most  of  these  lived  to  advanced  age.  They  removed ;  but  his 
son,  Dr.  Henry  White,  remained  in  his  native  town,  and  died  there, 
at  the  age  of  ninety,  in  1840. 


i92  SAMUEL    BUELL. 


SAMUEL  BUELL 

Was  born  at  Coventry,  Connecticut,  September  1,  1716,  and 
was*  the  only  son  of  a  wealthy  farmer.  Awakened  at  the  age  of 
seventeen,  he  early  became  devotedly  pious,  and,  determining  to 
engage  in  the  ministry,  entered  Yale  College  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one.  He  enjoyed  the  intimate  friendship  of  Brainerd  and  Youngs, 
and  freely  opened  his  heart  to  them.  During  his  residence  in  New 
Haven,  Whitefield,  Tennent,  and  Davenport  preached  there,  with 
blessed  results  on  the  students  and  the  town.  In  May,  before 
graduating,  he  went  over  to  Southold,  the  scene  of  Davenport's 
labours,  and  found  Burr,  of  Newark,  preaching  there,  it  being  a 
time  of  refreshing. 

Buell  purposed  to  spend  the  usual  time  in  studying  divinity; 
but,  by  the  advice  of  Edwards  and  others,  the  zealous  friends  of 
the  Revival,  he  was  licensed  in  the  fall  of  1741,  and  went  forth 
as  "  a  strolling  preacher." 

About  a  monthf  after  graduating,  he  was  reconciled  to  Mr. 
Noyes,  the  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  New  Haven,  and  was 
licensed  in  a  regular  manner  by  the  Association. 

His  ministrations  were  not  lifeless:  he  notes  at  one  time  in  his 
diary  that  then,  for  the  first  time,  when  he  preached,  no  tears  were 
seen.  Wheelock  wrote  to  Bellamy,  December  27,  1741,  "  The 
Lord  is  with  Mr.  Buell  of  a  truth;  hell  trembles  before  him." 

He  came  to  Northampton,  January  27,  1742,  Edwards  before 
leaving  home  having  left  to  him  the  free  use  of  his  pulpit.  "  From 
what  I  had  heard  of  him,"  says  Mrs.  Edwards,|  "and  of  his  suc- 
cess, I  had  strong  hopes  there  would  be  great  effects  from  his  la- 
bours." Religion  was  then  at  a  lower  ebb  in  the  town  than  it 
had  been  of  late.  "A  number  of  the  zealous  people  from  Suf- 
field"  came  with  him,  and  continued  some  time.  His  first  service 
was  a  lecture  preached  in  the  afternoon ;  in  the  latter  part,  one  or 
two  appeared  much  moved,  and  after  the  blessing,  when  the  people 
were  going  out,  several  others.  To  the  mind  of  Mrs.  Edwards, 
there  was  the  clearest  evidence  that  God  was  present  in  the  con- 
gregation on  the  work  of  redeeming  love ;  and,  in  the  clear  view 
of  this,  she  was  all  at  once  filled  with  such  intense  admiration  of  the 
wonderful  condescension  and  grace  of  God  in  returning  to  North- 
ampton, as  overwhelmed  her  soul,  and  immediately  took  away  her 

*  Memoir  in  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine. 

f  MS.  Journal  of  Rev.  Ebenezer  Parkman,  in  Tracy's  Great  Awakening. 

J  Diary :  quoted  in  S.  E.  Dwight's  Memoir  of  Edwards. 


SAMUEL  BUELL.  593 

bodily  strength.  They  remained  in  the  meeting  about  three  hour3 
after  the  exercises  were  over:  during  most  of  the  time,  her  bodily 
strength  was  overcome,  while  her  heart  was  lifted  up  in  adoration 
and  praise,  and  she  conversed  with  those  near  her  in  a  very  earnest 
manner. 

Buell  and  others  returned  home  with  her ;  and,  while  conversing 
on  the  Divine  goodness,  the  intenseness  of  her  feelings  took  away 
her  bodily  strength ;  and  her  mind  was  so  impressed  with  a  sense  of 
the  love  of  Christ  and  Ms  immediate  presence,  that  she  could  with 
difficulty  refrain  from  leaping  for  joy.  The  next  day,  before  going 
to  meeting,  she  sunk  down  twice,  helpless,  and  was  carried  to  her 
bed  faint  with  joy  while  contemplating  the  glories  of  the  heavenly 
world.  The  next  two  days  she  could  not  refrain  leaping  for  joy. 
Buell  spent  almost  the  whole  time  in  religious  exercises  with  the 
people,  in  public  or  private,  they  continually  thronging  him :  they 
■were  exceedingly  moved,  crying  out  in  great  numbers  in  the  meet- 
ing-house, and  some  lying  for  twenty-four  hours  motionless,  with 
their  senses  locked  up  under  strong  imaginations,  as  though  they 
•went  to  heaven  and  saw  unutterable  things.  One  day,  at  meal- 
time, while  Buell  spoke  of  the  glories  of  the  upper  world,  Mrs. 
Edwards  was  so  affected  with  views  of  the  great  Comforter  that 
her  strength  fled,  her  limbs  grew  cold,  and  for  an  hour  she  con- 
tinued expressing  to  those  around  her  deep  and  joyful  sense  of  the 
presence  and  divine  excellence  of  the  Comforter.  The  next  day, 
Pomeroy  broke  forth  in  the  language  of  joy,  thankfulness,  and 
praise,  and,  for  nearly  an  hour,  led  them  to  rejoice  in  the  visible 
presence,  and  adore  His  infinite  goodness  and  condescension. 
'•Words  were  not  made,  he  said,  to  express  these  things." 

Buell  remained  a  fortnight  after  Edwards's  return :  the  whole 
town  seemed  to  be  in  a  continual  commotion  day  and  night ;  great 
numbers  were  believed  to  be  the  subjects  of  hopeful  conversion. 
The  effects  were  the  most  amazing  in  the  case  of  professors.  "The 
interposition  of  Satan  soon  became  very  apparent,  and  caution  and 
pains  were  necessary  to  keep  many  of  the  people  from  running 
wild." 

He  then  set  out  on  a  tour  towards  Boston. 

The  letter  on  "The  State  of  Religion  in  New  England  since  Mr. 
Whitefield's  Visit,"  states  that  Boston  had  just  been  visited  by  "a 
strolling  preacher,  who  left  college  last  year,  ignorant  of  the  first 
principles  of  learning,  not  able  to  speak  two  sentences  correctly;" 
and,  though  he  uttered  "only  stupid  stuff,  you  could  not  add  one 
to  his  audience."  He  adds,  "The  Church  of  England  increases 
fast;"  but  Dr.  Cutler  speaks  another  language: — "The  ill  effects 
of  Whitefield's  visit  would  have  worn  off,  but  others  with  his  spirit 
carried  on  the  design  with  too  great  success.  "  He  enumerates 
Buell,  along  with  Tennent,  Rodgers,  and  Davenport,  among  "  those 

88 


594  SAMUEL   BUELL. 

■who  afflict  119,  and  through  whom  the  enthusiasm  was  still  breaking 
out  in  1743." 

Eucll  was  thought  to  be  in  a  consumption  when  he  was  ordained 
by  a  council,  in  1743,  as  an  evangelist, — a  thing  almost  unknown 
at  that  time  in  New  England.  The  New  Ilavcn  Association  classed 
him  and  Brainerd  with  "strolling  preachers  that  were  most  dis- 
orderly."' 

The  Society  in  Canterbury  having  settled  a  minister  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  communicants,  the  latter  withdrew,  and  were  excluded 
from  the  use  of  the  meeting-house.  Buell  was  threatened  with 
prosecution  for  having  preached  to  the  Separate  meeting.  One  of 
the  instances  of  sinful  conduct  charged  on  the  excellent  Philemon 
Robbins,  pastor  of  Branford,  was  "his  earnestness  in  improving 
BtroUing  preachers,  more  especially  in  a  meeting  carried  on  in  his 
own  house,  by  Brainerd  and  Buell,  to  the  dishonour  of  religion, 
the  just  offence  of  many,  and  the  destruction  of  peace  and  gospel 
order."  Bobbins  replied,  "I  cannot  but  think  the  meeting  car- 
ried on  by  them  had  a  good  eifect ;  but  it  had  some  unhappy  attend- 
ants, and  I  believe  neither  they  nor  I  could  carry  on  a  meeting 
just  in  that  form  again." 

Brainerd,  in  his  small  circuit  in  the  winter  of  1742-3,  met 
"dear  brother  Buell,  spent  some  time  with  him,  and  preached  my 
sermon  on  Deuteronomy  viii.  2,  before  him.  I  love  him  dearly ; 
but  I  see  the  Lord  has  not  dealt  with  him  just  as  he  has  with  me." 
Buell,  while  lamenting  errors  and  extravagance,  happily  avoided 
the  mistake  of  seeing  nothing  but  wildfire  and  false  religion  on 
every  side.  He  probably  said  to  Brainerd,  as  Wheelock  did  to 
Bellamy,  April  11,  1742,  "I  am  sorry  to  hear  of  your  low  liv- 
ing, and  that  religion  runs  so  very  low  with  you.  Blessed  be 
God,  it  is  not  so  with  us ;  there  is  much  of  the  presence  of  God  in 
these  parts.  I  verily  believe  that  one  thing  that  clogs  religion 
among  you  is  people's  so  frequently  censuring  one  another,  and 
beating  down  weak  Christians.  I  think  it  less  wrong  to  religion, 
under  present  circumstances,  to  let  two  hypocrites  alone  upon  a 
false  foundation  for  the  present,  than  to  pull  down  one  of  God's 
children.  The  way  to  discover  hypocrites  is  to  build  up  God's 
children:  hypocrites  can't  eat  children's  bread;  if  they  do  for  a 
■while,  it  won't  nourish  them,  and  they  will  soon  show  their  condi- 
tion :  but,  if  you  pull  down  Christians  with  them,  they  all  look 
alike ;  it  is  hard  to  distinguish  until  they  are  worn  out  with  trouble 
and  discouraged,  and  others  that  are  setting  out  are  discouraged  by 
the  sight." 

In  1745,  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  South,  when  he  met  with 
Burr,  who  had  just  returned  from  attending  a  council  held  at 
Easthampton,  to  heal  the  divisions  and  secure  the  settlement  of  a 
pastor   there.     Tennent,  of  Freehold,  and   David  Brainerd   and 


SAMUEL   BUELL.  595 

Dickinson,  had  been  members,  and  the  last  drafted  the  views  of 
the  counciL  Burr  had  recommended  the  people  to  call  Buell,  their 
first  choice  being  Brainerd ;  and  he  now  urged  Buell  to  go  thither 
at  once. 

Easthampton  was  settled  from  New  England  in  1648,  and  had, 
for  the  first  thirty-six  or  thirty-eight  years,  the  Rev.  Thomas 
James,  and  then  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Huntting,  for  half  a  century. 
Davenport  came  there  in  1739,  and  under  his  first  sermon  twenty 
were  converted:  this  was  the  first  dropping  of  a  shower  of  hea- 
venly influence.  One  hundred  were  renewed  to  repentance ;  but 
the  vain  imagination  seized  some  that  this  outpouring  of  the  Spirit 
was,  as  it  were,  a  renewing  of  the  gospel  dispensation,  and  that 
the  converts  were  bound  to  come  out  from  among  them  who  could 
not  approve  of  the  new  ways  and  the  new  notions.  It  was  like  the 
running  of  a  ploughshare  through  the  greensward,  causing  the 
summer  rain  to  gully  out  the  soil  down  to  the  foundation  of  the 
hills.  A  large  separation  from  Mr.  Huntting  ensued,  with  the  ordi- 
nary average  of  reproaches  and  recriminations.  His  extreme  age 
made  the  good  pastor  anxious,  in  1744,  to  retire  from  his  charge. 
A  majority  of  the  people  made  out  a  call  for  a  minister;  but  the 
want  of  harmony  was  so  great  that  the  council  refused  to  proceed 
to  the  ordination. 

Under  these  circumstances,  on  the  9th  of  October,  Buell  came 
in  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  His  first 
sermon  was  from  1  Corinthians  ii.  2: — "I  determined  to  know 
nothing  but  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified."  "Notwithstanding 
the  many  untoward  and  ever-to-be-lamented  circumstances  attend- 
ing the  revival  under  Davenport,  about  sixty  were  added  soon  after 
the  settlement  of  Buell.  By  his  efforts  and  faithful  preaching, 
harmony  was  in  a  good  measure  restored,  and  lasting  and  danger- 
ous consequences  prevented."  He  was  installed,  September  19, 
1746:  Edwards  preached  on  the  occasion.* 
y  In  April,  1747,  he  assisted  in  forming  Suff"olk  Presbytery.  The 
question  was  debated  among  his  people,  whether  those  who  had 
separated  from  Mr.  Huntting  in  1741,  not  being  communicants, 
should  be  admitted  to  church  privileges  without  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  their  fault.  The  Presbytery  of  Suffolk  decided  that  all 
baptized  persons  were  subject  to  discipline,  and  that  they  ought  to 
make  penitential  reflections  on  their  conduct.  They  directed,f 
October  25, 1749,  that  they  should  publicly  make  this  acknowledg- 
ment:— "I  acknowledge  that  my  separation  from  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Huntting's  ministry,  and  speaking  reproachfully  of  him  in  a  time 
of  great  diflBculty  and  ignorance  of  church  government,  though  a 


*  Dr.  Henry  Davis,  in  Sprague's  Lectures  on  Revivals, 
f  Prime's  History  of  Long  Island. 


596  SAMUEL    BUELL. 

season  of  special  Divine  influence,  was  contrary  to  the  order  of  the 
gospel,  and  the  rules  of  discipline  in  Christ's  visible  church;  and 
such  divisive  principles  as  were  the  spring  of  my  separation,  I  now 
renounce  with  sorrow,  desiring  forgiveness  of  all  whom  I  have 
offended,  and  resolve,  by  Divine  assistance,  upon  a  regular  course 
for  time  to  come." 

Ilis  preaching*  was  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit,  in  great 
plainness,  with  a  remarkable  degree  of  animation.  He  was  often 
heard  to  say  he  would  not  be  in  the  condition  of  the  unconverted 
sinner  for  thousands  of  worlds,  even  for  one  hour ;  for,  in  that 
hour,  he  might  die  and  be  lost  to  eternity.  He  was  never  heard 
to  utter  a  prayer,  however  short,  in  which  petitions  to  the  Holy 
Spirit  did  not  form  a  prominent  part.  In  May,  1749,  he  gave 
Davenportf  an  account  of  a  very  considerable  work  of  awakening 
at  that  time  in  his  congregation,  especially  among  the  young. 
He  afterwards  spoke  of  it  as  a  small  harvest  in  comparison  with 
the  great  ingathering  of  1764.  Eighty  were  added  to  the  com- 
munion during  the  first  eighteen  years  of  his  settlement.  He 
wrote,  on  the  27th  of  March,  1764,  to  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Barber, | 
of  Groton,  Connecticut,  "For  many  weeks  God  has  been  pre- 
paring his  way:  his  own  children  have  been  remarkably  re- 
plenished with  love,  holy  joy,  and  unutterable  groaning  for  the 
outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Our  assemblies  have  been  nume- 
rous and  solemn :  sermon  after  sermon  seemed  to  fasten  arrows  of 
conviction  in  the  hearts  of  sinners.  But,  for  a  week  past,  heaven 
and  hell  have  seemed  to  meet  and  reign  here.  God's  people  have 
almost  all  been  favoured  with  such  manifestations  of  the  Divine 
glory,  and  such  communications  of  light,  love,  joy,  and  comfort, 
and  been  under  such  labouring  pains,  and  in  such  agonies  of  dis- 
tress, as  though  soul  and  body  could  scarcely  contain.  I  could 
not  have  believed  it  till  I  saw  it.  But  oh,  the  agonies  and  cries, 
the  piercing  cries  and  importunities  for  mercy!  Afternoon  and 
evening  we  remained  in  the  house  of  God  till  nine  o'clock.  There 
were  upwards  of  a  thousand  persons  present,  and  all  impressed : 
pews,  alleys,  stairs,  seats,  contained  distressed  souls.  The  power 
of  God  came  like  a  flash  of  lightning,  bowing  our  assemblies,  and 
producing  the  most  amazing  agony  of  soul,  and  cries.  My  house 
was  early  filled  and  until  ten  at  night.  Scores  of  people  were 
under  great  concern,  and  many  children,  of  from  eight  to  twelve 
years."  He  adds,  in  allusion  to  the  miracle  of  Zarephath, 
"  When  the  vessels  are  full,  the  oil  will  be  stayed.  My  own  spi- 
ritual exercises  have  been  in  proportion  to  this  extraordinary 
day." 


*  Dr.  Davis.  f  Life  of  Edwards. 

X  StUes's  MSS.,  Yale  College. 


SAMUEL   BUELL.  597 

He  wrote  for  the  press,  "as  a  hurried  man,"  under  date  of  Sep- 
tember 25,  1765,  an  account  of  this  signal  mercy.  It  first  ap- 
peared on  the  18th  and  19th  of  March,  and  thirty  or  forty  were 
found  to  be  under  exercise  of  mind.  The  next  meeting  was  on 
the  22d :  one  hundred  came  to  converse  with  him,  of  whom  six  oi 
seven  were  above  seventy.  Some  had  been  under  concern  since 
they  heard  Davenport,  and  now  their  anxiety  hopefully  issued  in  a 
saving  change. 

He  was  greatly  aided  by  "  a  body  of  solid,  judicious,  old  dis- 
ciples." One  hundred  and  fifty  were  added  to  the  church;  ninety- 
nine  on  one  Sabbath. 

Nathaniel  Hazard,  of  New  York,  wrote  to  Bellamy,  June  18, 
1764,  "I  have  just  been  down  to  the  east  end  of  Long  Island,  with 
my  wife,  to  see  the  work  of  God  going  on  there,  and  to  believe  for 
myself;  and,  I  must  declare,  I  never  beheld  any  thing  equal  to  it 
in  my  life.  The  fear  of  God  falls  upon  all  flesh  there,  and  heaven 
seems  to  have  come  down  to  earth ;  and  their  religion,  like  holy 
Job's,  makes  them  abhor  themselves.  Go  and  see."  The  Rev. 
John  Murray,  afterwards  of  Newburyport,  and  then  recently  ar- 
rived from  Scotland,  wrote  to  Moorhead,  at  Boston,  that  he  had 
often  desired  to  see  such  remarkable  displays  of  grace  as  he  had 
heard  of  from  him,  and  that  now  he  had  seen  what  exceeded  all 
he  had  heard.  "  Not,"  he  adds,  "  that  all  was  to  his  mind  ;  but, 
■where  so  much  metal  is  put  into  the  pot,  you  must  expect  some 
dross.  The  people  scarcely  consented  to  be  dismissed  at  eleven" 
at  night,  and  the  Separates  were  ready  to  renew  the  extrava- 
gancies of  Davenport. 

The  awakening  was  general  throughout  the  island.  Buell 
laboured  extensively,  and  made  a  tour  through  East  Jersey :  his 
instrumentality  was  highly  honoured.  Whitefield,  during  the 
summer  of  1764,  says,  "  My  late  excursions  on  Long  Island  have, 
I  trust,  been  blessed."  These  excursions  were  made  at  the  close 
of  January,  1764  :  he  preached  at  Easthampton,  Bridgehamp- 
ton,  Southold,  and  Shelter  Island.  Buell  does  not  name  White- 
field,  but  says,  "  In  the  beginning  of  the  year,  there  appeared 
Bome  hopeful  tokens  that  the  Lord  was  preparing  his  own  way  for 
a  gracious  visitation."  Whitefield  wrote  from  Boston,  in  May,  to 
Colonel  Dering,  "And  is  Shelter  Island  become  a  Patmos? 
Blessed   be  God !      What  cannot   a   God   in   Christ   do   for  his 


people?" 

Buell  mentions  that  they  did  not  use  the  word  convert  in  relation 
to  those  who  seemed  truly  regenerated. 

During  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  his  church  was  spared  from 
the  desecration  and  injury  which  the  British  troops  so  commonly 
committed  on  the  island.  He  was  a  decided  Whig,  but  enjoyed 
the  friendship  of  Governor  Tryon  and  Sir  William  Erskine.     He 


SAMUEL    BUELL. 

was  a  gontleman  in  liis  manners,  cheerful  and  sprightly:  they 
liked  his  society,  and  treated  hiin  with  deference. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Davis,  D.D.,  President  of  Hamilton  College, 
was  in  his  fifteenth  year,  when,  "  after  a  long  and  alarming  season 
of  apathy,  the  Revival  commenced  in  1785."  It  was  a  novel  and 
an  affecting  scene.  The  impression  of  the  events  was,  in  1833, 
still  wellnigh  as  strong  and  fresh  upon  his  mind  as  the  events  of 
yesterday.  "  Buell  was  eminently  a  man  of  God :  the  things  evi- 
dently uppermost  in  his  mind,  and  which  lay  with  most  interest  oq 
his  heart,  were  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls. 
There  were  many  living  in  Suffolk,  in  the  vigour  of  manhood,  who 
had  been  brought  to  seek  and  embrace  Christ  through  Davenport. 
Buell  had  not  wholly  lost  the  fire  of  his  youth.  He  dwelt  much — 
as  he  ever  had  done,  but  now  with  more  than  usual  directness  and 
power — on  the  character  and  perfections  of  God,  his  sovereignty, 
his  eternal  purposes,  the  strictness  and  purity  of  his  holy  law,  the 
mercy  through  the  atonement  of  Christ,  the  native  depravity  of 
the  heart,  its  entire  alienation  from  God,  and  man's  total  help- 
lessness. The  work  was  powerful.  In  six  or  eight  months, 
more  than  one  hundi'ed  were  enrolled  among  the  children  of 
God." 

Soon  after  this  he  lost  his  only  son,  who  died  February  7, 
1787,  aged  sixteen,  with  a  good  hope  through  grace.  In  1791, 
another  season  of  refreshing  was  granted,  and  forty  were 
added  to  the  church.  On  the  1st  of  January,  1792,  he  preached 
an  historical  discourse  of  great  interest. 

He  died  July  19,  1798. 

He  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Brainerd.  He  acted  a  prominent 
part  in  the  great  awakening  of  1741-43,  and  related  to  Dr.  Davis 
events  in  which  he  was  personally  concerned,  which  filled  him  with 
astonishment.  He  was  one  of  the  very  few  men  of  that  time  whose 
subsequent  labours  were  much  blessed.  President  Stiles  said, 
"  That  man  has  done  more  good  than  any  other  that  ever  stood  ou 
this  continent." 

"Buell  was  ardent  in  temperament,  laborious  in  study,  well 
read  in  the  history  of  the  church  and  the  writings  of  the  fathers, 
and  a  thoroughly-learned  theologian.  As  a  preacher,  he  was  more 
popular  in  his  manner  than  was  common  at  that  day,  exhibiting 
clear  and  forcible  views  of  truth  and  duty.  His  earnest,  melting 
flow  of  soul  convinced  his  hearers  that  he  would  gladly  pluck 
them  as  brands  out  of  the  burning.  He  embraced  cordially,  and 
preached  with  great  distinctness  and  emphasis,  the  characteristic 
doctrines.  The  excesses  of  his  own  early  labours  he  had  reviewed 
with  cool  and  prayerful  deliberation:  he  looked  on  them  with 
regret  and  humiliation.  Except  in  seasons  of  revival,  he  had 
little   intercourse  with   his   people.      At   other   times,  he  rarely 


JOHN    MOFFAT.  599 

visited  any  but  the  sick,  and  was  never  present  at  the  religious 
conferences." 

A  very  considerable  number  of  his  sermons  was  published,  and 
a  poem,  "Youth's  Triumph,"  dated  January  20,  1775. 

He  was  married  three  times :  his  widow  survived  him  nearly 
fifty  years.  His  daughter,  the  widow  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Woolworth, 
of  Bridgehampton,  died  at  Homer,  New  York,  in  1845,  aged 
seventy-five.  He  buried  eight  of  his  children,  and  saw  all  the 
friends  of  his  youth,  and  of  his  riper  years,  descend  to  the  grave 
before  him. 

He  mentions  that,  in  a  certain  year,  he  wrote  out  all  his  ser- 
mons in  full,  but  preached  entirely  without  notes.  His  vigour  re- 
mained till  old  age,  and,  almost  at  the  close  of  life,  he  rode  four- 
teen miles,  and  preached,  and  returned  home.  At  the  age  of 
eighty-five,  the  degree  of  D.D.  was  conferred  upon  him. 


JOHN  MOFFAT, 

Probably  from  Scotland,  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1749. 
He  was  ordained,  in  1751,  pastor  of  Wallkill,  in  Orange  county, 
New  York,  by  New  York  Presbytery.  Difficulties  arose,  which 
led  to  his  dismission,  and  the  formation  of  an  Associate  church 
in  Neelytown,  which  obtained,  in  1765,  the  Rev.  Robert  Annan 
for  its  minister. 

Moffat  resided  in  the  bounds  of  Newcastle  Presbytery,  in  1773, 
without  charge,  and  without  being  employed  in  the  ministry.     He         ^ 
lived,  to   the   close  of  his   days,  at   Little   Britain,   in    Orange 
county,  and  engaged  in  teaching.     De  Witt  Clinton*  was  one  of 
his  pupils. 
'  He  died  April  22,  1788. 

*  Hosack's  Life  of  Clinton. 


^ 


600  JOSEPH    TATE. 


JOSEPH  TATE 

Was  received  as  a  licentiate,  by  Donegal  Presbytery,  April  1, 
1748,  and  was  sent  to  Lower  Pennsborough,  (Silver  Spring,) 
Marsh  Creek,  and  Conewago.  On  the  14th  of  June,  he  wag 
called  to  Donegal ;  and,  soon  after,  the  Rev.  Andrew  Bay,  of  the 
New-Side  Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  accused  him  of  having 
preached  false  doctrine  at  the  Three  Springs,  (Big,  Middle,  and 
Rocky.)  He  was  acquitted,  October  25,  and  accepted  the  call 
from  Donegal, — they  giving  seventy  pounds  to  buy  a  plantation 
and  seventy  pounds  salary.  He  was  ordained,  November  23, 
1748 :  Samuel  Thomson  presided.  He  spent  eight  Sabbaths  in 
the  following  fall  in  Virginia. 

Immediately  after  his  installation  he  was  married,  December 
15,  1748,  to  Margaret,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Boyd,  of  Octorara. 
Her  father  gave  her,  besides  a  silk  gown,  a  bed  and  its  furniture,  a  / 
horse  and  saddle,  and  nearly  every  article  for  housekeeping ;   all 
of  which  are  carefully  entered  in  his  book. 

Tate  found  little  or  no  satisfaction  on  the  union,  the  two  parties 
in  the  presbytery  being  so  nearly  equal  in  numbers,  and  so  tho- 
roughly divided  in  sentiment.  He  withdrew,  and,  finally,  had 
leave,  in  1768,  to  join  the  Second  Philadelphia  Presbytery.  He 
was  sent  by  the  synod  to  Western  Virginia  and  North  Carolina ; 
and,  in  the  following  March,  he  was  called  to  Coddle  Creek.  The 
presbytery  asked  his  congregation,  Should  the  call  be  placed  in 
liis  hands?  and  they  immediately  requested  that  his  relation  to 
them  might  be  dissolved.  A  committee  was  sent  to  reconcile  the 
difference,  and  they  did  not  prosecute  their  demand  for  his  dis- 
mission. 

He  died  October  11,  1774,  aged  sixty-three.  Dr.  Martin  says, 
"  He  was  eccentric,  but  fearless  in  reproving  vice  and  the  errors 
of  the  day." 

His  son,  the  Rev.  Matthew  Tate,  graduated  at  the  College  of 
Philadelphia,  was  licensed  by  Newcastle  Presbytery,  and  was  em- 
ployed as  a  supply  in  several  presbyteries.  He  visited  the  new 
settlements  west  of  Albany,  and  went  to  the  Southern  States. 
He  received  holy  orders  as  a  deacon  from  the  hands  of  Bishop 
White,  and  was  rector  of  St.  Matthew's,  South  Carolina,  from 
1789  to  1792,  when  he  removed  to  Beaufort,  and  had  the  charge 
of  the  parish  till  his  death,  October  7,  1795. 

His  mother  married  James  Anderson,  the  son  of  her  husband's 
predecessor,  and  her  daughter  Jane  married  his  son. 


SAMPSON    SMITH.  601 


SAMPSON   SMITH, 

From  Ireland,  was  received  as  a  licentiate  by  Donegal  Presby- 
tery, April  3, 1750.  The  records  for  the  next  nine  years  being  lost, 
we  know  not  certainly  the  date  of  his  ordination,  which  was  re- 
ported to  synod  in  May,  1752.  In  the  spring  of  1752,  he  spent 
eight  Sabbaths  in  Virginia.  He  succeeded  Thorn,  at  Chestnut 
Level,  and  was  married  by  Tate  to  Agnes,  the  third  daughter  of 
Boyd,  of  Octorara.  He  had  an  academy,  which  had  a  high  repu- 
tation, and  it  was  continued  by  him  till  his  death. 

The  union  of  the  synods  placed  him  in  connection  with  the  New- 
Side  ministers,  and,  a  charge  of  intemperance  being  preferred 
against  him,  he  looked  on  them  as  the  movers  of  it,  and  the  abet- 
tors of  his  defamers ;  while  they  regarded  the  Old-Side  men  as  de- 
termined to  clear  him  by  excluding  all  the  evidence  on  which  the 
prosecution  relied.  There  were  doubtless  many  things  to  blame  on 
both  sides.  Two  of  the  presbytery  were  his  brothers-in-law,  and 
his  father-in-law  had  been  invited  to  sit  and  vote  as  a  correspond- 
ent; while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  New-Side  men  were  hardly  en- 
titled to  be  regarded  as  impartial  judges.  He  was  acquitted,  and 
the  prosecutrix  appealed  to  the  synod.  The  synod  ordered  a  com- 
mittee to  meet  at  Little  Britain  and  take  up  the  whole  matter  de 
novo.  The  synod,  in  reviewing  the  minutes  of  the  committee, 
judged  that  the  punishment  inflicted  was  less  than  the  evidence 
warranted ;  and  in  this  they  showed  the  leaning  of  the  majority 
against  the  Old-Side  men,  who  were  in  a  hopeless  minority.  The 
evidence  of  tAvo  rude  girls  who,  in  the  midst  of  unbecoming  con- 
duct with  a  parcel  of  his  students,  were  driven,  by  Smith,  out  of  a 
chamber  with  blows  and  harsh  words,  was  hardly  entitled  to  be 
regarded :  they  said  he  was  drunk  ;  he  said  they  were  shameless, 
and  that  blows,  not  words,  were  the  reproofs  the  case  demanded. 

He  withdrew  from  the  synod,  and,  on  the  final  yielding  of  the 
synod,  he  consented  to  join  Newcastle  Presbytery.  He  did  so,  in 
1768,  and  was  suspended  the  next  year,  but  restored  in  1771.  The 
synod  then  sent  him  to  the  South  Branch  of  Potomac  for  six 
months,  and  the  next  year  for  two  months.  His  suspension  was 
renewed  in  1774,  and  never  removed.  He  was  struck  by  lightning, 
and  died. 


$Q2  ROBERT   McMORDIE — CHAUNCEY  GRAHAM. 


EGBERT  McMORDIE 

Was  ordained  by  Donegal  Presbytery,  in  1754,  pastor  of  Upper 
Marsh  Creek  and  Round  Hill.*  lie  released,  in  August,  1760, 
Mr.  McConaugliy,  whose  bond  he  held  for  the  sure  payment  of  his 
salary.  In  the  following  January  he  was  dismissed,  the  presbytery 
alleging  that  there  was  a  coolness  towards  him  on  the  part  of  his 
people.  This  he  denied.  He  accepted,  in  1762,  a  call  to  Hanover. 
He  also  withdrew,  and  was  allowed  to  join  the  Second  Philadelphia 
Presbytery  in  1768.  The  next  year  they  sent  him  south,  and  the 
synod  sent  him,  in  1772,  to  Virginia  and  Carolina.  In  May,  1777, 
he  was  called  to  Tinkling  Spring,  New  Dublin,  Reedy  Creek,  and 
Fourth  Creek.     He  went  south  again  in  1784. 

He  was  a  chaplain  in  the  war  of  Independence,  and  a  member 
of  the  Order  of  the  Cincinnati.  On  their  roll  it  is  entered  that  he 
was  "  deranged"  on  a  certain  day, — a  military  use  of  the  word,  to 
signify  his  retirement  from  the  rank  of  chaplain. 

He  died  May  22,  1796.  He  was  married,  December  12,  1754, 
to  Janet,  the  second  daughter  of  Adam  Boyd.  The  Rev.  Robert 
McMordie  Laird  was  a  descendant  of  his. 


CHAUNCEY  GRAHAM 


Was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Graham,  of  Southbury,  Connec- 
ticut, whose  three  sons  entered  the  ministry :  John,  the  eldest,  was 
settled  at  Suffield,  Connecticut,  and  Richard  Crouch,  the  youngest, 
at  Pelham,  New  Hampshire. 

Chauncey  was  named  after  his  grandfather,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Chaun- 
cey,  of  Hadley.  He  graduated  at  Yale  in  1747.  His  father  was  a 
native  of  Scotland.  He  was  a  zealous  promoter  of  the  Great  Re- 
vival, and  grieved  much  that  he  saw  no  fruit,  and  that  every  .fast 
occasion  was  attended  with  some  gloom  and  the  frowns  of  God. 
But  on  February  17,  1741-2,  he  Avrote  to  Bellamy,t  "I  bless 
God  there  is  some  stir  in  my  own  house:  I  hope  God  is  about  to 
do  great  and  glorious  things  for  my  poor  Chauncey ;  he  has  been 
under  soaking  convictions  a  considerable  time,  and  has  a  great  ten- 
derness of  conscience,  and  seems  bent  on  the  way  for  Zion.     Do 

*  Near  York.  f  Bellamy  papers. 


CHAUNCEY  GRAHAM.  603 

pray  for  Mm  especially."     Soon  after,  Southbury  was  graciously 
visited. 

His  father,  in  October,  1744,  visited  Hopewell  and  Lawrence, 
New  Jersey,  as  a  candidate  for  settlement.  New  Brunswick  Pres- 
bytery at  that  time  advised  New  Milford,  in  Connecticut,  and  New 
Brunswick,  to  try  to  get  his  son  John ;  and  they  wrote  to  the  Con- 
sociation at  Danbury  to  send  him  to  those  places. 

Chauncey  Graham  was  ordained  by  a  council,  January  29, 1750, 
pastor  of  Rumbout  and  Poughkeepsie,  in  Dutchess  county.  New 
York.  Rumbout,  near  Fishkill,  was  organized  as  a  church,  July 
3,  1748;  Poughkeepsie  was  "gathered"  in  July,  1750.  The  Rev. 
Elisha  Kent,*  of  Philippi,  wrote  to  Bellamy,  January  29, 1749-50, 
"  The  council  consisted  of  Messrs.  Stoddard,  Case,  and  Judson, 
and  their  messengers,  and  one  messenger  more.  I  think  it's  a  pity 
Mr.  Mills  and  the  rest  of  you  sent  for,  did  not  attend.  It  would,  I 
am  persuaded,  have  prevented  the  ordination  at  Fishkill,  or  had  a 
great  tendency  to  have  united  the  church  and  others  disaffected,  in 
case  it  had  gone  on.  To  me  it  looks  dark  when  ministers  are  back- 
ward to  appear  in  such  cases  and  act  according  to  the  light  they 
have  for  God,  leaving  all  consequences  with  him  alone.  I  hear 
some  of  the  council  say  they  have  reconciled  the  contending  par- 
ties ;  I  doubt  the  wound  is  only  skinned  over :  however,  time  will 
discover  how  it  is ;  we  must  hope  for  the  best. 

"By  what  I  can  hear,  I  am  the  only  person  blamed  in  New  Eng- 
land that  the  ordination  did  not  go  on  before ;  but  this  I  know,  we 
were  all  agreed  in  it,  it  was  not  best  it  should  go  on,  Mr.  Graham 
not  excepted.  If  it  does  well,  I  hope  I  shall  be  so  happy  as  to  re- 
joice in  it ;  I  think  I  can  say,  wherein  I  have  acted  in  the  business, 
it  has  been  with  some  degree  of  uprightness." 

He  preached,  September  10,  1751,  a  sermon  against  the  Sepa- 
rates, which  he  published,  with  the  title,  "Enthusiasm  Detected;" 
and  this  may  have  led  to  his  giving  up  Poughkeepsie,  September 
29,  1752.  He  published  a  sermon,  preached  February  25,  1761, 
on  "Why  do  the  heathen  rage?"  It  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
French  War.  He  demands,  "  What's  the  matter  with  the  Indians  ?" 
and  proceeds  to  show  the  causes  why  the  fury  of  the  savages  had 
been  let  loose  on  the  frontier.  Having  accompanied  the  troops  as 
chaplain,  his  congregation  inquired  of  the  presbytery,  in  1764, 
whether,  by  accepting  the  chaplaincy,  his  pastoral  relation  had  not 
been  dissolved.     The  reply  was  in  the  negative. 

He  was  annexed  to  Dutchess  Presbytery  on  its  being  received  by 
the  synod  in  1763.  The  records  for  many  years  are  in  his  clear, 
beautiful  hand.  He  preached  at  the  opening  of  its  sessions,  in 
Albany,  September  9,  1765,  on  the  federal  holiness  of  children. 

*  Bellamy  papers. 


604  SAMUEL   KENNEDY — BENJAMIN   CHESNUT. 

The  presbytery  requested  him  to  publish  the  sermon.  lie  speaks 
contcmptuouslv  of  those  who  hold  that  "saving  grace  is  the  only 
qualification  for  participation  in  the  sacraments,"  and  charges 
them  with  acting  like  "  petty  deities"  in  scrutinizing  the  heart. 

Being  dismissed  from  Rurabout,  he  supplied  Fishkill,  and  opened 
an  academy  there.  Among  his  pupils  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  II. 
Livingston,  that  eminently  pious  minister  and  able  divine,  so  use- 
ful in  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church. 

Whitefield,  writing  July  20,  1770,  speaks  of  congregations  on 
the  North  River,  "large,  attentive,  and  affected,"  and  mentions 
Pishkill  and  New  Rumbout. 

He  took  his  dismission  from  the  presbytery  in  1773,  and  died  in 
1784. 

He  married  the  daughter  of  Theodorus  Van  Wyck,  one  of  his 
elders :  his  son,  T.  V.  W.  Graham,  was  a  judge  of  probate,  and  an 
elder  in  the  church  in  Albany. 


SAMUEL  KENNEDY, 

Born  in  Scotland,  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1749,  and  was 
taken  on  trials,  by  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  on  the  2Gth  of  De- 
cember of  that  year.  He  was  licensed.  May  18,  1750,  and  was 
ordained  minister  of  Baskingridge,  New  Jersey,  June  25,  1751. 
He  exercised  the  oflSce  of  a  physician  and  a  teacher.  Plis  labours 
in  his  appropriate  work  were  blessed  to  the  upbuilding  of  the 
church  and  the  increase  of  believers  in  numbers,  in  sound  know- 
ledge and  godliness. 

He  died  August  31,  1787. 


BENJAMIN  CHESNUT 


Was  born  in  England,  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1748,  and 
was  licensed  by  New  York  Presbytery.  He  was  received  under 
the  care  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  October  3,  1749,  and  was 
ordained,  September  3,  1751.  He  was  settled  at  Woodbury  and 
Tiirber  Creek,  New  Jersey.  When  Lawrence  was  sent  to  spend 
the  winter  of  1751  at  Cape  May,  Chesnut  supplied  his  pulpit,  in 


JAMES   BROWN.  601 

tlie  Forks  of  Delaware.  At  his  request  he  was  dismissed  from  his 
charge  in  May,  1753,  though  he  continued  to  supply  the  congrega- 
tions for  a  while.  He  was  sent  to  Fagg's  Manor,  to  Forks  of 
Delaware,  and  to  Charlestown  and  New  Providence.  He  seems  to 
have  become  the  stated  supply  of  the  two  last-named  congregations, 
and  to  have  settled  there  in  1756,  on  a  promise  of  forty-four 
pounds  yearly.  In  1763,  there  were  seventy  pounds  due:  there 
being  no  prospect  of  his  being  paid,  he  was  dismissed  by  Philadel- 
phia Presbytery,  in  May;  but,  in  November,  the  congregations 
offered  to  make  up  fifty  pounds  yearly,  and  the  presbytery  left  it 
to  him  to  accept  it  or  not.  He  appears  to  have  gone  to  the  South 
in  the  fall  of  1765:  in  1767,  he  was  sent  to  Timber  Creek.  He 
taught  school  about  twenty  miles  from  Philadelphia,  and  died  in 
1775. 


JAMES  BROWN 


Was  probably  born  in  Connecticut,  and  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1747.  He  was  licensed  in  October  of  that  year,  at  one  of  the 
earliest  meetings  of  Suffolk  Presbytery.  The  venerable  and  aged 
Ebenezer  White,  of  Bridgehampton,  being  greatly  distressed  by 
the  separation  of  some  of  his  people.  Brown  was  sent  for,  to  endea- 
vour to  unite  the  people  upon  him,  and  prepare  the  way  for  the 
resignation  of  the  pastor.  He  was  successful,  and  was  called  soon 
after.  His  ordination  took  place  June  14, 1748.  Azariah  Horton 
prayed;  Sylvanus  White  preached  from  Titus  ii.  7,  8;  Prime  "in- 
troduced the  solemnity,"  propounded  the  questions,  and  prayed; 
Buell  gave  the  right  hand  of  fellowship;  Prime  exhorted  the  peo- 
ple, and  Youngs  closed  with  prayer.  Buell*  wrote  to  Jonathan 
Edwards  of  the  revival  which  at  that  period  blessed  East  Hamp- 
ton, and  "of  a  yet  greater  work  at  Bridgehampton,  under  the 
ministry  of  Mr.  Brown,  a  very  pious  and  prudent  young  man." 
He  needed  all  prudence :  some  of  the  people  of  the  separation  had 
returned  to  their  duty,  but  were  restive.  In  August,  1749,  Dr. 
Cook,f  of  Bridgehampton,  having  recently  experienced  a  blessing 
on  his  soul,  desired  the  presbytery  to  take  measures  for  allowing 
him  in  a  short  time  to  preach.  They  deferred  the  matter.  About 
this  period,  the  Rev.  John  Paine|  established  a  Separate  Church 
on  Strict  Congregational  principles,  and  a  meeting-house  was  built 

*  Dwight's  Life  of  Edwards.  f  MS.  Records  of  Suffolk  Presbytery. 

J  Mr.  Paine  was  shot  dead  while  standing  at  the  door  of  his  house,  in  Southold, 
in  April,  1753. — Newspapers, 


606  NAPHTALI   DAGGET. 

midway  between  Bridgehampton  and  Southampton.  Brown  was  in 
very  melancholy  services,  and  implored  Bellamy  most  piteously, 
year  by  year,  to  visit  his  people  and  endeavour  to  allay  the  heart- 
burnings and  establish  just  principles  of  religion.  He  did  much 
good,  amid  all  his  trials.  The  signal  refreshing  of  1764  left  an 
abiding  influence  till  the  Revolution.  The  loss  of  health  compelled 
him  to  lay  aside  his  pastoral  work  in  March,  1775:  he  died,  April 
22,  1788.  The  congregation  remained  vacant  till  1787,  but  was 
blessed  with  a  great  revival  in  1783. 

Brown  was  "  distinguished*  for  the  soundness  of  his  theological 
views,  and  ably  defended  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation." 

In  recording  his  dismission,  the  presbytery  refer  to  his  melan- 
choly circumstances,  and  speak  of  him  as  a  sound,  orthodox,  judi- 
cious, spiritual  preacher,  laborious  and  successful. 


NAPHTALI  DAGGET 


Was  born  at  Attleborough,  Massachusetts,  in  1727,  and  gradu- 
ated at  Yale  in  1748.  He  had  been  taken  on  trials  by  the  moderator 
and  Mr.  Youngs,  of  Brookhaven,  and,  on  appearing  before  Suifolk 
Presbytery,  was  licensed,  August  9,  1749,  "till  next  session," 
according  to  their  custom,  and  was  sent  to  Smithtown.  Obadiah 
Smith  and  George  Phillips,  Esq.,  presented  a  call  for  him.  May  22, 
1751 ;  and  he  was  directed  to  prepare  a  sermon  on  Titus  iii.  5,  6, 
and  an  exegesis  on  "An  Christus,  qua  Mediator,  remittat  peccata?" 
He  was  ordained,  September  18,  1751,  being  the  first  pastor  ever 
settled  in  Smithtown.  Brown,  of  Bridgehampton,  preached  from 
1  Timothy  iv.  24 ;  Prime,  of  Huntingdon,  stated  the  grounds  of 
Presbyterian  ordination,  "took  the  engagements"  of  pastor  and 
people,  "managed  the  incorporation"  of  three  men  and  four  women 
into  a  visible  church ;  White,  of  Southampton,  gave  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship ;  Horton,  the  missionary  to  the  Indians,  exhorted  the 
people ;  and  Youngs  closed  Avith  prayer.  His  stay  was  short,  the 
presbytery  learning,  November  G,  1755,  that  "he  had  been  dismissed 
by  a  vote  of  the  congregation."  The  presbytery,  sensible  that  the 
support  had  been  inadequate,  regularly  released  him  from  his 
charge:  soon  after,  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Divinity  in  Y'ale 
College. 

President  Stilesf  said  that  the  design  of  Mr.  Clap  in  having  a 
professor  of  divinity  appointed  was  to  keep  up  the  character  of  the 

*  Dr.  Prime.  f  Stiles's  MSS.,  Yale  College. 


NAPHTALI  DAGGET.  OOf 

college  for  orthodoxy,  and  to  prevent  Jersey  College  from  drawing    vy' 
away  the  students.     He  gravely  notes'  down  the  names  of  those 
Fellows  whom  Clap  could   influence,  and  the  motives  by  which 
those  who  were  undecided  were  brought  to  concur  with  him. 

The  legislature,*  in  1753,  resolved,  that  one  principal  end  in 
erecting  colleges  was  to  supply  the  church  in  this  colony  with  a 
learned,  pious,  and  orthodox  ministry ;  and,  for  this  end,  it  is  ne- 
cessary that  the  students  have  the  best  instructions  in  divinity,  and 
have  the  best  patterns  of  preaching  set  before  them ;  they,  there- 
fore, recommended  a  general  contribution  in  all  the  religious  socie- 
ties, for  settling  a  professor  of  divinity.  Owing  to  the  French  War 
and  extraordinary  taxes,  the  friends  of  the  measure  did  not  avail 
themselves  of  this  recommendation,  but  took  up  subscriptions,  and 
happily  succeeded. 

The  rector  and  the  Fellows  nominated  Dagget,  in  September, 
1755,  to  be  Professor  of  Divinity,  though  he  had  been  ordained 
only  four  years.  Upon  their  application  to  the  presbytery,  he  was 
dismissed,  and  went  to  New  Haven  in  November,  and  preached 
with  general  approbation.  When  he  had  preached  about  four 
months  in  the  college,  a  day  (March  3,  1756)  was  spent  in  exa- 
mining him  on  his  principles  in  religion,  his  knowledge  in  divinity, 
casuistry,  Scriptm'e  history,  chronology,  and  antiquity,  and  on  his 
skill  in  Hebrew.  On  all  these  points  he  satisfied  the  Corporation. 
The  next  day  he  preached  from  2  Corinthians  ii.  2,  gave  his  full 
and  explicit  consent  to  all  the  doctrines  of  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession, and  to  the  rules  of  church  discipline  established  in  the 
churches  of  this  colony,  and  renounced  the  principal  errors  pre- 
vailing at  the  time.     He  was  then  inaugurated. 

The  next  movement  was  to  organize  a  church  in  the  college: 
this  was  done,  in  1757,  without  asking  the  consent  of  the  Associa- 
tion, on  the  assumption  that  a  college  is,  of  its  very  nature,  a  reli- 
gious institution. 

A  revival  followed  Dagget's  entering  on  his  professorship,  though 
not  of  great  extent. 

On  the  decease  of  President  Clap,  he  was  elected  his  successor, 
and  held  that  office  from  1766  to  1777.  He  retained  his  professor- 
ship till  his  death. 

When  the  British  attacked  New  Haven,  in  July,  1779,  he  was  /• 
•wounded  while  passing  along  the  street.     He  died,  in  1780,  of  the  '- 
injuries  received. 

He  was  an  instructive  and  excellent  preacher:  his  sermons, 
enriched  with  ideas  and  sound  divinity,  were  doctrinal,  experi- 
mental, and  pungent.  He  was  acceptable  to  the  legislature,  clergy, 
and  people.* 

*  Trumbull's  History  of  Connecticut.  f  Trumbull. 


'U"hl 


iJ 


608  JONATHAN   ELMER — JOHN  TODD. 


JONATHAN   ELMER, 

Born  in  New  England,  graduated  at  Yale  in  1747,  and  was  or- 
T  iCt^',  dained,  by  New  York  Presbytery,  pastor  at  New  Providence,  New 
/     ^  Jersey,  in    October,  1750.     The   congregation,  originally  styled 

r*  Turkey,  was,  on   the   formation  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery, 

^  /  '         placed  under  its  care,  but,  on  its  petition,  was  restored  the  nexj; 
7J'7  ysar  to  its  connection  with  New  York  Presbytery. 

Of  the  first  forty  years  of  his  ministry,  we  find  no  notice  beyond 
the  fact  that  he  preached  from  Jeremiah  xliv.  4,  at  the  execution 
of  Morgan,  the  Tory  who  shot  Caldwell  in  cold  blood  on  Elizabeth- 
town  Point. 

Elmer  said  that,  though  born  a  Congregationalist,  he  preferred 
the  Presbyterian  system,  especially  because  it  allowed  of  appeals 
from  the  primary  courts. 

After  serving  his  people  for  twoscore  years,  a  violent  opposition 
to  him  commenced;  charges  were  tabled,  and  he  was  acquitted. 
Subsequently  eighteen  articles  of  complaint  were  exhibited  against 
him ;  but  the  prosecutor  refused  to  proceed,  on  learning  that,  by  the 
rules  of  our  church,  if  on  the  trial  it  appeared  that  they  had  been 
laid  malignantly  or  rashly,  he  must  be  censured  openly.  His  dis- 
mission was  asked  for  in  August,  1791 :  ninety  of  his  congregation 
remonstrated,  but  the  majority  insisted.  The  presbytery,  after 
many  fruitless  but  faithful  attempts,  dissolved  the  relation :  Elmer 
appealed,  and  the  synod,  in  session  at  Albany,  in  1793,  sustained 
his  appeal.  He  immediately  resigned,  and  was  dismissed,  October, 
1793. 

He  acted  as  stated  supply  at  Millstone,  and  occasionally  at  other 
places,  and  died  June  7, 1807. 


JOHN   TODD 


Is  said  to  have  been  a  weaver:  he  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in 
1749,  and  was  taken  on  trials  by  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  May 
7,  1750.  On  the  pressing  appeal  of  Davies,  the  synod,  about  ten 
days  after,  recommended  the  presbytery  to  endeavour  to  prevail 
with  him,  on  being  licensed,  to  take  a  journey  to  the  Southern 
colonics.  He  was  licensed,  November  13,  and  went  to  Virginia. 
A  call  was  laid  before  the  presbytery,  May  22,  1751,  and  he  waa 


JOHN  TODD.  609 

ordained  on  Ms  acceptance  of  it.  He  was  installed,  by  Hanover 
Presbytery,  pastor  of  Providence,  in  Louisa  county.  Tbis  waa 
"the  upper  part"  of  Davies's  field,  and  bad,  on  bis  urgent  recom- 
mendation, called  Edwards,*  wben  dismissed  from  Northampton, 
and  had  offered  him  one  hundred  pounds.  While  yet  in  doubt  of 
his  acceptance,  Davies  wrote  to  Bellamy,  entreating  him  to  use  his 
influence  with  Edwards,  or,  if  that  were  vain,  to  come  himself.  He 
describes  them  as  a  people  capable  of  appreciating  solid,  judicious 
preaching  of  the  best  kind.  Davies  delighted  in  hinij  and  speaks 
of  him  as  his  favourite  friend:  be  relied  on  bis  judgment  in  cases 
of  importance,  and  styles  him  his  cautious  and  prudent  friend. 

Whitefield  thought,  in  September,  1754,  that  Providence  seemed 
to  point  directly  to  Virginia  and  the  Orphan-House;  but  in  De- 
cember he  spoke  doubtfully: — "Is  the  call  to  Virginia?  Who 
knows  but  an  infinitely-condescending  God  may  improve  me 
there?"  In  January  he  was  at  Todd's:  "fresh  doors  of  useful- 
ness are  opening,  I  trust."  He  lamented  he  had  not  come  sooner. 
^'A  spirit  of  conviction  and  consolation  appeared  in  every  congre^ 
gation." 

Toddf  wrote  to  Whitefield,  June  26,  1755,  that  "  on  the  day  of 
his  departure  multitudes  were  longing  to  hear  more ;  the  people  of 
God  drowned  in  tears,  hardy  gentlemen  weeping  for  their  neglected 
souls.  I  returned  home  as  one  that  had  sustained  some  amazing 
loss,  and  with  the  desire  that  I  might  contribute  more  than  ever  to 
the  salvation  of  souls.  I  have  had  the  comfort  of  many  solemn 
Sabbaths  since  I  saw  you,  wben  the  power  of  God  has  attended 
his  word  for  sundry  weeks  together;  and  in  my  auditory,  which 
was  crowded,  often  I  could  scarce  see  a  face  where  tears  did  not 
indicate  the  concern  of  their  souls.  These  appearances  have  not 
wholly  fled." 

Colonel  Gordon,  of  Lancaster  county,  said,  on  hearing  him  at 
the"'administration  of  the  sacrament,  November  1,  1761,  "I  never 
heard  a  sermon,  but  one  I  heard  from  Mr.  Davies,  that  I  heard  with 
more  attention  and  delight.  Ob,  if  the  Lord  would  be  pleased  to 
send  us  a  minister  of  as  much  piety  as  Mr.  Todd!" 

He  corresponded  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gordon,  of  Stepney,  near 
London,  and  obtained,  through  him,  scientific  apparatus  and  valu- 
able books.  These  he  gave  to  the  Rev.  David  Rice,  to  aid  Tran 
sylvania  Presbytery  in  founding  a  school. 

Todd  died  July  27,  1793. 

His  daughter  married  the  Rev.  Dr.  Daniel  McCalla,  of  South 
Carolina. 

*  Bellamy  papers.  f  Gillies. 

39 


61^  CONRAD   WORTS — JAMES   FINLEY. 


CONRAD  WORTS, 

Probably  licensed*  in  Germany,  in  consequence  of  some  diffi- 
culty witli  the  Dutch  Reformed  C'octus,  applied  to  the  Presbytery 
of  New  Brunswick.  The  High-Dutch  congregation  of  Rockaway, 
in  Lebanon  township,  New  Jersey,  addressing  the  presbytery, 
they  referred  the  matter  to  the  synod,  and,  after  their  committee 
had  taken  the  measures  suitable  to  prevent  injury  or  offence  to  the 
Dutch  Reformed  body,  they  took  the  congregation  under  their  care. 
Worts  was  taken  up  as  a  probationer,  September  3,  1751,  Rock- 
away  asked  for  him.  May  9,  1752,  and  he  was  ordained  their  pastor 
on  the  5th  of  June. 

It  being  likely  he  could  be  more  useful  in  another  connection,  he 
\ras  dismissed,  October  21,  1761,  and  probably  entered  into  the 
German  Reformed  body. 


JAMES  FINLEY 


T 


Was  born  in  county  Armagh,  Ireland,  in  February,  1725,  was 
educated  under  Samuel  Blair,  at  Fagg's  Manor,  and  accompaniedf 
Whitefield  to  the  Orphan-House  in  Georgia.  He  probably  studied 
theology  with  his  brother  Samuel,  at  Nottingham ;  he  was  licensed 
by  Newcastle  Presbytery,  and  ordained  pastor  of  East  Nottingham, 
or  the  Rock,  in  Cecil  county,  Maryland,  in  1752.  This  was  a 
separation  on  the  rupture  from  Elk  River:  the  two  parties  united 
in  1760,  McDowell  giving  up  the  charge  of  Elk.  He  engaged  in 
teaching,  and  some  of  our  best  ministers  were  trained  under  his 
eye, 

A  large  emigration  to  the  Redstone  country  began  as  soon  as 
the  lands  were  exposed  to  sale.  Finley  crossed  the  Alleghanies  in 
1765,  and  again  in  1767, in  company  with  his  elder, Philip  Tanner; 
and,  by  direction  of  the  synod,  he  supplied  Ligonier  and  the  va- 
cancies beyond  the  mountains  for  two  months,  in  1771-2.  His  son 
Ebenezer  removed  in  1772,  and  became  an  elder  in  the  congrega- 
tion of  Dunlap's  Creek.     Thirty-four  heads  of  families  in  the  com- 


*  The  newspapers  state  that  in  1752  seven  German  ministers  arrived  in  New 

York.  -j- Whitefield's  Letters.     "Old  Red  Stone;"  by  Dr.  Joseph  Smith. 


JAMES   FINLEY.  611 

munion  of  his  churcli  took  up  their  abode  in  the  West ;  most  of 
these  were  valuable  men,  and  became  elders  and  pillars  of  churches. 
Three  of  Finley's  sons  removed;  and  he  asked  a  dismission  from 
his  charge,  that  he  might  follow  them.  His  people,  with  affecting 
solemnity,  earnestly  protested  against  the  granting  it,  for  he  Wfis 
beloved  greatly,  and  useful,  and  needed  not  to  remove,  being  well 
off  in  the  world;  and  that  it  would  be  an  irreparable  loss  to  part 
with  him,  especially  when  all  around  them  Avere  vacancies  and  no 
prospect  of  supplying  them.  He  appealed  from  the  judgment  of 
the  presbytery,  and  the  synod  dissolved  the  pastoral  relation,  May 
17, 1782.  He  was  not  dismissed  to  Redstone  Presbytery  till  April 
20,  1785,  and  he  was  received  by  that  body,  June  21.  He  was 
called  to  Rehoboth  and  Round  Hill,  both  in  the  Forks  of  Youghio- 
gheny,  in  the  fall  of  1781,  and  remained  there  till  his  death,  Janu- 
ary 6, 1795. 

He  published  a  pamphlet, — "An  Attempt  to  set  the  Levitical  Pro- 
hibition in  relation  to  Marriage  in  a  true  light."  He  was  greatly 
grieved  at  the  decision  of  the  synod  in  restoring  to  church  privi- 
leges parties  married  within  the  forbidden  degrees,  and  still  more 
for  making  such  marriages  censurable  only  so  far  as  they  showed 
untenderness  to  the  scruples  or  prejudices  of  well-disposed  persons. 
This  discussion  probably  led  the  synod,  in  1782,  to  direct  him  to 
procure  a  copy  of  the  Adopting  Act  of  1729.  He  could  not  find 
one.  In  protesting  against  the  decision,  he  said,  "  Upon  the  whole, 
although  I  desire  not  to  promote  uneasiness,  yet,  knowing  it  to  be 
my  duty  to  testify  against  the  declensions  and  dangerous  innova- 
tions in  our  church,  I  am  obliged  by  conscience  to  act  as  I  do  in 
this,  and  may  go  further,  be  oftended  who  will." 

Three  of  his  sons,  Joseph,  Michael,  and  William,  were  elders  at 
Rehoboth.  His  son  John  Evans  Finlcy  settled  at  Fagg's  Manor, 
and  was  the  minister  of  Bracken,  in  Mason  county,  Kentucky, 
during  the  Great  Revival.  The  Rev.  Robert  M.  Finley  is  a  grand- 
son of  James  Finley. 

On  removing*  to  the  West,  the  Supreme  Executive  Council  of 
Pennsylvania  intrusted  important  business  to  him,  and  commissioned 
him  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  a  judge  of  the  Common  Pleas. 

*  Dr.  Smith :  Hazard's  Pennsylvania  Archives. 


6^8         EVANDER  MORRISON — ROBERT  SMITH. 


EVANDER  MORRISON 

Was  probably  a  minister  from  Scotland.  He  resided  in  Con- 
necticut in  1748  and  '49,  and  was  allowed*  twenty-six  pounds  for 
his  services  at  East  Hartford  during  the  sickness  of  the  pastor  in 
1748.  In  September,  1752,  he  was  directed  by  Abingdon  Presby- 
tery to  supply  Tehicken  and  the  Forks  of  DelaAvure.  The  next 
year  he  joined  Newcastle  Presbytery,  and  laboured  at  Middle 
Octorara,  then  just  occupied  by  Cuthbertson,  of  the  Reformed 
Presbytery.  The  New  Side  and  the  Covenanters  worshipped  in 
the  same  house,  at  different  times.  Morrison  and  Cuthbertson 
"warmly  debated  the  points  in  controversy,  with  the  usual  result, — 
increased  alienation. 

He  succeeded  Whittlesey  at  Slate  Ridge  and  Chanceford.  No 
mention  is  made  of  him,  that  we  have  seen,  after  1750. 


ROBERT    SMITH 


Was  bornf  in  Londonderry,  and  came  with  his  parents  to  Ame- 
rica in  1730.  They  made  their  home  at  the  Head  of  Brandy- 
wine.  They  were  pious  people;  and  no  doubt  their  instructions 
and  example  prepared  him  to  receive,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  "  with 
meekness,  the  engrafted  word"  from  the  lips  of  Whitefield,  on  his 
first  visit.  He  studied  with  Samuel  Blair,  and  was  licensed  by 
the  New-Side  Presbytery|  of  Newcastle,  December  27,  1749,  and 
was  married,  on  the  22d  of  the  next  May,  to  Miss  Betsey  Blair, 
the  daughter  of  his  preceptor.  He  accepted  a  call,  October  I?>, 
1750,  to  Pequea  and  Leacock,  in  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania, 
and  was  ordained  and  installed,  March  26,  1751.  He  confined  his 
labours  to  Pequea  after  October  9,  1759. 

The  earlier  years  of  his  ministry  were  signally  blest ;  the  sub- 
sequent period  was  unmarked  by  any  distinguished  display  of 
grace,  but  silent,  gentle  influences  from  heaven  steadily  distilled 
on  the  work  of  his  hands.  He  lamented§  that  the  young  gene- 
rally, and  so  many  of  his  older  hearers,  were  living  contentedly 


*  Connecticut  Ecclesiastical  MSS.,  Hartford. 

f  Assembly's  Missionary  Magazine.  J  Record  in  his  Bible. 

§   Bellamy  papers. 


ROBERT    SMITH.  613 

without  Christ.  The  Anti-Burghers  drew  away  some  of  his 
people,  who  enjoyed  the  ministrations  of  the  father  of  the 
late  excellent  and  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  Proudfit,  of  Salem,  NeAV 
York. 

The  school  at  Pequea  was  prolific  in  valuable  men.  Several 
of  the  pioneers  in  the  Redstone  country  were  trained  there,  in 
academical  studies  and  theology.  Dr.  McMillan  and  Dr.  Samuel 
Martin,  of  Chanceford,  were  his  pupils :  the  latter  regarded  him 
as  superior  in  natural  gifts  and  scholarship  to  his  distinguished 
sons  Samuel  Stanhope  and  John  Blair.  He  was  of  eminent  piety, 
"living  in  heaven."  "As  a  preacher,*  his  great  excellence  lay  in 
strong  and  convincing  appeals  to  the  conscience,  in  the  various 
knowledge  he  discovered  of  the  workings  of  the  human  heart,  and 
the  tenderness  with  which  he  led  the  penitent  soul  to  its  true  hope 
and  rest."  "Well  acquaintedf  with  all  the  subjects  necessarily 
connected  with  theology,  remarkably  able  in  exposition  of  the 
Scripture,  he  spent  much  time  in  meditation  and  prayer,  and  was 
entirely  abstracted  from  the  world."  He  published  several  ser- 
mons :  of  only  a  few  of  them  are  any  copies  to  be  found  in  any 
public  library.  His  two  sermons  on  "  Saving  Faith"  were 
reprinted  in  Scotland,  in  the  "  Evangelical  Preacher,"  and  are 
said  by  Dr.  Martin  to  have  been  the  best  ever  written  on  that 
subject. 

The  depreciation  of  the  Continental  currency,!  and  the  emigra- 
tion beyond  the  Alleghanies,  led  him,  in  August,  1782,  to  ask  the 
Presbytery  to  release  him  from  his  charge.  They  delayed  for  a 
year,  at  the  earnest  request  of  the  people ;  and,  in  April,  1784, 
the  congregation  having  engaged  to  compensate  in  part  for  his  past 
losses,  and  to  give  him  yearly  four  hundred  bushels  of  wheat,  he 
was  prevailed  on  to  stay.  It  was  his  privilege  to  have  three  sons 
enter  the  ministry: — Dr.  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith,  President  of 
New  Jersey  College,  Dr.  John  Blair  Smith,  President  of  Hampden 
Sydney  and  of  Union  College,  and  Dr.  William  Ramsey  Smith, 
minister  of  Wilmington,  and  subsequently  settled  in  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church.  During  the  blessed  revival  in  prince  Edward 
county,  Virginia,  in  which  the  labours  of  his  son  John  were  so 
highly  honoured,  the  aged  man  went  thither,  and  "  when  he  saw 
the  grace  of  God,  he  was  glad ;  '  for  he  was  a  good  man,  and  full 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  faith;'  and  he  exhorted  them,  with 
full  purpose  of  heart  to  cleave  unto  the  Lord."  He  spoke  of  it 
as  quite  equal  to  the  work  of  power   and   grace  which,  in  his 


*  Assembly's  Missionary  Magazine, 
f   Dr.  Martin. 

j  Leaman's  Historical  Discourse  at  Cedar  Grove. 


614  ALrXANDER    GUMMING. 

earlier  years,  he  saw,  when  AVhiteficld,  and  Tennent,  and  Blair, 
were  in  the  land. 

lie  was  moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  in  1790. 

Returning  from  Philadelphia,  he  reached  Rockville,  Chester 
county,  on  Saturday  evening,  and,  on  Sabbath  morning,  was 
found  lying  on  the  roadside,  with  his  faithful  horse  beside  him. 
He  died  in  a  few  days,  April  15,  1793,  greatly  honomx-d  and  be- 
loved, aged  seventy-one,  after  a  ministry  of  forty-two  years. 


ALEXANDER  GUMMING 


"Was  born  at  Freehold,  New  Jersey,  in  1726.  His  father, 
RoBert  Gumming,  from  Montrose,  Scotland,  was  an  elder,  and 
often  sat  in  synod. 

He  was  educated  under  his  maternal  uncle,  Samuel  Blair,  and 
studied  theology  with  his  pastor,  William  Tennent.  Licensed  by 
the  New-Side  Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  in  1746  or  '47,  he  was 
sent  by  the  synod,  in  compliance  with  pressing  supplications,  and 
spent  some  time  in  Augusta  county,  Virginia.  He  was  the  first 
Presbyterian  minister  that  preached  within  the  bounds  of  Ten- 
nessee. Remaining  some  time  in  North  Garolina,  he  married 
Eunice,  daughter  of  Golonel  Thomas  Polk,  the  President  (in  May, 
1775)  of  the  Mecklenburg  Gonvention. 

He  was  a  stated  supply  in  Pennsylvania  for  some  time.  Though 
not  ordained,  he  opened  the  Synod  of  New  York  with  a  sermon, 
in  September,  1750.  In  the  following  month  he  was  ordained,  by 
New  York  Presbytery,  and  installed  collegiate  pastor  with  Pem- 
berton,  in  NewY^ork. 

Unanimously  called,  his  clear,  discriminating  mind,  his  habits 
of  close  study,  his  instructive  and  excellent  preaching,  his  happy 
faculty  of  disentangling  and  exhibiting  difficult  and  abstruse 
subjects,  peculiarly  attracted  and  delighted  his  more  cultivated 
hearers.  The  Hon.  William  Smith,  in  writing  to  Bellamy,  says, 
"  His  defect  in  delivery  was  not  natural,  but  the  effect  of  bad 
example:  his  elocution,  however,  is  not,  and  cannot  ever  be,  as 
prompt  as  yours."  But  before  the  second  year  of  his  ministry 
closed,  the  presbytery  was  called  to  consider  the  difficulties  which 
had  arisen,  and,  in  1752,  referred  the  case  to  the  synod.  The 
complaints  against  him  were,  that,  when  disabled  by  sickness,  he 
did  not  invite  Pemberton  to  preach ;  that  he  insisted  on  his  right 
as  pastor  to  sit  with  the  trustees,  and  manage  the  temporalities ; 
for  encourafrino;  the  introduction  of  Watts's  Psalms,  and  for  in- 


ALEXANDER    GUMMING.  •  615 

sisting  on  family  prayer  as  a  necessary  prerequisite  in  every  one 
to  whose  child  he  administered  baptism. 

He  requested  to  be  dismissed,  October  25, 1753,  because  his  low 
state  of  health  would  not  allow  him  to  go  on  with  his  work  in  the 
divided,  confused  state  of  the  congregation.  No  opposition  was 
made,  and  he  was  dismissed. 

Gumming  joined  with  his  parishioners,  Livingston,  Smith,  and 
Scott,  in  publishing  the  "Watch-Tower,"  the  "Reflector,"  the 
"Independent  Whig," — spirited,  patriotic  appeals  against  the 
steady  encroachments  of  the  royal  prerogative  on  our  constitu- 
tional liberties. 

In  feeble  health,  and  with  little  prospect  of  usefulness,  he  re- 
mained without  charge  till  February  25,  1761,  when  he  was  in- 
stalled pastor  of  the  Old  South  Church  in  Boston.  He  preached 
on  that  occasion,  and  Temberton  gave  the  charge,  and  welcomed 
him.  "  I  do  it  with  the  greater  pleasure,  being  persuaded,  from  a 
long  and  intimate  acquaintance,  that  you  are  animated  by  the 
spirit  of  Christ  in  taking  this  ofiice  upon  you,  and  that  you  desire 
no  greater  honour  or  happiness  than  to  be  an  humble  instrument 
to  promote  the  kingdom  of  our  adorable  Redeemer." 

William  Allen,*  of  Philadelphia,  Chief- Justice  of  Pennsylvania, 
wrote  to  Dr.  Mayhew,  of  Boston,  in  1763,  and  thanked  him  for 
the  gift  of  two  sermons,  "  which,  you  hint,  were  preached  on  ac- 
count of  Mr.  Cumming's  reveries;  for  I  can  call  nothing  that 
comes  from  him  by  a  better  name,  nor  ought  I,  if  he  continues  to 
be  the  same  man  he  was  with  us.  He  ofiered  himself  to  the  con- 
gregation here,  of  which  I  am  a  member :  though  the  greater  part 
are  moderate  Calvinists,  they  could  not  relish  his  doctrines." 
After  charging  Cumming  with  teaching  that  works  are  dangerous 
to  the  soul,  faith  being  every  thing,  he  adds,  "  He  may  be  a  pious, 
well-disposed  man,  but  I  believe  he  is  a  gloomy,  dark  enthusiast, 
and  a  great  perverter  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  as  taught  in 
the  gospel." 

To  Allen  and  Mayhew,  Cumming  seemed  "  an  extravagant 
fanatic."  It  was  a  wonder  how  he  could  have  been  admitted  a 
minister  in  Boston.  Yet  he  was  condemned  as  a  Legalist  by  the 
favourers  of  the  other  extreme. 

Andrew  Croswell,  a  zealous  follower  of  Davenport,  had  settled 
in  Boston.  He  published  a  sermon,  with  the  title,  "  What  is 
Christ  to  me  if  he  is  not  mine?"  presenting  the  view — perhaps 
distorted — of  Marshall,  in  his  "  Gospel  Mystery  of  Sanctifica- 
tion,"  and  Hervey,  in  his  "  Theron  and  Aspasio."  Cumming  re- 
plied, taking  the  ground  of  Bellamy.  It  was  perhaps  his  earnest- 
ness on  this  point  that  arrayed  his  Scottish  hearers  against  him  in 

*  Bradford's  Life  of  Mayhew. 


616  HUGH   HENRY — JOHN    KINKEAD. 

New  York.  They  had  the  Erskines  in  great  reverence:  they 
loved  the  doctrines  which  rallied  Scotland's  best  men  against  the 
Assembly's  decision  in  the  Marrow  controversy.  Smith  speaks, 
in  his  history,  contemptuously  of  the  opposition,  as  of  the  lower 
class ;  and  Robert  Philip  brands  it  as  a  cabal  of  ignorance  and 
bigotry.*  The  fact  that  these  persons  called  the  Rev.  John 
Mason  from  Scotland,  and  that  they  and  their  children  constituted 
the  congregation  of  Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  is  a  sufficient  refutation 
of  these  charges. 

Gumming  died  August  23,  1763.  "  He  was  full  of  prayer, 
with  a  lively,  active  soul  in  a  feeble  body."  This  was  the  testi- 
mony of  the  excellent  Dr.  Sewall,  with  whom  he  was  joined  as 
colleague  in  Boston. 


HUGH  HENRY 


Graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1748.  He  was  one  of  the 
students  trained  by  Samuel  Blair.  He  was  ordained,  by  the 
New-Side  Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  pastor  of  Rehoboth,  Wico- 
mico, and  Monokin,  in  1751.  At  that  time  the  harvest,  following 
the  labours  of  Robinson  and  Davies  in  Somerset  county,  "  seemed 
nearly  over,  though  considerable  gleanings  were  still  gathered" 
after  his  settlement.  Davies  spoke  of  him  at  that  time  as  likely 
to  prove  an  extensive  blessing  to  that  part  of  the  colony  of 
Maryland. 

He  died  in  1763,  greatly  esteemed. 


JOHN  KINKEAD 


AVas  born  in  Ireland,  and  is  mentioned,  on  the  records  of  Phila- 
delphia Synod,  as  a  licentiate,  in  May,  1752.  He  was,  at  that 
time,  sent  to  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  to  supply  from  the  middle 
of  November  till  the  first  of  March:  "  in  case  he  receives  a  call, 
he  shall  continue  eight  weeks  only."  McKennan  supplied  his 
lack  of  service,  and  his  reasons  for  not  having  gone  were  sus- 

*  Nothing  of  this  sort  is  intimated  in  the  private  correspondence  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  congregation. 


JOHN    KINKEAD.  6lT 

tained.  "A  member  of  the  congregation  of  Norrington  applied 
to  the  synod,  supplicating  the  oi'dination  of  Mr.  Kinkead,  as  fast 
as  our  stated  rules  and  methods  will  permit.  The  synod,  at  con- 
siderable length,  heard  the  reasons  oifered  by  the  Presbyteries  of 
Philadelphia  and  Newcastle  why  they  could  not  attend  on  the 
trials  and  ordination,  so  as  to  answer  the  request  of  the  con- 
gregations. The  congregations  of  Great  Valley  and  Norrington 
belonging  to  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  they  ordered  that  said  pres- 
bytery should  attend  the  trials  and  manage  the  ordination;  and, 
lest  a  delay  should  be  occasioned  by  the  paucity  and  distance  of 
the  members,  Mr.  Cathcart  is  ordered  to  correspond  with  said 
presbytery  as  an  assistant."  He  was  ordained,  and  the  synod  i^ 
ordered  him  "  to  correspond  with  Newcastle  Presbytery  in 
August." 

In  1754,  he  spent  three  months  in  Virginia,  and  was  dismissed 
from  his  charge,  and  was  publicly  disowned  by  the  presbytery,  in 
1757.  Immediately  on  the  union,  (May  31,  1758,)  Philadelphia 
Presbytery  directed  Gilbert  Tennent  to  write  to  him,  and  inform 
him  that  he  must  desist  from  preaching  at  Middletown,  (now  in 
Delaware  county,  Pennsylvania,)  as  it  was  offensive  to  the  con- 
gregation and  to  the  presbytery.  He  Avas  informed  of  the  time 
of  the  next  meeting.  The  records  of  the  presbytery  furnish  no 
further  notice  of  him;  but,  in  1759,  at  his  request,  the  synod  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  converse  with  him.  "  He  came  next  day, 
and  gave  in  a  paper  to  the  synod,  as,  he  says,  for  his  own  ex- 
oneration, in  order  to  his  continuing  a  member.  The  synod, 
having  never  excluded  him,  concluded  to  consider  and  deal  with 
him  as  a  member.  The  minute  being  read  to  him,  he  refused 
membership  notwithstanding." 

Windham,  in  New  Hampshire,  obtained  his  services,  and  he 
was  settled  there  in  October,  1760.  They  had  supplicated  the 
synod  in  May ;  and  Dr.  Alison  and  Mr.  Ewing  were  directed  to 
write  to  them  a  recommendatory  letter  in  favour  of  Kirkpatrick, 
who  was  going  with  the  New  Jersey  forces  the  ensuing  cam- 
paign. 

Kinkead  was  dismissed  in  April,  1765;  and,  in  1769,  it  wag 
"  particularly  represented  to  the  synod  that  he  is,  by  many,  given 
out  to  be  a  Presbyterian  minister,  though  his  conduct  is  noway 
cognizable  by  us,  for  he  has  never  been  a  member  of  any  of  our 
presbyteries  since  the  union." 


618  ALEXANDER    MILLER. 


ALEXANDER  MILLER, 

From  the  parish  of  Ardstra-w,  asked,  in  1753,  to  be  permitted  to 
prcacli  as  a  minister  of  the  synod,  acknowledging  that  he  had  been 
degraded  by  the  General  Synod  of  Ireland,  the  sub-Synod  of  Lon- 
iionderry,  and  the  Presbytery  of  Letterkenny  ;  but  offering  the 
minutes  of  the  presbytery  in  proof  that  he  had  been  treated  hardly 
and  unjustly.  Several  of  the  members  had  already  written  to 
their  correspondents  in  those  bodies,  and  they  refused  to  encourage 
him  till  they  received  answers ;  and  they  warned  all  under  their 
care  not  to  receive  him  as  a  minister  till  he  was  fully  cleared.  He 
appeared  before  the  synod,  June  2,  1755,  and  begged  that  they 
would  endeavour  to  procure  a  reconciliation  between  him  and  the 
Synod  of  Dungannon  or  the  Presbytery  of  Letterkenny.  McDowell 
was  directed  to  write  to  Messrs.  William  Boyd,  of  Taughboyne,  John 
Marshall  or  John  Holmes,  of  Glendermot,  and  enclose  his  peni- 
tential letter  of  acknowledgment.  The  next  spring,  the  congrega- 
tions of  Cook's  Creek  and  peeked  Mountain,  (now  Harrisonburg,) 
in  Rockingham  county,  Virginia,  supplicated  that  he  might  be 
received  by  the  synod  as  a  member,  and  installed  as  their  pastor. 
They  resolved  to  wait  until  the  ships  came  in  from  Ireland  in  the 
fall,  and  if  they  brought  a  letter  from  the  synod  of  Ireland  accept- 
ing his  acknowledgment,  or  if  no  letter  came,  then  Black  and 
Craig  were  to  install  him,  provided  they  find  his  conduct  in  that 
part  of  Christ's  vineyard  such  as  becomes  a  gospel  minister.  In 
1757,  the  supplication  being  renewed,  he  was  unanimously  received 
as  a  member,  and  Craig  was  appointed  to  install  him  before  the  1st 
of  August. 

The  Presbytery  of  Hanover  cited  him  to  answer  certain  charges, 
at  a  meeting  to  be  held,  as  he  said,  four  hundred  miles  from  hia 
home.  He  attended,  but  found  that  Todd  had  prevented  the  meet- 
ing, and  subsequently,  on  the  day  the  presbytery  was  appointed  to 
meet  in  another  place,  Todd  and  two  other  members  came  to  Mil- 
ler's meeting-house  on  their  sole  authority,  ordained  a  man,  re- 
ceived charges  against  Miller,  judged  him,  and  adjourned  to  an- 
other place.  The  presbytery  annulled  these  proceedings;  but 
Miller  declined  their  jurisdiction,  and  they,  disregarding  his  de- 
clinature, found  him  guilty  of  unworthy  behaviour,  and  deposed 
him.  May  3,  1765.  He  appealed  to  the  synod  after  a  delay  of 
four  years,  and  without  giving  notice  to  the  presbytery :  the  pres- 
bytery was  ordered  to  attend  the  next  year,  that  the  synod  might 
hear  both  parties.  Dissatisfied  with  this,  he  renounced  the  synod, 
and  was  disowned ;  and  all  presbyteries  and  congregations  were 
forbidden  to  employ  him. 


JOHN   MILLER.  619 


JOHN   MILLER* 

Was  born  in  Boston,  December  4, 1722,  his  parents  having  come 
from  Scotland  in  1710.  He  experienced  the  power  of  religion 
under  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Sewall,  and  studied  theology  with  Mr. 
Webb.  He  began  to  labour  in  Kent  county,  Delaware,  in  1747  or  ^ 
'48,  and  was  ordained  at  Boston,  in  April,  1749.  He  took  charge 
of  Duck  Creek,  and  gathered  the  congregation  in  Dover.  One  of 
Whitefield's  letters  is  dated  Dover,  May  8, 1747 ;  and  it  is  likely  that 
through  his  suggestion  the  Boston  ministers  engaged  Miller  to 
enter  on  this  field. 

He  was  married,  November  23,  1751,  to  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Allonby  Millington^  Esq.,  of  Talbot  county,  Maryland. 

He'joined  the  Old-Side  Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  after  May, 
1756,  having  until  then  formed  no  ecclesiastical  connection  in  the 
peninsula.  It  may  naturally  be  supposed,  that  the  settlement  of 
Matthew  Wilson  decided  him  to  join  that  presbytery,  in  preference 
to  the  New-Side  body.  In  1758,  the  Presbytery  of  Lewes  was  j 
formed  of  the  brethren  of  both  sides ;  and  it  seems  to  have  been  a  ^ 
happily-united  and  harmonious  body. 

He  visited  Accomac  county,  and  appeared  before  Lancaster 
Presbytery  to  represent  the  destitution  of  the  Eastern  SEore,  and 
the  prospect  of  building  up  our  interest;  and  they  ordained  Samuel 
Blair,  Jr.,  and  sent  him  thither. 

He  died  in  July,  1791,  and  was  buried  at  Dover.  His  eldest  son, 
John,  entered  the  Revolutionary  army  as  a  surgeon,  and  died  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1777,  aged  twenty-five.  Mrs.  Miller  died  November 
22,  1789,  aged  sixty.  His  son  Edward  Miller,  M.D.  was  a  dis- 
tinguished physician  in  New  York.  His  congregation  at  Duck  V- 
Creek  (now  Smyrna)  built  a  handsome  ehurchf  after  his  death, 
and  tried  to  secure  the  pastoral  services  of  his  son  Dr.  Samuel 
Miller.  -6^(.i  «7  CIwxm.**-^'*^"    *<<•■' 

It  was  the  unhappiness  of  the  congregations  after  his  death  to 
engage  the  services  of  a  heretical  teacher,  and  they  dwindled  and 
almost  became  extinct.  The  Brick  Church|  remained  closed 
for  a  number  of  years,  until  Mrs.  Leah  Morris — a  daughter  of  Mr. 
Winder,  who  had  been  brought,  by  means  of  the  labours  of  Dr. 
Rodgers  while  a  licentiate,  to  embrace  the  Confession  of  our 
church,  and  who  became  a  pious  man  and  a  ruling  elder  at  Wico- 
mico— removed  in  her  widowhood  to  reside  with  her  son  Dr.  W.  W. 


*  American  Biographical  Dictionary. 

f  MS.  Letter  of  Dr.  Samuel  Martin,  of  Chanceford,  Rhode  Island. 

j  Memoir  of  Mrs.  Morris:  in  Dr.  Green's  Christian  Advocate. 


620  WILLIAM   McKENNAN — MATTHEW  WILSON. 

Morris,  at  Dover.  At  first  she  secured  occasional  supplies  to 
preach  in  the  court-house,  and  in  May,  1825,  the  church  was  again 
opened  for  public  worship.     She  died  February  2, 1826. 


WILLIAM   McKENNAN 

Was  probably  a  native  of  Drawyers,  Delaware.  He  was 
licensed  by  Newcastle  Presbytery  before  May,  1752,  and  was  sent 
by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  to  supply  North  and  South  Moun- 
tain, Timber  Grove,  North  River,  and  Cook's  Creek,  and  at  John 
Hinson's,  in  Virginia.  He  spent  seven  or  eight  months  in  the 
South. 

Before  May,  1756,  he  was  settled  at  Wilmington  and  Red  Clay : 
he  resigned  the  former  in  1794,  and  continued  in  the  charge  of  the 
latter  till  his  death. 

Dr.  Martin  says,  he  was  venerable  for  his  years  and  his  piety. 

Governor  McKinley,*  who  after  the  battle  of  Brandj^wine  was 
taken  prisoner  by  the  British  in  his  own  house  at  Wilmington,  left 
property  to  him  by  will. 


MATTHEW  WILSON 


V 


Was  born  in  New  London,  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania,  Janu- 
ary 15, 1731,  and  was  educated  under  Alison  and  McDowell.  He 
was  licensed,  by  Newcastle  Presbytery,  before  May,  1754,  and  was 
employed  to  teach  the  languages  in  the  synod's  school  at  Newark, 
McDowell  taking  the  other  branches.  He  was  ordained,  before 
May,  1755,  pastor  of  Lewes  and  Cool  Spring,  Delaware ;  and  he 
was  sent,  for  three  months  in  the  following  spring,  to  Virginia. 

In  1768,  John  Harris,  who  had  served  the  New-Side  congrega- 
tions, left  them,  and  the  fractions  united,  and  Wilson  added  Indian 
River  to  his  charge.  Though  most  steadfastly  attached  to  the  Old 
Side,  he  had  a  great  dislike  of  the  Scottish  ecclesiastical  system ; 
and  he  had  a  favourite  plan  of  church  government,  which  he  twice 
presented  to  the  synod. 

*  Rev.  George  Foote:   History  of  Drawyers. 


JOSEPH   PARK.  621 

He  was  engaged  as  a  teacher,  a  physician,  and  a  pastor,  and  was 
eminent  in  all  these  professions.  He  was  skilled  in  jurisprudence, 
and  highly  esteemed  for  his  counsel.  He  was  zealous  in  the  cause 
of  American  Independence,  and  inscribed  the  word  "Liberty"  on 
his  cocked  hat,  that  no  one  might  doubt  his  sentiments.  He  died,  i^ 
March  30,  1790.  His  son,  James  B.  Wilson,  succeeded  him  for  a  'u  < 
short  season;  and  he  was  even  more* distinguished  than  his  fathei'. 
After  he  was  settled  in  Philadelphia,  the  Governor  of  Delaware 
wrote  to  him  to  retain  him  as  counsel  for  the  State  in  case  the 
Penns  should  sue.  He  replied  that  he  had  examined  the  papers 
in  his  father's  possession,  and  was  satisfied  that  the  Penn  claim 
could  not  bft  resisted  in  law  or  equity. 


JOSEPH  PARK. 


It  is  not  unlikely  this  was  the  missionary  who  was  sent,  by  the 
London  Society,  to  the  Indians  at  Westerly,  Rhode  Island,  in 
1733:  his  labours  were  wholly  unsuccessful  until  the  coming  of 
Davenport.  Accompanied  by  many  Christian  friends,  he  marched 
into  the  town  in  solemn  procession,  singing  as  they  walked.  He 
preached  from  John  v.  40, — a  solemn,  awakening  sermon,  but  no- 
thing extraordinary:  a  cry  arose  all  over  the  house  from  a  sense 
of  sin  and  danger.  A  great  change  speedily  followed  thi'oughout 
all  the  neighbourhood.  One  hundred  and  six  were  added  to  the 
church  in  Westerly,  besides  sixty-four  Indians. 

Through  his  kindness  to  a  poor  person,  in  giving  her  shelter 
under  his  roof  while  suffering  with  the  smallpox,  so  many  injurious 
reports  arose  that  he  was  obliged  to  publish  a  narrative*  clearing 
himself  of  having  spread  that  dreaded  disorder. 

He  began  to  preach  at  Mattituck  and  Acquebogue, — "broken 
churches,"  sadly  shaken  and  reduced  by  separations  in  1751;  and, 
on  appearing  before  Suffolk  Presbytery,  May  29,  1752,  they  exa- 
mined him  on  his  soundness  in  the  faith  and  his  experience  of 
religion,  and  then  received  him.  A  call  was  presented  at  that 
time  by  James  Reese  and  Nathaniel  Warner,  and  the  presbytery 
met  at  Mattituck,  June  9,  for  his  installation.  In  the  two  places 
there  were  only  seven  men  and  fifteen  women  in  the  communion. 
Buell  preached  from  1  Timothy  iv.  16;  Sylvanus  White  presided, 
and  charged  the  pastor ;  BroAvn  exhorted  the  people,  and  Throop 
prayed.  He  was  liberated,  February  11, 1756,  and  is  not  mentioned 
again. 

*  Harvard  Library. 


622  SAMUEL   HARKER. 


SAMUEL   IIARKER, 

Or,  as  the  name  is  sometimes  spelt  on  New  Brunswick  Records, 
Ilarcour,  was  probably  of  Huguenot  descent.  Remarkable*  for 
size,  vigour,  and  strength,  he  spent  his  youth  in  manual  labour. 
lie  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  17 — ,  and  was  taken  up  by  New 
Brunswick  Presbytery,  December  6,  1749,  and  was  licensed  No- 
vember 6,  1751.  Roxbury  and  Hardwick  asked  for  him,  June 
5,  1752 ;  and,  being  called  to  Roxbury,  on  Black  River,  in  Morris 
county.  New  Jersey,  he  was  ordained  there,  October  31. 

He  challengedf  Abel  Morgan,  the  Baptist  minister  of  Middle- 
town,  and  who  had  debated  on  infant  baptism  with  Finley,  in 
West  Jersey;  and  they  disputed  on  that  point  for  two  days  at 
Kingwood,  in  Hunterdon  county.  "Some  proselytes,"  says  Mor- 
gan Edwards,  "being  found  in  the  Baptist  camp,  and  some  from 
Harker's  being  missing,  some  shook  their  heads  and  others  opened 
their  mouths."  In  1752  or  '53,  a  man  named  Heaton,  who,  with 
three  brothers,  had  moved  from  Wrentham,  Massachusetts,  to  es- 
tablish iron-works  on  Black  River,  near  Schooley's  Mountain,  be- 
came a  Baptist  because  he  could  not  find  a  text  proving  infant 
baptism.  This  led  Robert  Colver,  who  lived  there,  to  advertise 
a  reward  of  twenty  dollars  for  a  text  proving  infant  baptism. 
Harker  carried  a  text  to  him  and  demanded  the  money:  being 
refused,  he  sued  him ;  but  the  justice  ordered  Harker  to  pay  the 
costs.  On  the  Black  River  dwelt  also  a  small  number  of  Rogerenes, 
or  Quaker  Baptists,  from  Groton,  Connecticut. 

The  presbytery  heard,  in  October,  1757,  that  he  had  imbibed 
and  vented  certain  erroneous  doctrines,  and  were  about  to  proceed 
against  him,  when  they  learned  that  he  had  left  his  charge  and 
gone  as  a  captain  with  the  army.  Laying  the  matter  before  the 
synod  in  May,  Gilbert  Tennent,  Treat,  Samuel  Finley,  and  John 
Blair  were  appointed  to  deal  with  him  in  such  manner  as  shall 
appear  to  them  most  suitable  for  his  conviction.  By  order  of 
synod,  in  1759,  a  committee  met  at  Mendham  and  examined  a 
paper  containing  Harker's  principles,  and  were  happy  to  find  that 
his  sentiments  were  correct,  though  far  from  being  happily  and 
cautiously  expressed.  Thus,  by  "all  men's  being  in  the  covenant" 
he  meant  that  the  covenant,  in  the  proposals  thereof,  respects  the 
whole  human  race;  and,  by  the  assertion  that  "the  regenerate 
were  not  probationers  for  heaven,"  he  intended  to  teach  that  they 
have  a  sure  and  unfailing  title  to  heaven,  being  interested  in  the 

*  Dr.  Foote:  Sketches  of  North  Carolina. 

■j-  Morgan  Edwards's  History  of  the  New  Jersey  Baptists. 


SAMUEL  HAKKEK. 

merits  of  Clirist.  They  could  not,  however,  convince  him  that  he 
was  in  error  in  teaching  that  by  the  tenor  of  the  covenant  of  grace 
God  has  bound  himself  to  bestow  saving  blessings  on  the  endea- 
vours of  unregenerate  men,  and  has  predestined  men  to  salvation 
upon  a  foresight  of  their  compliance  with  the  terms  of  the  cove- 
nant. The  synod,  on  hearing  this  report,  thought  it  expedient  to 
try  yet  whether  further  converse  may  convince  him,  and  agree 
that  he  meet  with  Samuel  and  James  Finley,  John  Blair,  and 
Robert  and  Sampson  Smith,  at  Nottingham,  in  November ;  and,  on 
his  return,  with  Gilbert  Tennent,  Treat,  Ewing,  and  Dr.  Alison. 
He  met  with  these  committees  without  any  benefit,  "though  the 
interview  lasted  two  days  and  one  evening."  Having  prepared 
his  sentiments  for  the  press,  he  asked  the  synod,  in  1761,  to  read 
his  performance,  and,  if  they  would  convince  him  ho  was  wrong,  he 
"would  amend  what  was  so ;  otherwise  he  would  think  himself  obliged 
to  print  without  delay.  This  they  would  not  do,  but  declared  their 
disapproval  of  some  of  his  opinions.  The  book  soon  appeared, — 
"An  Appeal*  to  the  Christian  AVorld," — and  was  forwarded,  in 
November,  1761,  by  Bostwick,  to  Bellamy.  "A  most  shockingf 
bad  book :  it  may  serve  to  show  the  inconsistency  of  the  modern 
fashionable  divinity."  The  synod,  in  1763,  condemned  the  two 
propositions  in  which  he  was  declared  erroneous  on  a  previous 
occasion,  and  also  a  third: — "that  the  covenant  of  grace  is  in  such 
a  sense  conditional,  that  all,  by  the  general  assistances  given  under 
the  gospel,  have  a  sufficient  ability  to  fulfil  the  conditions  of  it, 
and  so,  by  their  own  endeavours,  to  insure  regenerating  grace  and 
saving  blessings,"  They  therefore  declared  that  they  could  not 
continue  him  as  a  member,  and  that  he  is  disqualified  for  preaching 
or  exercising  his  ministry  anywhere.  The  congregation  of  Black 
Kiver  Avas  thrown  into  confusion  on  hearing  this,  and  wrote  to  Dr. 
Kodgers  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  synod  without  delay.  He  con- 
sulted New  Brunswick  Presbytery;  and  they  judged  that  it  was 
not  desirable,  for  that  all  the  good  to  be  expected  could  be  accom- 
plished by  sending  a  committee  thither.  Accordingly,  in  August 
they  sent  Halt,  McKnight,  and  Kennedy ;  and,  soon  after,  the 
AVest  Branch  of  Black  River  asked  for  supplies.  McWhorter,|  of 
Newark,  wrote  to  Bellamy,  January  28,  1761,  "I  think  I  don't 
live  in  a  printing  part  of  the  world.  I  see  but  very  few  new  books. 
There  is  a  gentleman  in  our  province  who  has  lately  published  a 
piece,  and,  being  one  of  our  synod,  he  was  censured  for  it  last 
session, — to  wit,  Mr.  Harker.  Whether  it  has  been  able  to  travel 
BO  far  as  to  your  parts,  I  can't  tell.  It  pleases  some  for  the 
sweet  Arminianism  it  contains,  or  because  it  takes  the  promises  of 


*  No  copy  is  to  be  found  in  any  public  library. 

•j-  N.  Hazard :  Bellamy  papers.  J  Ibid. 


624  JOHN   WRIGHT. 

God  which  are  yea  and  amen  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  endeavours  to 
make  them  yea  and  amen  in  a  natural  man's  good  endeavours ;  and 
because  he  now  and  then  turns  oflF  some  of  what  he  looks  upon  to 
be  asperities  and  unrighteous  severities  in  the  holy  law  of  God. 
He  is  evidently  a  very  inaccurate  writer,  a  man  of  little  reading, 
and  has  no  settled  scheme  that  will,  in  any  tolerable  measure,  hold 
together.  I  am  afraid  some  will  attempt  to  answer  him  who, 
though  they  may  hold  more  truths,  are  as  far  from  any  well- 
digested  scheme  of  religion  as  he.  I  should  be  extremely  glad,  if 
he  lay  in  your  way,  you  would  drop  some  reflections  which  might 
have  a  tendency  to  make  him  know  his  standing." 

John  Blair  published  an  answer  to  his  "Appeal  to  the  Christian 
World,"  entitled,  "The  Synod*  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
Defended." 

Ilarkcrf  married  Rachel  Level,  daughter  of  a  French  Protes- 
tant residing  at  Oyster  Bay,  Long  Island,  a  most  excellent  woman. 
One  of  his  daughters  married  Dr.  Caldwell,  of  Lamington,  who, 
dying  early,  left  her  with  an  infant, — the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Cald- 
well, President  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina.  Another 
married  Judge  Symmes,  of  Marietta,  Ohio. 


JOHN  WRIGHT 


Was  born  in  Scotland,  and,  while  living  in  Virginia,  enjoyed 
the  friendship  of  Davies.  He  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1752, 
and  was  admitted  to  special  intimacy  by  Mr.  Burr,|  being  of  a 
very  good  character  for  understanding,  prudence,  and  piety.  On 
leaving  college,  he  travelled  in  New  England,  and  visited  Jonathan 
Edwards.  Davenport  wrote  to  Bellamy,§  May  29,  1753,  "  Mr. 
Wright,  who  was  licensed  last  winter,  (by  Newcastle  Presbytery,) 
is  to  be  ordained  in  about  a  fortnight,  to  go  to  Virginia  and  Caro- 
lina." He  was  the  principal  supply  of  Hanover  while  Davies  was 
in  England ;  and,  on  his  return,  he  found  that  he  had  conducted 
judiciously  and  to  admiration. 

In  1761,  he  wrote||  to  Mr.  Peter  Munford,  (Montford,)  of  the 
Fishkills,  a  friend  and  benefactor  of  his;  and,  "after  an  agreeable 
recollection  of  a  former  intimate  Christian  intercourse,  exhilarates 
his  drooping  soul  by  the  particulars  of  what  King  Jesus  does 
among  the  wild  Virginians.     I  settled,  about  seven  years  ago, 


*  Philadelpliia  Library.  f  Dr.  Foote. 

X  Dwight's  Life  of  Edwards.  §  Bellamy  papers.  ||  Ibid. 


JOHN   WEIGHT.  625 

a'bout  the  middle  of  James  and  Roanoke  Rivers,  in  a  very  scat- 
tered congregation,  and  among  a  very  ignorant  people,  destitute 
of  any  kind  of  religious  knowledge,  though  mostly  of  the  Church- 
of-England  persuasion.  Upon  my  first  preaching  here,  they  were 
awakened  and  awfully  alarmed;  and,  in  about  nine  weeks,  many 
got  engaged  in  a  most  solemn  manner  for  my  settlement  with 
them,  and  promised  me  a  decent  maintenance :  which  invitation  I 
accepted  before  Newcastle  Presbytery;  and  I  may  say,  to  the 
praise  of  a  good  and  a  gracious  God,  that  we  never  saw  the 
natural  spring  since  but  'the  Day-spring  from  on  high  hath 
visited  us.' 

"  I  preached  here  first  in  March,  1754,  and  completely  settled 
the  October  following.  On  the  last  Sabbath  of  the  succeeding 
July,  I  received  to  the  Lord's  table  about  one  hundred  souls — 
mostly  from  the  Church  of  England — who  were  never  com- 
municants before.  Thirteen  months  after,  I  received  about  ninety 
more;  and,  at  every  sacrament  since,  an  addition  has  been 
made,  on  a  moderate  calculation,  of  about  thirty;  and  I  always 
have  two  sacraments  in  a  year.  But  this  spring  and  summer 
exceeded  all  the  seasons  I  have  been  acquainted  with,  in  Vir- 
ginia, for  conviction  and  conversion :  the  work  is  more  universal 
and  powerful. 

"  Religion  seemed  to  be  sunk  exceeding  low,  while  its  enemies 
were  very  lively,  hoping  there  was  now  no  God  in  Israel,  and 
even  the  children  of  the  kingdom  drooping  through  unbelief.  I 
was  full  of  fears  myself,  lest  we  had  provoked  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel  to  depart  from  us  forever;  but  even  then  the  stability  of 
the  covenant,  and  his  unchanging  regard  to  his  own  glory,  propped 
my  tottering  faith,  and  led  me  to  preach  in  another  channel. 
The  gospel  was  almost  a  new  thing  to  myself  and  my  hearers, 
insomuch  that  I  could  say  it  was  good  for  us  to  be  afflicted  with 
discouraging  fears.  People  grew  more  and  more  engaged,  and 
sinners  were  awaked  in  an  uncommon  manner  and  degree;  and 
what  supported  my  hopes  was,  I  could  see  the  Sun  of  righteous- 
ness shining  upon  the  negro  quarter  in  the  darkest  and  stormiest 
part  of  our  spiritual  winter.  When  the  revival  began,  it  spread 
more  powerfully  among  the  blacks  than  the  whites,  so  that  they 
crowded  to  me  in  great  numbers,  solemnly  engaged  and  deeply 
affected,  to  know  what  they  should  do  to  be  saved.  I  received  to 
communion,  between  the  second  Sabbath  in  June  and  the  first  in 
August,  above  one  hundred  souls,  among  whom  were  forty-six 
negroes. 

''Our  enemies  were  exceedingly  confounded,  and  the  children 
of  the  kingdom  exceedingly  humbled, — consequently,  more  joyful 
and  highly  exalted  than  ever.  A  great  number  were  then  ambi- 
tious to  become  New  Lights^  who  before  hated  and  scorned  the 

40 


626  JOHN    WRIGHT. 

name.  Some  of  our  bitterest  enemies  were  conquered,  and  made 
•willing  to  deny  themselves  and  take  the  cross. 

"  About  five  years  ago  I  baptized  some  few  negroes,*  and  they 
kept  dropping  in  one  after  another,  till,  about  two  years  ago,  I  had 
fifteen  admitted  to  communion.  At  this  time,  I  baptized  two 
leading  fellows  of  one  Colonel  Gary,  who  has  now  twenty  slaves 
in  full  communion  in  our  church.  The  work  has  ever  since  beeu 
spreading  among  that  gentleman's  slaves,  and  others  round;  and 
I  believe  there  are  now  about  three  hundred  Ethiopians  solicitously 
engaged  after  the  great  salvation.  Could  I  solemnize  the  Lord's 
Supper  in  the  centre  of  my  congregation  this  fall,  I  might  have 
hopefully  one  hundred  black  converts  at  the  table.  I  have  now 
above  one  hundred  catechumens  under  examination  for  baptism, 
besides  fifty  or  more  I  baptized  since  last  May. 

"  1.  When  I  came  first  here,  there  was  not  a  shadow  of  a  con- 
gregation. Mr.  Davies,  Robinson,  Gumming,  James  Finley, 
Brown,  Davenport,  and  Henry  preached  a  few  sermons  in  their 
transitu,  and,  I  suppose,  there  might  be  four  or  five  pious  souls 
in  all  my  bounds  Avhen  I  came ;  and  yet,  amidst  the  whole  of  the 
work,  there  has  been  scarcely  any  tincture  of  enthusiasm.  The 
Lord  kept  the  converts  low  by  a  constant  view  of  their  own 
hearts,  so  that  they  were  rather  tempted  to  unreasonable  diflfidence, 
than,  like  the  Separates,  inclined  to  go  and  preach  to  others. 

"  2.  Those  who  were  first  taken  among  the  whites,  though  none 
of  the  grandees,  were  yet  accounted  responsible,  honest  people; 
and,  when  the  husband  or  wife  was  awakened,  the  same  ordi- 
narily happened  to  his  or  her  consort,  unless  in  few  instances,  and 
there  the  person  exercised  was  uncommonly  supported  under  the 
trial  of  the  other's  opposition,  and  the  trial  generally  was  not 
long. 

"  3.  Those  among  the  negroes  who  were  first  baptized  were  the 
most  honest,  upright,  leading  men  among  their  tribes,  which  greatly 
contributed  to  spread  religion  among  their  fellow-slaves ;  and  their 
masters,  overseers,  and  stewards  generally  fell  in  with  religion 
beyond  all  expectation,  and  thereby  they  were  greatly  en- 
couraged. 

"  4.  The  opposition  has  been,  and  still  is,  violently  strong,  but 


*  "I  am  a  member  of  a  society  in  London,  •which  lays  out  a  large  sum  of 
money  every  year  in  books  to  be  distributed  gratis  among  the  poor.  AVhen  I  jmb- 
lished  the  arrival  of  my  nomination  of  books,  I  called  upon  the  negroes  to  accept 
of  them  all.  Few  of  them  became  scholars,  but  they  seemed  exceedingly  attentive 
and  affected  on  receiving  the  books.  The  work  spread  amazingly  among  them. 
Last  year  I  had  nine  hundred  and  forty-eight  books,  this  year  eleven  hundied  and 
fifty-five.  This,  in  the  hand  of  a  gracious  Providence,  with  the  prayers  of  a  great 
number  of  very  holy  souls  in  and  about  London,  is  the  cause  of  this  glorious  work 
among  them." 


JOHN  WRIGHT.  6l2T 

does  not  hinder  or  retard  the  work :  it  enters  into  their  families, 
and  takes  hold  of  their  children,  husbands,  and  wives. 

"  5.  There  are  as  few  apostasies  as  ever  I  knew  in  a  work  of 
grace  of  so  large  an  extent,  among  uncultivated  souls." 

Wright  was  installed  in  Cumberland  by  Davies  and  Henry.  "At 
the  sacrament  on  the  last  Sabbath  in  July,  1755,  two  thousand 
■were  present :  there  were  one  hundred  and  eighty  communicants, 
eighty  being  new  ones.  There  were  general  awakenings  for 
sundry  Sabbaths  before,  and  new  instances  of  deep  and  rational 
conviction.  In  August,  of  a  Lord's  day,  I  saw  above  a  hundred 
weeping  and  trembling  under  the  word."  Davies  said,  in  the  next 
Bummei',  "Wright's  labours  continue  to  be  blest."  There  was 
more  of  the  power  of  God  that  spring,  summer,  and  autumn,  than 
ever.  There  were  remarkable  revivings  in  Davies's  congregation, 
among  the  negroes ;  in  Henry's,  among  the  young :  in  Wright's 
it  was  general,  but  eminently  among  the  young.  "After  the 
sacrament  in  September,  I  don't  know  that  there  were  two  un- 
affected hearts  in  my  congregation.  On  the  third  Sabbath  in 
November,  there  was  a  special  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
Christ  triumphed  among  us ;  convictions  were  more  deep  and  pun- 
gent than  formerly." 

In  the  middle  of  May,  1757,  Wright  preached  at  Willis  Creek 
from  Acts  xvii.  30,  having  had  no  success  before,  and  thought  it 
would  be  the  beginning  of  better  days.  Having  been  sickly  through 
the  spring,  he  relapsed  in  June :  Martin  and  Henry  assisted  him 
at  the  sacrament.  On  Friday,  a  congregation  assembled,  and  he 
ventured  to  talk  from  ^^All  things  are  ready."  This  was  a  word 
in  season  to  saint  and  sinner.  "  We  had  a  prelibation  of  what  fol- 
lowed. Henry  preached  from  Rev.  xxii.  17.  I  never  saw  the 
cross  of  Christ  triumph  as  then.  One  B.  W.  had  been  three  years 
under  temptation. 

"  '  Such  miserables  as  I,'  said  he,  on  Friday,  'have  no  place  at 
the  Lord's  table.' 

"  'Are  you  then  willing  to  give  up  all  your  part  and  portion  in 
Christ?' 

"  'No;  not  for  a  thousand  worlds.' 

"  On  Sabbath,  Wright  took  him  aside,  and  gave  him  a  token, 
which  he  accepted  with  great  reluctance.  In  fencing  the  first  table, 
he  saw  this  poor  object,  and,  going  to  him  with  the  bread,  he  said, — 

"  '  I  cannot  take;  I  feel  no  faith.' 

"  'But  don't  you  want  Christ?' 

"  '  Yes  ;  but  I  am  not  worthy  of  him.' 

"  '  Are  you  not  ready?' 

"  '  I  am  lost  without  him.' 

"  '  Are  you  not  labouring  and  heavy  laden?' 

"  '  I  am  crushed  under  the  load  of  sin.' 


7 


623  THE  cnuRcn  in  new  york. 

.    "  '  Then  Christ  calls  you  by  name  to  come  to  him.' 

"  He  took  the  bread,  and  stood  up.  Being  a  tall  man,  he  was 
Been  by  all,  as,  stretching  out  his  hands,  with  the  most  affecting 
countenance,  he  said,  '  Lord  Jesus,  I  am  lost  without  thee.  I 
come  trembling.  I  would  fain  be  a  partaker  of  thy  broken 
body;  for  I  am  undone  without  thee.  Lord  Jesus,  have  mercy 
on  me!'  " 

No  spectator  can  ever  forget  that  solemn  transaction  between 
Christ  and  that  poor  sinner.  The  whole  day  was  "  one  of  the 
days  of  the  Son  of  man."  Thirty-six  new  communicants  were 
received. 

He  was  a  correspondent  of  the  publisher  of  the  "  Glasgow 
Christian  History,"  and,  it  is  said,  of  John  Wesley  also. 

And  must  this  glowing  account  of  zealous  labours  and  great 
success  end  abruptly  with  the  statement,  that  Wright  was  sus- 
pended, by  Hanover  Presbytery,  in  1763,  and  never  restored? 


THE  CHURCH  IN   NEW  YORK. 

The  synod  received,  in  September,  1753,  a  letter*  from  Pera- 
berton,  of  New  York,  informing  them  that,  owing  to  dissensions 
in  his  charge,  his  hope  of  usefulness  Avas  gone,  and  that  a 
unanimous  call  from  a  congregation  in  Boston  was  ready  to  be 
placed  in  his  hands.  He  desired  that  a  committee  might  be  sent 
to  New  York  without  delay  to  issue  the  business.  Several  mem- 
bers of  the  congregation  made  a  representation  of  their  divided 
state ;  and  a  committee  was  appointed,  with  full  powers  to  do  as 
they  judge  necessary  for  the  healing  of  divisions  and  for  the  best 
interests  of  religion  there.  Tennent,  of  Fi*eehold,  with  his  elder, 
Samuel  Ker,  Burr,  Beatty,  Bostwick,  Spencer,  and  Caleb  Smith, 
met  in  the  city,  October  24.  No  opposition  was  made  to  the  dis- 
mission of  Cumming ;  but,  being  sensible  of  the  many  difficulties 
Pemberton  laboured  under,  they  allowed  him  a  month's  time  to 
make  a  further  trial,  and  left  him  at  liberty  then  to  remove  or 
abide,  as  he  saw  best. 

During  the  month,  even  the  gentlemen  who  were  fearful  that 
his  departure  would  endanger  the  peace  of  the  congregation  were 
satisfied  that  he  should  go ;  and,  on  the  joint  recommendation  of 
Pemberton  and  Cumming,  the  congregation  (November  19)  sentt 

*  MS.  Records  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Cong;i-egation. 

f  The  letter  was  signetl  by  Natliauiel  Hazard,  James  Jauncey,  John  Smith, 
Joseph  Forman,  and  Nathaniel  McKiuley. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  YORK.  629 

Obadiah  Wells,  to  request  and  entreat  the  Christian  and  charitable 
assistance  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Bellamy,  of  Bethlem,  Connecticut, 
in  coming  and  preaching  to  them  a  few  sermons,  and  aiding  them 
by  •his  counsel  and  advice.  "  We  know  of  no  more  powerful 
motive  we  can  oflfer  to  excite  you,  tlian  by  telling  you,  from  very 
good  accounts  we  have  from  several  worthy  ministers  among  us, 
there  is  an  undoubted  prospect  of  your  being  instrumental  in 
healing  our  breaches  and  uniting  our  congregation.  Pemberton 
and  Cumming,  also  Mr.  Vanhorn,  the  elder,  and  others,  wrote  to 
him  to  spend  a  Sabbath  with  them,  being  in  great  hopes*  that,  by 
the  blessing  of  heaven,  it  would  be  of  singular  advantage  to  the 
interest  of  religion,  and,  perhaps,  a  means  of  composing  our  dif- 
ferences."f 

Bellamy  was  born  in  1719,  in  New  Cheshire,  Connecticut, 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1735,  and  was  settled,  in  1740,  in  "  the 
east  part  of  the  North  Purchase,"  a  new  parish  set  off  from 
Woodbury,  with  the  name  of  Bethlem.  He  was  then  one-and- 
twenty ;  and,  having  observed  that,  on  the  failure  of  their  people 
to  support  them,  ministers  commonly  went  to  work,  and  were  then 
blamed  for  neglecting  their  duty,  he  declared  that  he  would  accept 
their  call  only  on  condition  that  he  might  give  himself  wholly  to 
the  sacred  office.  A  gracious  revival  blessed  the  first  years  of  his 
labour.  At  Wallingford,  also,  he  was  greatly  favoured  with  suc- 
cess. He  approved  of  Davenport's  cause  long  after  others,  like 
Edwards  and  Burr,  thought  that  "  Peter  shoul^  be  withstood  to 
the  face."  His  own  spiritual  comforts  declined,  religion  ran  low 
among  his  people,  and,  amid  desertion  and  anguish,  he  received 
such  impressions  of  the  nature,  evil,  and  mischiefs  of  false  re- 
ligion as  changed  the  whole  course  of  his  feelings,  and  moulded 
anew  his  whole  system  of  opinion.  "  The  delusions|  which  I  saw 
take  place  in  New-Light  times  have  engaged  me,  as  well  as  the 
divided  state  of  the  Christian  world  in  general,  to  devote  my 
whole  time  for  above  twenty  years  to  inquire  into  the  nature  of 
Christianity.  I  have  conversed  with  all  men  of  genius,  into  w'hose 
company  I  have  had  access,  in  New  England;  I  have  read  all 
books  I  could  come  at:  I  think  I  have  found  the  truth.     I  have 

*  Pemberton. 

■J-  Obadiah  Wells  "was  chosen  to  go  to  Bethlem,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pemberton, 
Mr.  David  Vanhorn,  elder,  and  Mr.  P.  V.  B.  Livingston,  a  trustee,  and  sundry 
other  persons  in  the  congregation.  My  orders  were  to  desire  Mr.  Bellamy  to 
come  to  New  York,  and  preach  a  few  sermons,  to  try  to  heal  our  unhappy 
divisions,  and  to  think  of  a  suitable  minister  for  us ;  only  not  to  return  without 
him  with  me.  I  had  heard  some  time  before  that  some  of  his  congregation  were 
much  inclined  to  Separatism,  and  so  dissatisfied  with  his  ministry,  that  'twas  con- 
cluded he  must  remove.  This  made  me  with  joy  engage  in  the  alfair,  hoping  the 
door  was  wide  open  to  favour  poor,  unhappy  New  York." — MS.  Letter  of  0. 
Wells. 

J  Bellamy  to  Hobart,  of  Fairfield. 


630         THE  cnuRcn  in  new  yore. 

published  my  sentiments  in  the  most  open  and  undisguised  man- 
ner," in  the  "Nature  of  True  Religion  Delineated." 

This  book,  so  celebrated,  so  widely  influential  on  the  doctrinal 
systems  and  the  views  of  experimental  religion  of  all  evangelical 
churches  in  our  land,  was  sent  by  Dr.  Erskine  to  the  venerable 
Robert  Riccaltoun,  of  Hobkirk,  to  be  "  perused  with  the  unre- 
lenting eye  of  a  critic."  "  The  book*  is  written  with  so  good  an 
intention,  such  zeal  and  warmth  for  what  he  takes  to  be  true  re- 
ligion, and  the  whole  executed  with  the  true  spirit  of  an  original 
author,  that  it  is  a  very  disagreeable  task  to  point  out  blemishes  in 
so  much  beauty. 

"There  seems  to  me  a  great  many  essential  lineaments  wanting, 
not  a  few  which  do  not  belong  to  it,  and  some  which,  I  think,  are 

directly  inconsistent  with  it It  is  Avell  known  what  influence 

the  course  of  one's  studies,  the  writings  he  has  been  most  con- 
versant Avith,  his  company,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  world 
about  him,  must  have  upon  a  writer.  Our  excellent  author  seems 
to  have  been  not  a  little  unhappy  this  way,  as  we  see  by  his  pre- 
face  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  he   appears   to  me    deeply — • 

though  I  dare  say  insensibly — tainted  with  the  evil  disease  of 
regarding  the  nature  and  fitness  of  things,  and  the  eternal  truths 
thence  arising  in  the  imagination,  as  the  only  thing  worth  a  philo- 
sopher's notice.  By  his  title,  and  the  whole  of  his  manner,  he 
seems  formed  upon  that  very  fashionable  writer,  Woolaston,  and 
his  fellows,  the  modern  philosophical  divines.  Their  fantastical, 
unmeaning  terms  —  the  nature  of  things,  moral  fitness,  the  true 
taste  or  moral  sense,  moral  beauty,  with  much  more  such  affected 
cant — run  through  the  whole  of  his  book.  He  carries  them  so  far 
as  to  prescribe  law  to  the  Almighty,  and  dictate  with  assurance 

what  he  may  do Had  he  designed  it  only  as  an  argument 

against  the  men  he  deals  with,  on  their  own  principles  and  con- 
cessions, I  should  have  been  pleased  with  it,  as  you  are  in  that 
view,  though  even  then  I  could  only  haA'e  considered  it  as  argu- 
mentum  ad  hominem ;  but  when  he  gives  it  as  a  delineation  of  the 
true  religion,  I  must  compare  it  with  the  Scripture  plan;  from 
which  I  think  it  differs  very  widely,  both  in  the  manner  of  laying 
it,  and  even  the  matter  itself. 

"  Instead  of  founding  religion,  or  the  love  of  God  and  cir 
neighbour, — as  God  himself  has  done  in  his  record, — on  the  love  of 
God  in  Christ,  and  the  plain  facts  by  which  it  is  evidenced  and  im- 
printed, he  runs  out  into  metaphysical  excursions  to  raise  and 
establish  a  sort  of  idea  of  God  and  his  essential,  and  what  he  calls 
his  moral  perfections,  (in  the  very  words  and  phrases  of  that  sort 


*  Riccaltoun  to  Erskine. 


THE   CHURCH    IN   NEW  YORK.  631 

of  men,)  abstracted  from,  and  previous  to,  any  discoveries  He  has 
made  of  himself  in  Christ." 

The  impression  made  by  his  visit  to  New  York  was  beyond  the 
most  sanguine  expectations :  the  Scots,  who  had  formed  themselves 
into  a  separate  society,  were  beyond  measure  charmed  with  him ; 
the  most  fervently  pious  were  drawn  to  him  with  the  warmest 
attachment.  The  closing  day  of  the  year  was  observed  as  a  day 
of  fasting  and  prayer  with  great  solemnity ;  and  then  a  call  was 
unanimously  made  out  for  Bellamy.  Mr.  Vanhorne  signed  the  call 
with  an  express  declaration  of  his  dissent,  and  wrote,  January  8, 
1754,  to  inform  Bellamy  that  "four  of  the  trustees,  both  of  the 
elders,  and  a  number  of  persons  of  considerable  importance  to  the 
interests  of  the  church,  are  entirely  opposed  to  the  choice,  not 
from  any  opinion  to  the  prejudice  of  your  piety  or  abilities,  both 
of  which  they  think  well  of;  but  because  there  appears  to  them 
something  very  disagreeable  in  your  delivery  and  method,  which  is 
peculiar  to  people  your  way." 

The  presbytei-y  met  on  the  9th,  concurred  in  the  call,  and  also 
WTote  to  Bellamy,  and  to  the  association  of  which  he  was  a  member, 
urging  the  call,  and  desiring  that  if  the  way  were  not  clear  for  his 
removal  at  once,  to  allow  his  spending  several  weeks  in  the  city. 
Vanhorne  wrote  again,  on  the  9th,  that  some  objected  that  "you 
don't  preach  so  free  and  generous  a  gospel  as  we  have  been  used 
to  and  is  agreeable  to  us:  you  do  not  preach  so  much  in  a  gospel 
strain  as  would  be  agreeable.  If  your  sentiments  with  regard  to 
church  communion  are  such  as  Mr.  Edwards's,  it  would  infallibly 
make  the  rent  in  our  church  much  wider,  as  the  bulk  of  our  people 
are  against  it,  and  most — I  believe  I  may  say  the  whole — of  our 
synod." 

The  Hon.  William  Smith,  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the 
church,  high  in  reputation  as  a  counsellor,  a  judge,  a  patriot,  and 
a  Christian,  wrote,  on  the  14th,  it  being  "expected  of  me  to  inform 
you  of  every  thing  necessary  to  inform  your  judgment  in  this  im- 
portant affair,  there  are  about  half  a  dozen  persons  on  whom  the 
reputation  and  support  of  this  congregation  do  depend,  who  did 
not  concur  in  the  vote, — because,  1.  One  or  two  of  them  think  that 
your  judgment  in  divinity  tends  too  much  to  Legalism ;  2.  You  are 
suspected  of  having  notions  too  strict  in  the  article  of  visible 
church  communion ;  3.  Your  discourses  here  were  not  sufficiently 
methodical,  proportionate,  and  coherent;  4.  As  to  the  art  of  de- 
livery in  a  just  modulation  of  voice  and  gesture ;  5.  You  have 
not  enough  studied  prayer  as  a  gift,  and  as  a  work  of  the  head, 
as  is  necessary  in  a  minister  who  leads  the  worship  of  a  congrega- 
tion. 

"You  will  please  also  to  reflect  as  to  your  consent  to  the  synodi- 
cal  determinations  in  the  settlement  of  our  constitution,  and  the 


632  THE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  YORK. 

method  of  worship  prescribed  in  the  Directory,  and  used  in  this 
churcli,  neither  of  which  I  tliink  can  be  altered  without  damage. 

"We  choose  you  for  our  minister  because  'tis  thought  you  are 
fui'nished  with  divine  knowledge,  natural  abilities,  aptness  to  teach, 
and  a  capacity  to  address  the  consciences  of  men,  and,  with  the 
divine  aid,  are  likely  to  promote  real  religion  among  us." 

The  Scots  Presbyterian  Society  "thought  fit,"  in  a  letter  on  the 
14th,  signed  by  Ranal  McDougal  and  William  Nicholson,  "to 
give  Bellamy  notice  that  we  all  heartily  agree  to  the  call,  and  fear 
your  refusing  may  prove  fatal  to  the  union  of  this  church." 

The  council  was  called  and  convened  at  Bethlem,  January  24. 
Nathaniel  Hazard,  Jr.,  and  Captain  James  Jauncey,  appeared  as 
commissioners  with  the  call,  and  presented  their  reasons  in  writing, 
at  length,  and  with  much  earnestness,  dwelling  on  the  union  of  all 
parties  on  him.     Bellamy  presented  his  views  in  writing : — 

"  My  people  give  me  salary  enough,  are  very  kind  to  me ;  I  love 
them,  and,  if  it  be  the  will  of  God,  I  should  love  to  live  and  die 
with  them.  There  are  many  difficulties  in  the  way  of  my  going  to 
New  York.  They  are  a  difficult  people, — don't  like  my  terms  of 
communion.  Some  of  their  great  men  are  against  my  coming :  I 
may  possibly  do  to  be  minister  out  in  the  woods,  but  am  not  fit  for 
a  city.  I  may  die  with  the  smallpox,  and  leave  a  widow  and 
fatherless  children  in  a  helpless  condition ;  my  people  will  be  in 
danger  of  ruin :  it  breaks  my  heart  to  think  the  interest  of  reli- 
gion must  sink  among  my  people,  the  youth  run  riot,  and  the  little 
children  be  left  without  an  instructor.  I  humbly  desire,  therefore, 
that  nothing  may  be  done  without  the  utmost  deliberation,  and  that, 
whatever  advice  you  may  see  fit  to  give  me,  you  would  let  me  and 
my  people  know  what  grounds  you  go  upon.  Behold,  my  life,  and 
all  the  comforts  of  my  life,  and  my  usefulness  in  the  world,  and  the 
temporal  and  eternal  interests  of  my  people,  lie  at  stake ;  and  you 
must  answer  it  to  God  if  you  should  give  me  any  wrong  advice  for 
want  of  a  thorough  and  most  solemn  and  impartial  weighing  of  the 
aflfair.     May  the  infinitely-wise  God  direct  you ! 

"I  pray  you  to  consider  me  as  one  of  your  most  unworthy  breth- 
ren, almost  overwhelmed  with  concern,  and  just  ready  to  sink 
under  the  weight  of  the  affair,  and  quite  broken-hearted  for  my 
kind  and  dear  people. 

"  The  council*  voted  it  was  my  duty  to  go  if  the  consent  of  my 
people  could  be  obtained,  and  casting  all  the  blame  upon  them. 
Upon  this  they  were,  some  of  them,  so  exercised  and  afflicted  as, 
of  their  own  accord,  to  come  to  my  house  and  take  Mr.  Hazard 
alone,  before  I  knew  it,  and  tell  him,  'We  have  done  wrong:  let 
your  people  make  another  application,  and  you  will  obtain  your 

*  Eellamy  to  Buit. 


THE   CHURCH   IN  NEW  YORK.  633 

end.'  Mr.  Hazard,  on  liis  return,  telling  this  to  Mr.  Graham, 
stirred  him  up  to  write  to  New  York  and  encourage  a  second  at- 
tempt."    The  call  was  at  once  renewed. 

His  friends  in  New  York,  "  although*  he  had  discouraged  and 
disheartened  them  more  than  all  his  people  together,  were  per- 
suaded that  the  Lord  would  convince  him  and  them  that  it  was  his 
indispensable  duty  to  come.  Mr.  Lawyer  Smith  says,  he  will 
undertake  to  answer  all  your  people's  objections,  if  they  have  any 
real  regard  to  the  interest  of  relif'ion.  The  Rev.  President  Burr 
is  sent  for  over  to  us,  that  every  reasonable  objection  arisnig  out 
of  difficulties  among  ourselves  may  be  removed.  The  Moravians, 
1  imagine,  boast  and  glory  from  their  numbers  increasing  from  our 
church.  The  Baptists  have  been  preaching  here  also  last  week, 
February  4." 

The  venerable  Tennent,  of  Freehold,  wrote,  February  20,  to 
urge  his  considering  the  matter  anew,  "principally  because  by 
accepting  the  call  you  will,  under  God,  save  from  utter  destruction 
a  very  large  and  once  flourishing  congregation.  The  call  is  vastly 
more  unanimous  than  it  would  have  been,  without  a  special  inter- 
.position  of  Providence,  to  any  one  living,  such  is  their  rent  state. 
And,  I  may  add,  it  is  the  earnest  desire  of  our  ministers."  Robert 
Smith,  of  Pequea,  also  addressed  him ;  and  two  of  the  elders  of 
the  Second  Church,  Philadelphia, — David  Chambers  and  Samuel 
Hazard, — applied  themselves  to  secure  the  influence  of  Graham, 
of  Southbury,  in  favour  of  poor  New  Y'ork. 

The  presbytery  met  on  the  27th  of  February,  and  concurred 
with  the  congregation  in  renewing  the  call :  they  wrote  to  Bellamy, 
and  also  to  Graham,  and  also  to  the  Eastern  Association  of  Fair- 
field county,  to  join  with  the  Association  of  Litchfield  county  in 
advising  about  his  removal.  "The  eyes  of  that  society  are  in- 
tently fixed  upon  him,  as  the  only  person  that  is  likely  to  unite 
them;  and  scarce  any  appear  against  his  coming." 

Edwards,  who  had  attended  the  council,  was  urged  by  Bellamy 
to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  Consociation:  he  wrote  from  Stock- 
bridge,  February  28,  1754,  "'Tis  wholly  needless  that  I  should 
come  again  on  the  afiair  of  your  going  to  New  York,  and  alto- 
gether improper,  as  I  suppose  now  the  affair  will  properly  be  re- 
ferred to  the  Association  or  Consociation.  And,  besides,  I  think  I 
can  do  more  good  by  writing  than  by  coming.  I  wish  you  had 
been  a  little  more  particular  in  your  information.  I  desire  you 
would  write  to  me  again  as  soon  as  possible.  I  have  a  mind  to 
write  a  letter  to  the  moderator  of  your  Association.  But  only  I 
want  to  know  much  more  about  the  matter,  that  I  may  know  the 
better  how  to  write.     Please  to  inform  me  whether  Lawyer  Smith 

*  N.  Hazard. 


•634  THE  cnuRcn  in  new  york. 

has  received  my  letter,  and  what  he  writes  to  you;  and  what  has 
been  done  at  New  York  and  at  the  presbytery,  and  what,  and  after 
what  manner,  application  has  been  made  in  that  aflfair,  and  what  is 
going  to  be  done  further.  Probably,  I  shall  have  a  mind  to  write 
to  some  others,  besides  ministers,  about  this  affair.  Therefore  I 
desire  you  to  be  particular,  and  full,  and  speedy  in  your  writing  to 
me.  Particularly  inform  me  when  the  Association  meets  on  this 
affair."* 

Mr.  Obadiah  Wells  wrote  from  New  York,  February  28,  "  Things 
here,  to  appearance,  ripen  apace  for  so  desirable  an  event,  [as  ob- 
taining you  for  our  pastor,]  and  much  beyond  what  I  ever  expected. 
William  Smith,  Esq.,  is  most  sincerely  engaged  in  it  beyond  all 
doubt,  and  has,  by  his  indefatigable  labours,  made  true  proselytes 
of  Messrs.  William  Livingston,  Morine  Scott,  Whitehead  Hicks, 
and  his  own  son  William,  who  are  all  gentlemen  of  the  law,  and 
all  now  very  desirous  to  have  Mr.  Bellamy.  Also  Mr.  William 
P(eartree)  S(mith)  is  much  altered,  as  I  am  informed,  and  Mr.  P.  V. 
B.  Livingston.  As  to  Elder  Vanhorne,  he  seems  to  be  the  only 
obstinate  person  that  I  know  of;  Moravianism  has,  to  a  deplor- 
able degree,  infatuated  that  poor  unhappy  gentleman.  Our  trus- 
tees have  voted  two  hundred  pounds  per  annum,  salary,  and  a  sub- 
scription is  going  about  for  fifty  pounds  more  for  four  years :  in 
that  time  our  church  will  be  out  of  debt,  and  then  'twill  no  doubt 
be  able  to  do  it  all  without  a  subscription.  'Tis  my  opinion  that 
such  a  salary,  with  the  perquisites,  will  make  a  handsome  living  for 
a  family  like  yours.  Neither  are  our  people  unmindful  of  doing 
something,  by  way  of  remittance,  to  the  good  people  of  Bethlem,  in 
regard  to  their  settlement." 

Bellamy  noted  at  the  bottom,  "But  what  if  the  trustees  won't 
vote  it  [X50]  at  the  end  of  foui-  years  ?  they  won't  be  so  likely  to 
do  it  then  as  now. 

"  N.B. — Nothing  is  said  of  their  voting  my  terms  of  admission 
into  their  church." 

The  Rev.  John  Graham,  moderator  of  the  Fairfield  Association, 
had  written  to  Lawyer  Smith,  January  24,  and,  on  his  reply  of 
February  19,  he  "wrote  the  best  apology  for  the  state  of  his 
church  and  congregation  which  he  could,  consistent  with  truth." 
On  the  13th  of  March,  he  wrote  again  that  the  state  of  affairs  was 
such  that  "  I  cannot  but  hope  the  ministers  of  Litchfield  Associa- 
tion will  most  readily  advise  his  accepting  the  call.  All  difficulties 
with  regard  to  a  suitable  provision  for  his  maintenance  are  entirely 
removed,  the  salary  fixed  on  the  public  revenues  of  the  congre- 

*  "If  it  should  rcfilly  so  come  to  pass  that  you  should  remove  to  New  York,  my 
•wife  desires  to  buy  your  negro  woman,  as  she  supposes  she  will  do  better  for  the 
country  than  the  city.  She  will  probably  come  along  through  youi-  place  some  time 
in  April,  when  she  will  talk  with  you  about  it." 


THE   CHURCH   IN   NEW  YORK.  635 

gation,  and  an  addition  thereto  by  private  subscription.  As  to  the 
few  votes  that  did  not  concur  at  the  first,  they  are  almost  to  a  man 
efiectually  gained.  The  rest,  being  two  or  three,  I  do  not  despair 
of.  Not  one  man  among  us  will  make  any  faction  or  disturbance; 
and  there  is  the  greatest  prospect  of  the  most  unanimous  approba- 
tion of  Mr.  Bellamy  as  our  minister,  of  any  man  that  I  know  of  in 
America." 

Mr.  Smith  also  drew  a  long  and  very  able  and  pathetic  appeal 
to  the  church  of  Christ  in  Bethlem:  it  is  dated  March  15,  and 
was  signed  by  John  Stephens  and  William  Eagles,  deacons,  in  be- 
half of  the  whole  Presbyterian  Church  at  New  York,  and  by  Cap- 
tain Jeremiah  Owen,  eldest  trustee  of  the  congregation.  "This 
congregation,  fi'om  the  smallest  beginnings  in  1715,  through  strug- 
gles and  difficulties,  has  at  length,  though  very  lately,  become  the 
most  important  church  in  this  Province,  with  regard  not  only  to  the 
general  interest  of  religion  among  those  of  the  Presbyterian  de- 
nomination, but  also  as  to  the  political  influence  it  has  in  the  safety 
and  protection  of  all  its  sister  churches. 

"  Were  we  not  fully  persuaded  that  God  has  chosen  Mr.  Bellamy 
for  the  ministry  of  this  church,  we  durst  not  desire  your  consent 
to  his  removal." 

Bostwick  wrote  to  Bellamy  on  the  same  day.  Ill  health  had 
prevented  him  from  attending  the  presbyteries;  yet  "my  concern 
for  the  interest  of  religion  in  that  congregation  will  not  permit  me 
to  be  inactive.  That  Providence  opens  the  way  for  your  labour 
there  is  exceeding  evident,  from  the  unanimous  and  persevering 
importunity  of  the  people:  in  this  the  hand  of  God  is  evidently 
seen.  The  case  of  New  York  is  really  necessitous  and  distressing, 
and  if  they  fail  in  this  attempt  there  is  the  utmost  danger  of  their 
coming  to  ruin." 

Mr.  John  Smith,  the  early  friend  of  Edwards,  wrote  in  the 
same  strain:  "they  will  scarcely  unite  on  any  other  minister,  and 
will  dwindle  away  to  nothing.  If  you  can't  see  it  your  duty  to 
God  to  come  among  us,  we  are  a  gone  people,  our  congregation 
is  undone,  and  religion  is  ruined, — they  are  in  general  so  fixed  on 
your  coming." 

Among  the  many  letters  of  invitation  sent  to  Bellamy  was  "  a 
plain  one,"  dated  March  18,  from  John  Robinson,  the  collector  of 
the  pew-rents : — "  I  am  daily  conversant  among  the  whole  con- 
gregation :  they  are  all  impatiently  expecting  your  coming.  We 
keep  together,  though  with  many  silent  Sabbaths.  As  to  the 
few  objections,  they  told  me  their  scruples  hinged  on  the  shortness 
of  the  tryal  of  you.  I  pray  God  may  direct  your  way  to  us 
speedily.  Gen.  xxiv.  49  and  58." 

Bellamy  had  well  considered  the  whole  matter,  and  had  drawn 
up  a  little  book  of  "  Objections :" — 


rC36  THE    CHURCH    IN   NEW  YORK. 

"  1.  As  to  my  worldly  support.  It  will  take  three  hundred 
pounds  per  annum  to  maintain  a  minister  with  any  consideralde 
family;  but  I  must  have  at  least  eight  at  my  removal,  which,  in  a 
•few  years,  may  probably  increase  to  twelve  or  fourteen.  But  at 
New  York  they  have  not  been  used  to  give  their  ministers  half  so 
much  as  three  hundred  pounds ;  and,  if  they  are  persuaded  to  it,  it 
is  to  be  feared  that  there  will  afterwards  be  murmuring  and  dis- 
content among  the  people,  which  would  render  my  life  miserable, 
and  destroy  my  usefulness.  Their  way  of  maintaining  ministers  by 
subscription,  I  am  told  by  those  I  may  fully  credit,  is  uncertain, 
and  not  safe  for  a  minister  to  depend  upon;  whereas,  there  is  no 
uncertainty  attending  our  way  in  these  parts.  My  people  give 
me  salary  enougli,  and  are  willing  to  pay  it,  whereby  I  am  under 
advantages  to  attend  quietly  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  run 
no  risk. 

"  2.  My  removal  to  New  York  must  be  attended  with  great 
charges.  I  must  resign  my  house  and  farm  for  the  use  of  the 
next  minister  for  a  number  of  years,  or  pay  my  people  eight  hun- 
dred pounds.  Old  Tenor,  upon  account  of  the  settlement  I  formerly 
received  of  them. 

"  It  will  cost  at  least  two  hundred  pounds,  York  money,  to  re- 
move my  family,  and  furnish  a  house  at  New  York,  in  order  only 
to  make  as  decent  an  appearance  as  we  do  now  here.  We  have 
every  thing  decent  for  a  country  minister  already.  It  is  not 
reasonable  that  I  should  be  at  this  extraordinary  expense  out  of 
my  own  estate,  since  it  would  be  altogether  not  for  my  own,  but 
for  their  sakes.  And  can  it  be  supposed  they  will  cheerfully  be 
at  so  much  cost  and  trouble,  when  it  would  be  so  much  cheaper 
and  easier  to  get  a  young,  unsettled  man  ? 

"  3.  The  only  profession  of  faith  required  among  them,  in 
order  to  an  admittance  to  special  privileges,  is  in  these  words : — 
'  You  do  declare  your  unfeigned  assent  unto  the  articles  of  the 
,.  Christian  faith,  as  they  are  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the 
\  Old  and  New  Testaments ;' — but  the  ancient  Pelagians,  Socinians, 
\  .and  all  other  heretics,  would  make  this  profession,  and  might, 
therefore,  be  admitted  to  special  ordinances  upon  this  plan,  and 
could  never  consistently  be  excommunicated,  which  would  be 
directly  contrary,  I  think,  to  the  express  words  of  Scripture, 
(Tit.  iii.  10,)  and  also  to  the  sense  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 
Although  what  we  judge  to  be  orthodox,  in  every  minute  circum- 
stance, may  not  be  necessary  to  be  professed  in  order  to  enjoy 
church  privileges,  yet  I  am  of  opinion  that,  as  to  the  main  and 
more  essential  principles  of  the  Christian  faith,  they  ought  to  be 
explicitly  professed  and  assented  to;  otherwise,  I  cannot  so  much 
as  guess  what  a  man's  principles  are  by  the  public  'profession  he 
makes. 


THE    CHURCH   IN  NEW  YORK.  637 

"  4.  As  to  the  covenant  in  use  at  the  administration  of  baptism, 
I  perfectly  approve  of  it :  only  there  is  one  alteration  I  should 
insist  upon, — viz. :  instead  of,  '  You  are  desired  to  give  up  your- 
self, and  this  your  child,  to  God,'  thus:  'You  do  now  give  up 
yourself,  and  this  your  child,  to  God;'  because,  otherwise,  they 
don't  so  much  as  profess  to  do  the  very  thing  which  gives  right  to 
baptism,  and  which  the  very  form  itself  supposes  to  be  necessary; 
for  why  should  they  be  so  much  as  desired  to  give  themselves  and 
their  child  to  God  if  their  doing  so  were  not  at  all  needful  to  its 
being  regularly  baptized? 

"  5.  My  people  are,  and  have  been  ever  since  my  settlement 
among  them,  remarkably  satisfied  with  my  ministry,  ready  to 
support  me,  ready  to  receive  instructions  and  reproofs ;  and  my 
ministry  has  been  blessed  among  them,  which  has  increased  a 
mutual  endearment  among  us :  by  all  which  I  am  under  great  ad- 
vantages to  do  good  among  them.  Nor  could  they  easily,  if  pos- 
sibly, be  brought  to  be  willing  to  part  with  me ;  and,  if  I  should 
leave  them,  they  would  be  in  very  great  danger  of  ruin,  for  it 
would  be  extremely  difficult  to  find  a  man  that  would  unite 
them." 

The  substance  of  these  objections  he  had  communicated  to  the 
congregation  of  New  York,  in  a  letter  concluding  thus : — 

"  Gentlemen  : — I  am  heartily  concerned  for  the  welfare  of 
your  congregation,  and  am  willing  to  do  any  thing  that  is  my 
duty  to  promote  your  prosperity.  But  these  difficulties,  which 
have  been  mentioned,  are  real,  and  of  great  weight ;  and,  besides 
all  that  has  been  said,  I  and  my  family  must  run  the  venture  of 
our  lives  the  first  time  the  smallpox  comes  into  the  city. 

"It  is  the  part  of  a  wise  man  to  sit  down  and  count  the  cost: 
it  becomes  a  prudent  man  to  foresee  the  evil.  It  will  doubtless 
become  your  congregation  and  church,  and  the  presbytery,  to 
weigh  these  things  thoroughly,  and,  perhaps,  hereby  all  parties 
concerned  will  be  satisfied  that  it  will  not  be  best  to  make  any 
further  attempts  for  my  removal." 

To  the  Consociation  he  said,  that,  after  his  representations  of 
the  difficulties,  "  the  congregation  are  still  resolute,  pleading  they 
are  undone  if  they  fail  of  success.  Now,  what  I  have  to  offer  is 
as  follows : — 

"  1.  I  cannot  apprehend  it  to  be  right  to  remove  a  minister 
from  a  people,  where  both  are  well  agreed,  unless  in  cases  of 
special  necessity ;  nor  (2.)  can  I  think  a  minister  is  obliged  to  part 
with  all  the  delights  of  a  peaceable  and  quiet  life,  to  be  put  at  the 
head  of  a  congregation  attended  with  so  many  difficulties,  unless 
there  be  a  rational  prospect  of  doing  so  much  good  to  souls,  and 
to  the  interest  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  as  makes  it  a  duty  to 
practise  all  the  self-denial  the  case  calls  for ;    nor  (3.)  can  I  be 


688  THE    CHURCH   IN   NEW  YORK. 

willing  to  go  myself,  and  take  my  family,  into  the  way  of  the 
smallpox,  as  in  the  present  case,  unless  the  affair  be  so  circum- 
stanced that  the  interest  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  makes  it  ray 
duty. 

"  I  am  sensible  that  the  people  of  New  York  plead  that  a  great 
congregation  lies  at  stake,  and,  if  they  are  ruined  through  my 
backwardness  to  go,  are  ready  to  say  I  must  answer  for  it;  and 
ministers  in  those  parts,  by  letters,  urge  and  press  it  upon  my 
conscience  in  the  most  solemn  and  affectionate  manner,  as  matter 
of  indispensable  duty.  To  all  which  I  reply,  if  it  does  appear  to 
be  my  indispensable  duty  to  remove,  there  is  no  more  to  be  said. 
'  The  will  of  the  Lord  be  done!'  I  ought  to  go,  all  selfish  con- 
siderations to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  This  is  the  point  to 
be  judged  ;  but,  I  conceive,  it  cannot  be  made  out  to  be  my  duty  to 
remove,  unless  it  can  be  made  to  appear: — 1.  That  some  settled 
minister  should  be  removed  to  supply  New  York.  2.  That  no 
other  can  answer  as  well,  or  better,  or  be  removed  with  as  little  or 
less  difficulty.  3.  That  there  is  a  prevailing  probability  that  my 
removal  would,  all  things  being  considered,  do  more  good  and  pre- 
vent more  harm  there,  than  it  will  occasion  here." 

The  church  of  Bethlem  met  on  the  25th,  and  voted,  that  the 
Deacon  Hezekiah  Hooker,  Esq.,  Jabez  Whittlesey,  and  Samuel 
Strong,  with  Captain  Josiah  Averett  and  Mr.  Samuel  Slater,  be  a 
committee  to  represent  the  church  before  the  Consociation.  On 
the  26th,  the  New  York  Pleas  were  heard ;  and  the  church  com- 
mittee asked  for  a  copy,  and  to  have  the  affair  adjourned,  that 
they  might  answer,  in  writing,  in  due  time.  Their  answer  was, 
the  reiteration  of  Bellamy's  four  points : — that  the  burden  lay  on 
the  New  York  commissioners  to  prove  that  it  is  right  to  remove  a 
settled  minister  against  his  own  wish  and  that  of  his  people ;  that 
it  is  necessary  some  settled  minister  should  be  removed  to  New 
Y^ork ;  that  it  is  necessary  that  Mr.  Bellamy  be  that  man,  and 
that  he  is  likely  to  do  more  good  there  than  here.  The  church 
voted,  by  a  full  majority,  on  the  26th,  that  Mr.  Bellamy  should  not 
remove  to  New  York. 

Mr.  Slater  presented  his  reasons.  The  Bible  says  nothing  of 
removing  ministers.  We  look  upon  it  that  he  is  the  gift  of  God  to 
us,  and  that  it  is  of  the  Lord's  mercy  we  have  such  a  teacher,  and 
that  we  should  pray  he  would  continue  him  to  us.  But  if  he  is 
removed,  a  door  will  be  flung  open  for  poor  mortals  to  speak  evil 
of  the  ways  of  God,  and  of  our  religion ;  and  we  may  lament, 
and  say,  as  Moses  did,  "  Lord,  what  will  become  of  thy  great 
name?" 

The  Consociation  adjourned,  and  advised  Bellamy  to  visit  New 
York  before  they  met  in  May.  He  accordingly  came  there  early 
in  April,  and  remained  six  Sabbaths.     On  Monday,  April  8,  Mr. 


THE    CHURCH   IN  NEW  YORK.  639 

Obadiali  Wells  wrote  to  him,  that  a  club  of  deists  had  heard  his 
forenoon  sermon  the  day  before ;  and  that  one  of  them,  in  a  very 
engaged  manner,  in  their  meeting  in  the  evening,  told  them  it  was 
the  last  time  he  should  meet  with  them,  as  he  was  fully  convinced 
of  their  madness  and  folly,  and  that  he  would  hereafter  seek  for 
amendment  of  life.  He  added,  that  "  another  prayerless  person 
came  yesterday  to  a  conclusion  to  set  up  the  worship  of  God  in 
his  family.  These  things  give  me  great  hopes  that  God  is  about 
to  do  glorious  things  for  poor  New  York  through  you." 

But,  on  leaving,  Bellamy  informed  the  elders  and  deacons,  that 
it  was  plain  that  at  least  ten  families  were  opposed  to  his  settle- 
ment, and  that  he  should  think  it  his  duty  to  declare  to  the 
council,  that  he  did  not  think,  as  things  stand,  it  would  be  for  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  interest  of  religion  for  him  to  be  removed. 
He  besought  them  to  make  no  further  attempt.  But  a  new  aspect 
was  placed  on  the  affair  by  the  following  paper  from  the  Scots 
Presbyterian  Society: — 

"  To  the  Elders  and  Deacons  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  to 
the  Trustees  of  the  Congregation,  ^c. 

"  Gentlemen  : — 

"  There  are  many  considerations  which  make  us  very  desirous 
that  all  matters  of  uneasiness  may  be  removed,  and  a  solid  and 
lasting  peace  be  established  in  the  congregation,  and  that  Avithout 
delay.  Indeed,  it  was  proposed  to  omit  saying  any  thing  about 
these  affairs  until  all  things  were  ripe  for  the  settlement  of  a 
minister,  and  then  to  refer  all  to  a  presbytery  or  synod ;  but, 
nevertheless,  if  our  difficulties  can  be  settled  amongst  ourselves,  it 
will  undoubtedly  be  most  for  the  real  satisfaction  of  the  con- 
gregation, and  lay  the  most  solid  foundation  for  a  lasting  peace, 
as  well  as  tend  to  encourage  a  minister  to  settle  among  us.  We 
would,  therefore,  in  behalf  of  ourselves  and  our  adherents,  humbly 
propose  the  following  scheme  of  accommodation  with  relation  to 
the  Psalms,  the  Confession  of  Faith,  and  the  trusteeship,  about 
each  of  which  there  has  been  so  much  uneasiness  and  contro- 
versy : — 

"  1st.  As  to  the  Psalms,  notwithstanding  we  are  as  much  at- 
tached to  our  old  Psalms  as  ever  we  were,  yet,  for  peace'  sake,  we 
will  resign  the  point,  and  say  no  more. 

"  2dly.  As  to  the  Westminster  Confession  and  Catechism 
adopted  by  this  church,  we  request  no  more  than  that  the  minister 
and  ruling  elders  admit  none  to  sealing  ordinances  but  those  who 
are  qualified  as  said  Confession  and  Catechisms  teach  they  ought 
to  be,  and  that  said  Confession  and  Catechisms  be  recommended  at 
the  baptism  of  children,  agreeable  to  the  practice  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland. 


640  THE  CnURCH  IN  NEW  YORK. 

"  3<lly.  As  to  the  trustcosliip,  we  consent  that  it  remain  as  at 
present ;  and  at  the  expiration  of  three  years  from  the  first  day 
of  January,  A.D.  1755, — by  which  time,  it  is  supposed,  the  present 
debts  of  the  congregation  will  be  paid, — we  only  request  that,  from 
that  time  and  forward,  two  new  trustees  may  be  annuall^^  chosen 
by  the  congregation ;  and  that  such  men  may  be  chosen  as  are 
known  to  be  wise,  able,  and  faithful  men,  hearty  friends  to  the 
religious  as  well  as  the  temporal  welfare  of  the  congregation. 
And  on  this  foot  we  consent  that  the  trusteeship  should  continue, 
and  be  established  forever;  or  if,  in  time  to  come,  any  incon- 
veniences should  arise  which  we  do  not  now  foresee,  we  desire 
nothing  further  than  peaceably  to  refer  all  to  the  presbytery  and 
synod. 

"And,  to  conclude:  As  we  hope  all  our  controversies  are  at  an 
end,  we  desire  to  forgive,  and  be  forgiven,  as  to  what  is  past ;  to 
be  at  peace,  and  to  live  at  peace,  and  seek  the  peace  and  pros- 
perity of  our  church,  and  to  do  all  that  in  us  lies  to  encourage  the 
speedy  settlement  of  a  minister  among  us.  The  above  we  sub- 
scribe, with  this  condition : — that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Joseph  Bellamy  be 
our  minister. 

"  We  are,  in  behalf  of  our  society,  gentlemen,  your  very 
humble  servants, 

"  Jonas  Wright,  Jacob  Reijker,  Ronald  McDougald,  Peter 
Clark,  Robert  Gulleland,  Alexander  McDougald,  Duncan  Camp- 
bell, Robert  McAlpine,  William  McKinley,  Alexander  Wiley, 
William  Nicholson,  John  Durham,  Samuel  Lowden. 

"We  shall  be  satisfied  if  the  following  form  be  used  in  Bap- 
tism : — 

"Baptism  is  a  seal  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  and  is  to  be  ad- 
ministered to  such  as  profess  their  faith  in  Christ,  and  their  obedi- 
ence to  him,  and  to  their  children.  You  are  now  come  to  present 
yourselves  before  the  Lord,  to  dedicate  your  child  to  God  in  bap- 
tism, according  to  divine  appointment. 

"You  believe  the  articles  of  the  Christian  faith  as  they  are  con- 
tained in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  a  sum- 
mary whereof  we  have  in  the  excellent  Confession  and  Catechisms 
which  are  adopted  by  this  church,  and  you  do  now  give  up  your- 
self and  this  child  to  the  Lord,  to  be  justified  by  the  righteousness 
of  Christ,  and  to  be  sanctified  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  you  pro- 
mise that  if  this  child  live  to  years  of  discretion,  you  will  bring  it 
up  in  the  knowledge  of  the  true  religion  you  have  now  professed, 
and  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  and  like  pious 
David  you  will  bless  your  household,  will  pray  with  and  for  your 
family,  and,  with  good  Joshua,  you  resolve  that,  as  for  you  and  your 
house,  you  will  serve  the  Lord. 


THE   CHURCH   IN  NEW  YORK.  '6'41 

"These  things,  bj  the  grace  of  God,  you  promise  to  perform. 
The  vows  of  the  Lord  are  upon  you :  the  Lord  make  you  and  us 
mindful  of  our  sacred  engagements." 

To  all  this  the  elders  and  trustees  agreed  on  the  27th  of  April, 
with  this  further: — "that  if  the  debts  of  the  church  and  congrega- 
tion are  not  paid  at  the  time  any  two  trustees  shall  go  out  of  office, 
the  two  succeeding  trustees  shall  indemnify  and  save  them  harm- 
less from  all  personal  engagements  that  they  are  under  for  or  on 
account  of  the  debts  of  the  church  and  congregation." 

Bellamy  again  addressed  to  the  church  and  congregation  a  dis- 
suasive from  further  attempts : — "Perhaps  there  is  scarcely  a  minis- 
ter in  New  England  under  more  happy  circumstances  than  I  am  in 
my  present  situation ;  and  perhaps  there  would  scarcely  a  minister 
in  North  America  be  under  more  difficult  circumstances  than  I 
would  be  at  the  head  of  your  congregation.  Nothing,  therefore,  can 
make  me  think  it  my  duty  to  remove,  unless  it  be  the  most  urgent 
necessity ;  and  nothing  can  convince  me  of  such  a  necessity  but 
your  actually  making  the  most  thorough  trial  elsewhere." 

By  the  advice  of  Burr,  they  persisted:  he  wrote  to  Bellamy, 
May  14,  "  'Tis  my  advice  that  the  matter  be  prosecuted.  The  fer- 
ment the  congregation  are  now  in,  makes  it  appear  more  necessary 
that  their  case  should  be  represented  in  the  best  manner,  and  I  am 
persuaded  Messrs.  Tennent  and  Spencer  will  do  it  thoroughly. 
The  matter  lies  before  the  Consociation :  their  voice,  therefore,  I 
hope,  will  be  the  voice  of  God.  If  you  entertain  the  least  jealousy 
of  the  want  of  a  cordial  brotherly  affection  from  me,  you  greatly 
WTong  me,  or  that  I  should  not  be  highly  pleased  with  having  you 
for  a  neighbour.  There  being  a  little  appearance  of  this  in  your 
manner  of  writing  makes  me  say  this  much.  I  shall  not  cease  to 
love  you  and  pray  for  you,  that  God  would  make  your  duty  plain 
before  you.  'Tis  best,  in  my  opinion,  you  should  Avait  the  result  of 
the  Consociation.  While  I  am  persuaded  that  the  messengers 
from  the  presbytery  will  do  their  utmost  to  gain  it  in  favour  of 
New  York,  I  would  satisfy  you,  if  I  had  a  few  hours  with  you,  that 
you  have  no  cause  of  discouragement  from  the  conduct  of  the  pres- 
bytery." 

Mr.  Thomas  Grant — probably  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  sepa- 
rate meeting  in  Anderson's  day — sent  his  hearty  concurrence  in  the 
call,  especially  because  "your  endeavours  in  this  short  time,  with 
the  blessing  of  God,  visibly  appeared  to  increase  this  congregation, 
not  only  in  numbers,  but  in  true,  sincere  piety.  Scripture,  as  well 
as  reason,  tells  us  '  that  no  man  lighteth  a  candle  and  putteth  it 
under  a  bushel ;'  and,  without  flattery,  your  Association  act  the 
same  in  confining  you  to  that  obscure  place,  when  your  labour  and 
light  are  so  much  wanted  here.  It  is  true  you  have  some  opposition, 
but  it  is  a  very  inconsiderable  number  to  your  friends ;  yet  they 

41 


642  THE   CHURCH   IN   NEW  YORK. 

are  gentlemen  of  estates  and  politeness  who  have  been  great  hone- 
factors  to  the  church.  I  think  it  unreasonable  they  won't  comply 
with  the  majority,  Avhcn  they  concurred  with  the  presbytery  that 
the  call  of  a  minister  should  be  by  vote,  which  was  by  such  great 
odds  in  your  favour.  I  am  in  hopes  that  when  your  residence  is 
determined  among  us,  they  will  abate  their  unreasonable  prejudice, 
and  am  of  opinion  that  in  adversity  they  Avould  be  your  dearest 
friends.  I  believe  if  you  had  never  preached  or  been  known  in 
this  place,  one  of  our  synod  might  have  done;  but  you  have  so 
deeply  engaged  the  affections  of  the  congregation,  that  they  will 
not  hear  of  the  call  of  any  other." 

The  Consociation  met,  May  24;  Mr.  Hazard  and  Captain  James 
Jauncey  being  commissioners,  and  Spencer  and  Tennent,  of  Free- 
hold, appearing  on  behalf  of  the  presbytery.  A  letter  was  pre- 
sented from  the  llev.  James  Brown,  of  Bridgehampton,  Long 
Island,  pressing  their  consent  to  his  removal ;  and  another  from 
Samuel  Finley,  arguing  the  most  exposed  post  requires  the  ablest 
man  for  its  defence.  He  also  wrote  to  the  congregation,  answer- 
ing the  four  points  concerning  the  removal  of  settled  ministers. 
These  are  both  full  of  excellent  sense,  and  of  great  weight.  "  That 
pious  Enoch,"  Davenport,  wrote  also  to  the  Consociation:  the  frag- 
ment begins  thus : — 

"  The  whole  visible  church  may  be  justly  conceived  with  weep- 
ing eyes,  and  in  great  distress,  stretching  out  her  hands  to  you, 
while  New  York  is  entreating ;  New  York,  I  say,  which  appears  to 
be  in  threatening  danger  of  being  awfully  broken,  if  not  ruined,  if 
Mr.  Bellamy  don't  settle  there;  and,  oh,  what  a  blow  would  this  be 
at  the  whole  church ! 

"  Dear  ministers  of  that  Christ  who  purchased  the  church  with 
his  most  precious  blood,  sets  her  as  a  seal  on  his  heart  and  on  his 
arm,  and  will  at  last  raise  her  to  eternal  glory,  can  you,  oh,  can 
you  refuse  to  hear  the  cries  of  this  same  church  in  agonies  on  this 
occasion  ?  And  oh,  if  you  do  hear,  how  may  you  find  through  grace 
unspeakably  more  comfort  and  satisfaction  in  this  exercise  of  self- 
denial  than  in  all  self-gratifications  put  together,  and  have  the 
blessing  of  many  souls  ready  to  perish  coming  upon  you ! 

"  I  humbly  submit  these  considerations  to  your  impartial  and 
deliberate  judgment.  May  the  great  and  glorious  Head  and  King 
of  the  church  favour  you  at  all  times,  and  especially  your  present 
convention,  with  his  gracious  direction,  presence,  and  blessing  ! 
and  may  you  be  led  to  such  a  conclusion  in  this  important  affair  as 
shall  be  most  agreeable  to  the  divine  word  and  will,  as  shall  justly 
afi'ord  you  the  most  peaceful  reflections  all  your  days,  and  on  a 
dying  bed,  as  shall  be  approved  and  applauded  by  the  great 
Judge,  and  as  shall  be  rewarded  with  a  crown  of  glory  that  fadeth 
not  away ! 


THE   CHUKCH   IN   NEW  YORK.  643 

"Permit  me  now  to  take  leave,  humbly  and  earnestly  begging  an 
interest  in  the  secret  prayers  of  you  all  for  your  most  unworthy 
but  affectionate  brother  and  fellow-servant." 

The  Hon.  William  Smith  also  wrote,  "We  have  had  the  pleasure 
to  observe  that  Mr.  Bellamy's  interest  in  the  affection  and  esteem 
of  this  people  is,  by  this  second  intei'view,  greatly  increased,  and 
the  prospects  of  his  usefulness  surprisingly  enlarged.  Om-  congre- 
gation has  regained  its  flourishing  appearance,  and  is  at  present 
generally  more  numerous  than  in  times  of  its  former  prosperity. 
The  very  opposition  itself  has  changed  its  nature,  and,  instead  of 
being  a  bar  in  Mr.  Bellamy's  way,  is  now  a  very  strong  motive  to 
his  acceptance  of  our  call.  The  springs  of  that  small  non-concur- 
rence with  the  vote  of  this  congregation  were  for  some  time  hid 
from  me  by  my  belief  of  public  professions,  but  at  length  are 
clearly  discovered  (as  to  some  persons)  from  a  favour  to  a  modern 
scheme  in  divinity,  to  which  Mr.  Bellamy's  principles  are  entirely 
opposite;  which  scheme,  if  it  should  prevail  among  us,  would 
utterly  ruin  this  church,  to  prevent  which  Mr.  Bellamy's  gifts  in 
establishing  truth  and  confuting  error  are  now  more  apparently 
Beedful  than  ever." 

Bellamy  informed  Mr.  Smith  of  the  decision  of  the  Consociation, 
May  25: — "I  represented  your  case  as  it  was,  and  declared  that, 
were  I  an  unsettled  man,  I  would,  notwithstanding  all  the  difiicul- 
ties  in  the  way,  accept  your  call,  and  submitted  to  the  council  to 
decide  whether  it  was  right  I  should  be  removed:  they  judged  it 
was  not.  Indeed,  Mr.  Tennent  urged  me  to  declare  absolutely  that 
it  was  a  duty  for  me  to  remove ;  but  I  apprehended  that  the  council 
were  the  proper  judges  of  that  point,  not  I;  nor  would  such  a 
declaration  have  carried  a  vote  in  the  council,  without  the  consent 
of  my  people  too." 

And  now  the  devout  and  honourable  women,  of  whom  there 
were  not  a  few,  made  their  appeal  to  Bellamy.  Miss  Nancy 
Smith  wrote,  June  2,  "I  mourn  under  the  stroke,  and  pray  that 
God  may  not  send  leanness  into  your  soul.  I  think  you  have  not 
obeyed  the  voice  of  the  Lord.  I  love  you,  and  shall  ever  pray 
that  you  may  be  a  great  blessing  to  the  church  of  Christ ;  but  I 
fear  for  you,  that  like  Jonah  you  have  disobeyed  the  word  of  the 
Lord.  As  for  myself,  (I  would  speak  it  to  the  praise  of  sovereign 
and  glorious  grace,)  I  have  been  supported,  and,  after  the  melan- 
choly tidings,  enabled  to  rejoice  in  God's  government;  but  how 
short-lived  are  my  comforts  !  I  feel  a  very  distressing  sense  of  the 
Lord's  hand:  all  looks  like  judgment.  I  mourn  for  sinners:  the 
fields  were  white  unto  harvest,  and  all,  alas !  is  blasted,  through  Mr. 
Bellamy's  reservedness.  Have  you  not  reason  to  fear  your  Master 
will  resent  it,  and  make  you  and  your  people  a  rod  to  each  other? 
I  know  it's  hard  for  your  people ;  but  let  them  consider  how  glo- 


644  THE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  YORK. 

rious  it  would  be,  by  resigning  their  minister,  to  have  this  Sodom 
become  a  Zion.  Oh  tliat  duty  to  God  might  constrain  them  to 
offer  up  tlieir  beloved  Isaac ! 

"Your  labours  have  not  been  in  vain  among  us:  there  appears  a 
general  seriousness  among  the  people.  I  hear  many  have  set  up 
family  worship,  and  some  are  under  concern  about  their  souls." 

JNIrs.  Ann  Mercier,  "  being  unwell  in  body,  distressed  in  mind, 
and  troubled  on  every  side,"  wrote  the  next  day,  "Oh  that  God  in 
the  midst  of  judgment  would  remember  mercy  and  incline  the 
hearts  of  your  people  to  make  our  case  their  own,  and  so  to  send 
you  to  us !  and  oh  that  in  mercy  he  may  send  one  to  them  to  feed 
them  with  the  bread  of  life !  Seeing  the  call  is  so  loud  for  your 
coming  here,  and  that  we  cannot  unite  on  any  other,  let  me  entreat 
you  to  consider  our  deplorable  condition,  and  to  represent  it  to 
your  people,  and  beg  them  to  let  you  come." 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Breeze,  the  granddaughter  of  Anderson,  wrote 
also,  but  her  letter  has  not  been  found. 

The  Scots  were  not  behindhand  at  this  juncture  in  pleading, 
''still  firmly  trusting  that  God  would  send  him  to  New  York:" 
they  feared  that  "the  ten  families"  had  an  undue  weight  on  his 
judgment. 

Obadiah  Wells  presented  another  view : — that  some  of  the  people 
of  Bethlem  saw  that  their  minister  was  no  longer  at  home  with 
them ;  that  they  plainly  perceived  his  heart  was  in  New  Y'ork ;  that 
they  feared  his  usefulness  was  at  an  end  among  them ;  and  that  for 
not  consenting  to  his  removal,  heavy  judgments  were  in  store  for 
them.  He  therefore  besought  him  to  think  with  all  calmness,  and 
declare  himself  freely  to  his  people,  "and  for  this  once  appear 
boldly  on  the  Lord's  side." 

"Mr.  William  Smith  is  gone  (June  10)  to  Albany,  on  the  treaty 
with  the  Indians,  and  will  not  be  home  under  three  weeks,  when  our 
people  will  make  another  attempt  after  Mr.  Bellamy." 

Mr.  Samuel  Lowden  wrote  on  the  12th,  because  "the  melan- 
choly state  of  this  church  is  enough  to  make  the  dumb  break  their 
silence.  The  congregation  still  design  to  prosecute  the  invitation, 
seeing  it  is  backed  with  the  most  solid  evidence  and  encouragement 
that  can  be  expected.  They  are  more  unanimous  than  ever:  some 
deistical  persons,  who  have  been  convinced  by  your  preaching,  long 
much  for  your  coming.  Y  our  labours  here  have  been  crowned  with 
success,  in  that  several  have  set  up  and  continue  worship  in  their 
families ;  deists  brought  under  conviction,  secure  sinners  awakened, 
and  a  universal  concern,  not  only  in  this  congregation,  but  in  sun- 
dry of  the  Dutch,  English,  and  French  churches,  who  have  pro- 
mised to  come  and  join  with  us,  should  you  come  here.  There's  a 
prospect  of  seeing  old  men  and  tall  Christians  as  cravers  of  your 
ministry  here." 


THE  CHURCH   IN   NEW  YORK.  645 

Mr.  Smith,  "  though  in  the  midst  of  the  most  important  business 
that  ever  occupied  the  British  colonies,  in  which  seven  of  them  are 
united  in  the  present  Congress,"  wrote,  "with  great  inconvenience 
and  haste,"  to  Mr.  Graham,  "to  press  his  furtherance  of  the  speedy 
removal  of  Mr.  Bellamy.  I  beseech  you  to  charge  the  call  of  Pro- 
vidence home  upon  the  consciences  of  Mr.  Bellamy  and  the  people 
of  Bethlem.  Were  I  not  fully  satisfied  of  a  call  of  God  to  Mr. 
Bellamy  to  remove  to  New  York,  and  that  his  work  lies  there,  I 
would  not,  for  any  consideration,  write  one  syllable  more  to  pro- 
mote his  removal;  but,  as  it  is,  I  cannot  be  silent  while  I  see  any 
prospect  of  success  remaining." 

To  Mr.  Hazard,  Mr.  John  Smith,  and  Mr.  Jauncey,  he  wrote, 
advising  them  to  keep  the  congregation  in  union,  "  and  do  all  you 
can  to  gain  the  consent  of  Mr.  Bellamy's  people.  I  am  informed 
by  some  gentlemen  here  that  it  is  likely  Mr.  Bellamy's  people 
may  consent,  and  that  two-thirds  are  gained  already.  I  intend  to 
use  my  interest  in  writing  to  Mr.  Edwards." 

To  Bellamy  he  wrote,  "  Your  call  to  New  York  is  very  clear 
to  me  and  many  others,  whose  eyes  are  single,  and  who,  without 
selfish  attachments,  make  God's  glory  their  governing  end.  I 
have  seen  two  ministers  of  the  Consociation,  who  tell  me  Bethlem 
people  relent,  and  now  think  it  is  their  duty  to  resign  you  into  the 
hands  of  God  and  to  the  disposal  of  his  providence.  Another  of 
the  ministers  of  that  Consociation  supposes  that  you  may  do  very 
much  to  lead  them  into  a  sense  of  their  duty,  and,  if  I  understand 
him,  thinks  you  had  not  done  enough.  I  refer  the  case  to  God, 
and  beg  that  Satan  may  not  be  permitted  to  hinder  you." 

Mr.  John  Smith,  Mr.  Jauncey,  and  Mr.  Hazard  wrote,  on  the 
30th,  that  they  do  not  "  choose  to  proceed  to  do  any  thing  until 
Mr.  Lawyer  Smith  returns.  He's  a  gentleman  we  respect,  and 
whose  judgment  we  value. 

"  Mr.  President  Burr  came  to  town  last  Saturday,  and  preached 
two  excellent  sermons  to  us  yesterday.  He  has  been  about  among 
the  people,  and  says  it  is  his  opinion  that  it  is  best,  and  there  is 
no  other  way,  but  still  to  try  and  get  you.  Let  your  people 
demand  what  they  think  proper,  [as  a  compensation  for  the  settle- 
ment given  IMr.  Bellamy :]  we  are  determined  to  comply  with  it  if 
possible." 

Mr.  Hazard  made  another  visit  to  Bethlem.  The  congregation 
met  on  the  second  Friday  in  July,  and  declined  to  consent  to  the 
removal  of  their  pastor,  and  Bellamy  immediately  communicated 
the  result  to  the  church  of  New  York  : — 

"  Want  of  union  among  yourselves  has  embarrassed  the  late 
attempt  from  the  very  first,  and  been  the  principal  cause  of  your 
disappointment.  Had  you  been  united,  I  believe  my  people  would 
have  consented. 


646  THE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  YORK. 

"  Things  looked  very  liopeful  soon  after  Mr.  Hazard  left  us;  but 
Bcveral  things  liappcned  wliich  gave  a  fatal  turn  to  the  affair. 

"  There  are  about  half  a  dozen  men  among  my  people  engaged 
to  have  me  go,  and  a  few  more  that  will  just  barely  consent ;  but 
three-quarters  declared,  in  their  society-meeting,  that  they  con- 
scientiously thought  it  not  my  duty  to  go.  My  people,  'tis  pos- 
sible, would  have  consented,  had  they  not  been  tampered  with, 
and  made  to  think  that  my  representation  of  the  state  of  New 
York  was  not  according  to  truth.  They  heard,  soon  after  the 
council  met,  that  I  had  been  imposed  on,  which  gave  their  minds  a 
new  turn :  once,  above  half  the  people  seemed  convinced,  now  but 
one-quarter. 

"  I  being  so  blamed  by  Mr.  Graham  and  Mr.  Tennent  for  not 
declaring,  and  also  by  the  people  at  New  York,  and  likewise  the 
danger  of  my  people's  breaking  to  pieces  if  I  sat  still,  forced  me 
to  call  my  people  together  when  a  messenger  and  letters  came  up 
from  New  York,  although  I  knew  that  the  application  was  irregu- 
lar. But  I  never  proposed  to  my  people  to  do  any  thing  but  to 
give  the  case  a  rehearing,  upon  a  regular  application,  until  I  heard 
how  things  were  going  your  way ;  and  then  I  put  quite  another 
question  to  them, — viz. :  whether  they  were  fully  convinced  it  was 
my  duty  to  remove  from  them  ?  which  was  voted  in  the  negative ; 
and  so  my  society,  in  a  very  critical  moment,  was  saved  from 
division  and  confusion. 

"  My  people  met  yesterday,  and  I  had  a  long  discourse  with 
them ;  and  I  am  astonished  to  consider  how  honest,  cool,  candid, 
serious,  friendly,  conscientious,  they  appeared  to  be  under  trials  so 
very  great.  'Tis  pity  so  kind  a  people  should  lose  their  minister. 
It  touches  me  to  the  very  heart;  and  I  would  now  pronounce 
the  final  sentence, — that  I  would  never  accept  your  call  were  not 
the  case  so  difficult.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this  is  the  inward  tem- 
per of  my  heart  toward  my  people,  yet,  from  conscience  and  judg- 
ment, I  pleaded  your  cause  with  them  for  some  hours  to  the  best 
purpose,  and  I  never  saw  a  people  behave  so  well  in  so  difficult  a 
case;  like  dear  children  hanging  round  a  kind  father,  who  en- 
deavours gently  to  pull  their  hands  to  him,  and  inwardly  bleeding 
with  love  towards  them  all  the  while.  They  thought  there  was  not 
the  least  reason  to  resign  me  to  you,  unless  you  would  be  at  the 
whole  cost  of  settling  them  another  minister.  By  this,  they  say, 
you  would  give  them  nothing.  You  would  only  leave  them  as  you 
found  them,  in  that  respect ;  while  they  give  you,  out  of  mere  com- 
passion to  you  and  conscientious  regard  to  the  interest  of  religion, 
what  they  esteem  a  gift  of  very  great  worth." 

To  Mrs.  Mercicr  he  wrote,  "  Others  wonder  at  my  backwardness 
to  come  to  New  York,  and  even  doubt  my  integrity ;  but  you  know 
better.     You  have  seen  the  anguish  of  my  heart,  and  my  con- 


THE    CHURCH   IN   NEW  YORK.  64.7 

scientlous  desire  to  do  the  thing  that  is  right.  I  never  thought  I 
•was  fit  for  New  York :  I  never  saw  my  way  clear  to  remove. 
Indeed,  rather  than  your  distrest  congregation  should  go  to  ruin, 
I  would  still  be  willing  to  run  the  venture,  and  trust  myself  in  the 
hands  of  an  all-sufficient  God,  who,  when  I  am  weak,  can  make  me 
strong,  and  who  can  take  care  of  me  wherever  I  be.  Oh  that 
God  would  send  you  a  man  that  is  fit  for  you,  and  that  your  con- 
gregation might  be  humbled  under  the  hand  of  God  in  this  day 
of  trial !" 

He  sent  his  final  refusal,  July  18,  1754.  Upon  the  request 
of  some  members  of  the  congregation,  the  synod,  in  Septem- 
ber, appointed  Mr.  Samuel  Finley  and  John  Blair  to  supply 
them  the  next  Sabbath.  "  Praised*  be  God,  who,  in  the  midst 
of  judgments,  shows  us  great  mercy,  in  sending  his  servants 
daily  with  a  meal  for  us!  By  order  of  synod,  Messrs.  Finley 
and  Blair  came  here  to  call  a  committee  in  the  congregation,  of 
such  men  as  might  be  thought  fit  to  act  in  things  relating  to  a 
call  and  resettlement  of  a  minister,  as  our  elders  appeared  too 
indolent  in  the  matter.  But  the  congregation  was  opposed  by 
some  of  the  gentlemen  with  much  vehemence,  which  much  sur- 
prised the  ministers.  They  abused  some  in  the  public  con- 
gregation, and  convinced  the  people  more  and  more  that  the 
church's  real  good  was  little  their  care  or  concern.  So  you  see 
where  we  are  still.  They  talk  of  putting  it  to  vote  in  the  con- 
gregation for  Mr.  Bostwick  and  Mr.  Blair.  Mr.  Finley 's  voice  is 
exceeding  low,  though  pretty  much  liked,  and,  is  thought,  would 
not  suit  this  congregation ;  but,  I  believe,  can't  obtain  either.  We 
have  been  refused  Mr.  Davies.  We  find  those  that  opposed  you 
■would  oppose  Mr.  Edwards  also.  The  various  accounts  among 
ministers  and  people  hindered  their  making  any  attempt  for  Mr. 
Edwards." 

Captain  Jauncey  wrote  again  in  the  fall,  to  open  the  negotia- 
tion anew.  Bellamy  replied,  November  20,  "  I  have  read  and 
considered  your  letter,  and  I  heartily  pity  your  case.  'Tis  your 
business  to  unite  in  a  man ;  'tis  the  presbytery's  business  to  get 
him.  You  could  not  unite  in  Mr.  B.,  and  the  presbytery  could 
not  find  it  in  their  heart  to  plead  your  case.  We  have  heard  a 
good  character  of  Mr.  Rodgers ;  and,  if  he  is  what  I  have  heard, 
I  advise  you,  if  possible,  to  get  him :  but,  whether  you  can  unite 
in  him  or  not,  there  is  no  hope  of  removing  Mr.  B.,  as  things  now 
stand." 

Bodgcrs,  however,  declined  the  invitation  by  the  messenger  who 
carried  it.  Mrs.  Breeze  wrote  (December  18)  to  Bellamy,  desiring 
him  to  pay  the  congregation  a  visit.     He  replied,  January  1, 1755, 

*  Samuel  Lowden  to  Bellamy,  October  7,  1754. 


648  THE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  YORK. 

"  Mr.  Wells  told  me  that  Mr.  Vanhorne  said  that,  although  I  pre- 
tended to  be  so  backward,  yet  I  was  trying  to  crowd  myself  in  all 
the  while.  'Well,'  said  I,  '  I  do  not  intend  to  set  my  foot  in  New 
York  till  they  have  a  minister  settled.'  I  heartily  wish  you  pros- 
perity in  your  attempts  to  get  a  faithful  minister.  To  hear  you 
are  well  settled  will  give  me  the  same  joy  a  tender  parent  feels  on 
the  recovery  of  a  sick  child  from  the  sides  of  the  grave.  Once  I 
thought  God  called  me  to  put  my  life  in  my  hand,  and  try  to  save 
3^ou  from  ruin,  and  I  acted  accordingly  in  the  integrity  of  my 
heart.  But  God,  in  his  providence,  has  released  me  from  the 
dangerous  work.  I  do  not  believe  it  is,  or  ever  will  be,  my  duty 
to  remove  and  settle  at  New  York.  I  have  never  complimented 
with  New  York,  in  the  pulpit  or  out  of  it.  I  do  not  want  court- 
ing ;  and  to  have  a  poor  distressed  people  beg  and  pray,  it  almost 
breaks  my  heart." 

It  was  said  by  the  Rev.  Noah  Benedict,  at  the  funeral  of  Bel- 
lamy, that  one  hinderance  to  his  acceptance  of  the  call  to  New 
York  was  his  apprehension  that  it  would  not  be  pleasing  to  some 
of  the  ministers  of  our  church.  "  'Tis  true,"  said  Bellamy  to 
Burr,  "  the  conduct  of  the  presbytery,  when  they  were  at  New 
Y^ork,  had  made  me  suspect  how  the  case  stood;  but  your  letter  re- 
moved my  uneasiness.  And,  'tis  true,  their  conduct  at  the  coun- 
cil in  New  England  awakened  my  suspicions  again ;  but  then  their 
telling  me,  in  private,  so  solemnly,  that  it  was  my  duty — urging  me 
to  declare,  blaming  me  for  not  declaring — stunned  them  again." 
Yet  these  suspicions  he  vented  in  very  strong  terms  at  Commence- 
ment at  New  Haven,  especially  condemning  Bostwick's  behaviour 
in  the  matter.  Hearing  of  these  censures,  Bostwick  took  means 
to  learn  Bellamy's  reasons,  and  was  thus  enabled  to  clear  himself 
entirely.  He  had  said  to  Bellamy,  over  and  over,  that  it  was  his 
duty  to  go  to  New  Y'"ork ;  and  he  had  also  said,  after  hearing  the 
statements  of  those  who  opposed  him,  that  his  heart  smote  him  for 
having  made  an  unfair  representation  on  the  testimony  of  the 
other  side.  He  also  contradicted  the  report,  that  there  were  some 
hundreds  brought  under  great  convictions  by  Bellamy's  labours  in 
the  city.  "  It  has  been  an  affair  attended  with  the  most  mis- 
takes, jealousies,  evil  surmises,  &c.  that  ever  I  knew  in  the  whole 
course  of  my  life.  Many  false  reports  have  been  spread  abroad, 
and  many  corrupt  passions  excited  on  either  side.  I  wish  the 
great  Governor  of  the  world  may  overrule  all  for  his  glory." 

A  reconciliation  was  effected,  and  a  pleasant  correspondence 
maintained  till  Bostwick's  decease. 

Dr.  Trumbull  says,  Bellamy  "  was  a  large  and  well-built  man, 
of  commanding  appearance,  with  a  smooth,  strong  voice,  that 
could  fill  the  largest  house  without  any  unnatural  elevation.  He 
possessed  a  truly  great  mind,  preached  generally  without  notes, 


THE    CHURCH   IN  NEW  YORK.  649 

had  some  great  point  of  doctrine  commonly  to  establish,  and 
"would  keep  close  to  his  point  until  he  had  sufficiently  illustrated  it ; 
then,  in  an  ingenious,  close,  and  pungent  manner,  he  would  make 
the  application.  When  he  felt  well,  and  Avas  animated  by  a  large 
audience,  he  would  preach  incomparably:  though  paying  little 
attention  to  language,  he  would,  from  the  native  vigour  of  his 
80ul,  produce  the  most  commanding  strokes  of  eloquence,  making 
his  audience  alive.  There  is  nothing  to  be  found  in  his  writings, 
though  sound  and  valuable,  equal  to  what  was  to  be  seen  and 
heard  in  his  preaching.  His  pulpit  talents  exceeded  all  his  other 
gifts.  It  is  difficult  for  those  who  never  heard  him  to  form  a  just 
idea  of  the  force  and  beauty  of  his  preaching.  No  man  was  more 
tj^oroughly  set  for  the  defence  of  the  gospel." 

lie  wrote  to  Hazard,  January  22,  1755,  "To  serve  your  con- 
gregation in  any  thing  will  ever  rejoice  my  heart,  and  to  see  you 
well  settled  would  be  to  me  like  life  from  the  dead. 

"  Last  night,  just  after  receiving  your  letter  informing  me  that 
you  had  quite  given  over  all  thoughts  of  me,  and  were  turning 
your  eyes  towards  Mr.  McGregory,  of  Nutfield,  and  desiring  my 
opinion,  there  came  into  my  study  a  religious,  judicious  man,  who 
has  moved  near  an  hundred  miles  to  sit  under  my  ministry.  He 
is  a  pretty  good  judge  for  a  layman,  and  has  heard  Mr.  McGre- 
gory about  fifty  sermons.  From  him  I  learn  that  Mr.  McGregory 
has  had  the  smallpox, — which,  to  be  hired,  I  would  not  have  for 
all  New  York.  Is  of  a  good  appearance :  all  religious  people  look 
upon  him  as  a  good  man,  and  do  greatly  flock  after  him  whenever 
he  goes  abroad  to  preach :  he  preaches  very  solemnly, — much 
more  politely  and  genteelly  than  I  do.  His  preaching  commands 
as  much  attention  as  mine  does.  His  language  is  not  so  flowery 
as  Mr.  Bostwick's,  but  manly,  nervous,  flowing,  neat ;  his  delivery 
good,  his  voice  strong ;  his  preaching  reaches  the  heart,  and  is  much 
better  than  Mr.  Bostwick's.  He  is  prudent  and  guarded  in  his 
preaching:  preaches  often  on  gospel  subjects.  He  is  a  man  of 
government,  no  trimmer,  used  to  the  wars ;  very  free  and  sociable 
in  conversation,  with  words  at  wdll  in  the  pulpit,  an  active  man,  a 
full  friend  to  the  late  work  of  God  in  the  land. 

"  I  am  of  opinion  that  he  might  suit  your  religious  people  and 
the  Scotch  as  well  as  I  should  have  done.  Mr.  Yanhorne  and  the 
gentlemen  would  like  him  better,  although  I  don't  think  they 
would  be  quite  suited.  'Tis  my  advice,  you  do  unitedly  make 
your  strongest  eff"orts  to  get  him,  being  much  more  likely  to  suit 
than  any  man  I  know  of  in  New  England.  As  soon  as  I  can,  I 
will  get  Mr.  Edwards's  opinion,  and  send  you. 

"  I  am  as  much  a  friend  to  your  congregation  as  I  was  that 
dreadful  Monday  when  your  people  cried  about  me,  and  broke  my 
heart ;  but  I  am,  and  ought  to  be,  governed  by  cool,  sedate  reason. 


650  ROBERT    HENRY. 

I  pray  you,  leave  off  scolding  at  the  presbytery :  it  does  your  con- 
gregation great  damage.  But  what  shall  we  do?  Read  the 
Proverbs  of  Solomon  through,  with  a  desire  to  know  your  duty, 
and  you  will  find  a  hundred  things  pat  to  your  case." 

The  Rev.  David  McGregoire  was  the  son  of  the  first  pastor  at 
Londonderry,  New  Hampshire,  and  was  ordained  pastor  of  the 
Second  Church  in  that  town  (now  Derry)  in  1735,  and  was,  at 
this  time,  in  his  forty-fifth  year.  In  January,  by  the  advice  of 
the  presbytery,  the  congregation,  in  an  informal  manner,  (for 
"  there*  was  no  vote,  nor  any  thing  like  a  regular  call,")  sent  an 
invitation  to  him  to  become  their  minister.  President  Burr  at- 
tended the  meeting  of  Boston  Presbytery,  in  April,  at  Pelham,  to 
urge  that  body  to  consent  to  his  translation.  He  returned,  and 
brought  an  account  of  a  considerable  prospect  of  obtaining  Mr. 
McGregoire;  but  "I  did  not  observe  any  remarkable  rejoicing 
among  many  of  the  people  occasioned  by  it.  They  are  quite  still. 
Mr.  Spencer,  and  Mr.  William  Livingston,  [afterwards  Governor 
of  New  Jersey,]  are  now  gone  to  Boston,  to  have  the  matter 
finally  determined.  Mr.  Burr  expects  he  will  accept  the  call 
before  he  comes  to  see  us.  I  fear  he  knows  little  of  our  circum- 
stances. Did  he  only  know  this  one  thing, — that  the  people's  af- 
fections are  still  attached  to  Mr.  Bellamy  beyond  any  man  living, 
— it  would  be  very  discouraging  to  him." 

The  presbytery  met,  May  14,  at  Boston,  and  declared  they  had 
no  authority  to  remove  a  minister  out  of  their  bounds.  McGre- 
goire saw  no  encouragement  to  adventure  himself  among  a  people 
so  divided  among  themselves,  and  with  so  many  cleaving,  with 
unabated  desire,  to  Bellamy. 


ROBERT  HENRY, 


A  NATIVE  of  Scotland,  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1751,  and 
was  soon  after  licensed  by  New  York  Presbytery.  In  May,  1752, 
Tchickcn,  in  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania,  asked  leave  of  Abing- 
don Presbytery  to  employ  him,  and,  in  the  fall,  the  synod,  having 
heard  from  Davies  the  necessitous  yet  hopeful  prospects  in  Vir- 
ginia, sent  him  thither.  lie  preached  for  some  time  without  being 
licensed  by  the  governor,  and  was  unmolested.  Newcastle  Pres- 
bytery ordained  him  before  1753,  his  field  of  labour  being  in 
what  was  then  Lunenburg  county,  and  where  Robinson  had  been 

*  Hazard  to  Bellamy. 


EGBERT   HENRY.  651 

greatly  successful.  He  was  installed,  by  Hanover  Presbytery, 
June  4,  1755,  the  pastor  of  what  are  now  Cub  Creek,  in  Char- 
lotte, and  Briery,  in  Prince  Edward. 

After  his  installation,  Todd*  and  Davies  preached  five  days, 
with  "comfortable  evidences  of  the  presence  of  God  with  us  every 
day.  Many  were  awakened.  One  was  the  nearest  image  of  the 
trembling  jailor  I  ever  saw.  Divine  power  was  felt  by  many 
hearts  who  had  never  heard  a  New  Light  before."  Davies  was  in 
Lunenburg  in  June,  1756,  and  preached  eleven  or  twelve  times 
in  thirteen  days,  with  encouraging  appearances  of  success.  "  I 
think  Mr.  Henry's  and  Mr.  Wright's  labours  continue  to  be 
blessed  in  those  parts.  At  the  sacrament,  in  that  wilderness, 
there  were  two  thousand  hearers  and  two  hundred  communicants : 
a  considerable  number  of  thoughtless  creatures  are  solicitously 
inquiring  about  religion."  Davies  said,  in  1757,  "  My  honest 
friend  Mr.  Henry  has  had  remarkable  success,  the  last  winter, 
among  the  young  people." 

Cub  Creek  was  settled  from  Pennsylvania.  Caldwell,  who 
drew  the  attention  of  the  synod  to  the  new  settlements  in  the 
valley  in  1738,  having  ended  his  days  on  the  Roanoke,  Donegal 
Presbytery  sent  supplies  to  Cub  Creek,  on  Round  Oak,  in  1744 ; 
and  the  synod  sent  Black  to  Buffalo,  and  Craig  to  Roanoke,  ia 
1751. 

The  Briery  congregation  grew  out  of  the  conversion  of  Joseph 
Morton  and  his  wife.  He  had  been  noted  for  his  skill  as  a  land- 
hunter,  f — in  finding  eligible  tracts  in  the  unsettled  wilderness. 
The  horses  ran  wild  through  the  woods,  "  against  which  no  feller 
had  come  up:"  "horse-pens"  were  prepared  on  the  creeks  to  cap- 
ture them.  A  most  beautiful,  gentle  mare,  taken  by  Morton  in  a 
pen,  was  given  to  his  wife. 

Little  Joe  Morton  and  his  wife  were  eminently  pious.  He  was 
the  first  elder,  and,  until  they  had  a  settled  minister,  more  like  a 
pastor  than  an  elder.  He  convened  the  people  on  the  Sabbath, 
read  a  sermon,  and  catechized  the  children.  Few  have  left  behind 
a  sweeter  savour  of  piety.  He  was  never  spoken  of  without  vene- 
ration. His  widow  long  survived  him, — "a  mother  in  Israel." 
Their  children  all  became  pious,  and  a  large  number  of  their 
grandchildren. 

In  May,  1755,  Henry|  refreshed  McAden  by  the  relation  of  his 
success.  Several  were  hopefully  brought  in,  and  scarce  a  Sabbath 
passed  without  some  appearance  of  the  power  of  God.  Wright 
says,  "  Seventeen  were  awakened,  in  1757,  under  an  occasional 


*  Gillies. 

f  Dr.  Alexander. 

j  McAden's  Journal:  in  Dr.  Foote's  Sketches  of  North  Carolina. 


C52  JOHN    SMITH. 

lecture  of  his.  He  had  two  hundred  communicants,  besides  forty 
coloured  members." 

He  also  gave  a  portion  of  his  time,  every  fourth  Sabbath,  to 
Falling  lliver.  Morgan  Edwards*  says,  "  There  was  an  '  awful 
delusion'  on  Falling  Creek,  in  Pittsylvania,  soon  after  the  Sepa- 
rate Baptists  came  there." 

He  removed  to  Steel  Creek,  North  Carolina,  in  1766,  and  died 
May  8,  17G7, — a  plain  man,t  of  devoted  piety.  As  he  rode  on 
his  solitary  way,  he  dropped  the  bridle,  and,  lifting  up  his  heart 
and  voice  and  hands  in  prayer,  suffered  the  quiet,  faithful  beast  to 
take  his  own  time.  Often  his  horse  stopped  at  Mr.  Morton's  door, 
with  his  good  master  still  engaged  in  worship,  as  if  alone  in  the 
forest. 

Faithful  in  his  preaching  to  all,  his  principal  success  was  among 
the  servants.  He  led  them  to  Jesus,  and  they  became  eminent  for 
their  growth  in  grace  and  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

His  widow  long  survived  him. 


JOHN    SMITH 


Was  born  in  England,!  May  5,  1702. 

He  is  said  to  have  received  a  degree  from  a  university :  perhaps 
he  graduated  at  Yale,  in  1727,  though  not  marked  in  italics  in  the 
catalogue. 

His  father,  Thomas  Smith,  with  a  few  others,  forsook  the 
ministry  of  Anderson,  and,  by  the  aid  of  the  trustees  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, obtained  Jonathan  Edwards,  then  nineteen,  to  preach  for 
them.  He  referred  with  delight  to  his  pleasant  intercourse  with 
Madam  Smith  and  her  son  John. 

He  was  admitted  the  minister  of  Rye  and  White  Plains,  in 
West  Chester  county,  probably  May  15,  1729,  being  ordained  by 
the  Fairfield  Association.  The  long  tract  of  forty  years,  like  the 
Arabian  desert,  is  relieved  by  no  cooling  stream,  no  living  ver- 
dure;— nothing  but  a  solitary  date,  scattered  here  and  there, 
meets  the  eye,  as  it  wanders  over  nearly  half  a  century  of  the 
good  man's  toil. 

He  came  with  Edwards,  in  1752,  and  met  the  Synod  of  New 
Y^'ork.  Soon  after,  he  joined  New  York  Presbytery^  and  became  a 
member  of  Dutchess  Presbytery  in  1763. 


*  ^IS.  History  of  Virginia  Baptists.  f  Dr.  Alexander. 

X  Bolton's  West  Cliesier  County. 


ELEAZER    WHITTLESEY.  653 

Through  infirmities  of  age  and  disorders  of  body,  he  asked  for 
an  assistant  in  August,  1758.  The  Rev.  Ichabod  Lewis,  twin- 
brother  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lewis,  of  Greenwich,  was  ordained,  as  his 
colleague,  pastor  of  White  Plains  and  Sing  Sing.  Rye  is  not  men- 
tioned again  in  the  presbytery-book. 

Smith  died,  February  26,  1771, — an  able  and  useful  minister, 
worn  out  with  labour. 


ELEAZER  WHITTLESEY 

"Was  probably  a  native  of  Bethlem,  Connecticut.  He  came  to 
Burr,  at  Newark,  with  a  letter  from  Bellamy,  in  the  winter  of 
1741-2: — "Mr.  Tennent*  and  I  have  encouraged  him  in  his 
design.  He  is  now  under  my  care,  and  makes  good  progress  in 
learning.     I  trust  the  Lord  has  work  for  him  to  do. 

"N.B. — He  was  not  converted  in  the  way  that  you  think  neces- 
sary, and  that  I  have  thought  so,  though  now  I  am  now  in  some 
doubt  of  it.  I  have  met  with  others  of  God's  dear  people,  who 
don't  tell  of  such  a  particular  submission  as  we  have  insisted  on, 
though  the  substance  of  the  thing  may  be  found  in  all." 

He  afterwards  spent  some  time  at  Nottingham ;  and  Finley,  on 
sending  him  to  college  in  1747,  speaks  of  him  as  having  made  con- 
siderable proficiency. 

He  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1749,  and  was  licensed  by 
Newcastle  Presbytery  soon  after.  Writing  to  Bellamy,  May  8, 
1750,  from  Mr.  Finley's,  he  says  he  had  been  directed  to  ride  abroad 
in  March  and  April,  (and  supply  vacancies,)  and,  "  this  week,  I  go 
to  Deer  Creek."  He  complains  of  being  unable  to  study,  or  to 
made  preparation  for  the  pulpit,  on  account  of  "  what  you  call 
melancholy,  but  what  I  call  by  another  name;"  and  that, in  conse- 
quence, his  days  passed  "in  painful  idleness." 

There  was  so  great  a  revival  in  Baltimore  county,  in  1746  and 
'47,  that  it  seemed  to  Davies  like  the  first  planting  of  religion 
there.  It  was  in  what  is  now  Harford  county,  and  extended  from 
Deer  Creek  to  Slate  Ridge  and  Chanceford.  In  1751,  Whittlesey 
was  about  to  settle  there.  No  notice  of  him  appears,  except 
where,  in  the  records  of  Newcastle  Presbytery,  a  man  asked  to  be 
restored  to  church  privileges,  who  had  been  debarred  for  ill-usage 
of  the  late  Mr.  Whittlesey. 

A  log  church  was  put  up  near  Muddy  Creek,  in  Peach  Bottom 

*  Burr  to  Bellamy. 


654  NEHEMIAH    GREENMAN. 

township,  in  York  county,  soon  after  the  "  Barrens"  were  settled ; 
for  much  of  York  county,  like  the  Valley  of  Virginia  at  the  same 
period,  was  destitute  of  trees,  though,  since  the  savages  have  passed 
away,  forests  of  noble  growth  adorn  the  Valley  and  the  Barrens. 
The  Indians*  suffered  fire  to  run  through  them  every  year,  and 
destroyed  the  young  saplings  above  the  ground,  but  the  roots  con- 
tinued uninjured;  and,  when  the  fires  were  no  longer  permitted, 
these  large  roots  sent  up  a  strong  growth  of  shoots,  which  in  thirty 
or  forty  years  became  very  fine  timber.  In  the  Log  Church 
Whittlesey  preached:  there  gathered  the  congregation  of  Slate 
Ridge :  his  labours  extended  to  all  the  neighbouring  settlements. 

The  late  Dr.  Martin,  of  Chanceford,  said  that  Whittlesey  formed 
the  Slate  Ridge  and  Chanceford  congregations. 

Finley  tells  Bellamy,  July  3,  1752,  that  Whittlesey,  "whom  I 
tenderly  loved  for  his  zeal  and  integrity,  left  my  house  on  a 
Thursday  morning,  cheerful,  and  in  pretty  good  health,  and 
preached  the  next  Sabbath  at  Muddy  Run,  not  designing  to  con- 
tinue there  longer.  On  Monday  he  was  taken  sick  with  pleurisy, 
in  a  cold  house,  and  a  cold  time ;  continued  in  pain  until  Saturday, 
and  then  gave  up  the  ghost.  The  last  words  he  was  heard  to  utter 
were, '  0  Lord,  leave  me  not.'  The  Susquehanna  River  was  frozen, 
and  no  messenger  could  come  to  me  till  all  was  over.  He  died, 
December  21."  To  Bellamy  he  bequeathed  his  watch,  and  re- 
quested Rodgers  to  take  his  horse  at  what  price  he  pleased. 


NEHEMIAH   GREENMAN 

Was  born  at  Stratford,  Connecticut,  and  was  probably  a  de- 
scendant of  the  Rev.  Adam  Blackman,  the  first  minister  of  the 
town. 

David  Brainerd  had  a  special  friendshipf  for  him,  and  by  his 
charitable  expenses  he  was  educated.  When  he  undertook  the 
Indian  mission,  thinking  he  should  have  no  further  use  for  the  pro- 
perty left  him  by  his  father,  he  set  himself  to  discover  how  he 
might  spend  it  most  for  the  glory  of  God.  No  way  presented 
wherein  he  could  do  more  good  by  it  than  by  educating  for  the 
ministry  a  young  man  of  good  abilities  and  well  disposed.  Brain- 
erd met  him  at  Southbury,  December  11, 1742: — "  Conversed  with 
a  dear  friend  to  whom  I  had  thought  of  giving  a  liberal  education, 

*  Huston's  Land  Titles.  f  Brainerd's  Life:  Bellamy  MSS. 


NEHEMIAH    GREENMAN.  655 

that  lie  might  be  fitted  for  the  gospel  ministry.  I  acquainted  him 
with  my  thoughts,  and  left  him  to  consider  of  the  matter  till  I 
should  see  him  again.  Three  days  after,  he  conversed  again  with 
him ;  and  he  appeared  much  inclined  to  devote  himself  to  the  sacred 
work,  if  God  should  succeed  his  attempts  to  qualify  himself  for 
it."  He  soon  commenced  his  studies,  and  was  supported  till  the 
end  of  his  (Brainerd's)  life,  not,  however,  without  much  self-denial ; 
for  among  the  Indians  he  found  his  mistake  in  supposing  he  would 
have  no  need  of  his  patrimony. 

Brainerd  had  a  special  friendship  for  him,  and  wrote  to  him  from 
Boston,  when  he  was  expecting  daily  and  hourly  to  enter  into  the 
eternal  world,  "  I  have  a  secret  thought,  from  some  things  I  have 
observed,  that  God  may  perhaps  design  you  for  some  singular  ser- 
vice in  the  world.  Oh,  then,  labour  to  be  prepared  and  qualified  to 
do  much  for  God."  He  pursued  his  preparatory  studies  with 
Bellamy.* 

He  graduated  at  Yale,  in  1748,  and  was  licensed  by  Sufi'olk 
Presbytery  very  soon  after, — on  the  3d  of  October.  The  first  year 
of  his  ministry  he  spent  at  Moriches  and  Quogue,  now  Westhamp- 
ton.  Being  in  feeble  health,  he  left,  and  laboured  at  Fire  Place. 
He  was  called,  April  4,  1750,  to  the  New  Society,  in  South  Hano- 
ver, New  Jersey.  New  Brunswick  Presbytery,  May  22,  1751, 
solicited  him,  and  Pomeroy  and  Rowland,  of  Connecticut,  to  come 
into  their  bounds.  He  was  probably  ordained  by  New  York  Pres- 
bytery while  labouring  at  South  Hanover,  New  Jersey.  He  joined 
Abingdon  Presbytery  in  May,  1758,  and  commenced  preaching  at 
Pilesgrove,  and  was  installed  on  the  5th  of  December. 

The  old  name  was  given  up,  and  the  town  was  called  Pittsgrove, 
in  honour  of  the  great  Earl  of  Chatham. 

Greenman  sufi'ered  from  delays  in  paying  his  salary,  and  the 
usual  consequence  followed : — an  alienation  of  some  who  seemed  to 
be  pillars.  In  March,  1778,  he  fled  into  the  wilderness  to  escape 
the  indignities  largely  dealt  to  Presbyterian  ministers  by  the  Bri- 
tish troops.  He  remained  with  his  family  six  months  at  Egg  Har- 
bour, preaching,  and  almost  resolved  to  settle  there;  for  his  congre- 
gation ministered  not  at  all  to  his  necessities.  On  his  return,  they 
complained  to  the  presbytery  that  the  sacrament  had  not  been 
administered  since  April,  1777:  he  told  his  wrongs,  and  was  dis- 
missed, April  9,  1779. 

He  died  before  the  next  November. 

His  sister  Amy  accompanied  him  to  Pittsgrove,  and  married  the 
Rev.  Jonathan  Dubois,  pastor  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  in 
Southampton,  Bucks  county.  Her  son,  the  Rev.  Uriah  Dubois,  was 
the  pastor  of  Doylestown  and  Deep  Run. 

*  Edwards  to  McCullocli,  of  Cambuslang,  July  6,  1750. 


656  JOHN   BROWN. 

Grecnman  spent  a  part  of  his  time  at  "Aloes  Creek:"  there  was 
a  church  at  Logtown,  on  Lower  AUoway's  Creek,  in  1750 ;  it  has 
been  extinct  for  many  years. 

He  gave  one-fourth  of  his  time  to  Penn's  Neck,  (probably  Qui- 
hawken:)  it  first  appears  in  1747,  asking  supplies  of  New  Bruns- 
wick Presbytery,  and  it  had  for  a  time  a  pastor;  but  it  is  now  for- 
saken. 


JOHN  BROWN 


'  Was  born  in  Jreland,  and  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1749; 
y/  was  licensed  by  Newcastle  Presbytery,  and  sent  to  the  Valley  of 
'^  Virginia.  In  August,  1753,  he  was  called*  to  Timber  Ridge  and 
Providence,  the  commissioners  of  the  congregations  being  Archi- 
bald Alexander  and  Andrew  Steel.  He  was  ordained  at  Fagg's 
Manor,  on  Thursday,  October  11,  1753.  Davies  preached  from 
Acts  XX.  28,  "with  a  good  deal  of  inaccuracy  and  confusion, 
though  with  some  tender  sense  of  the  subject.  I  have  hardly  ever 
thought  myself  in  so  solemn  a  posture  as  when  invoking  the  God  of 
heaven,  with  my  hand  on  the  head  of  the  candidate.  May  the 
Lord  be  his  support  under  the  burden  of  that  office  which  he  has 
assumed,  I  doubt  not,  with  very  honest  and  generous  intentions  I" 
He  speaks  of  him,  in  1754,  as  a  youth  of  piety,  prudence,  and 
zeal. 

McAden  was  with  him  at  Timber  Ridge,  on  the  first  Sabbath  in 
July,  1755, — a  day  of  fasting  on  account  of  murders  by  Indians : 
"there  was  great  attention  and  solemnity." 

It  was  under  a  sei'mon  preached  by  Brown,  from  Psalm  vii.  12, — 
"If  the  wicked  turn  not," — that  the  Rev.  Dr.  McWhorter,  in  early 
youth,  was  impressed  and  led  to  the  Saviour. 

*  The  call  is  preserved,  with  its  long  list  of  signers,  and  is  worthy  of  preserva- 
tion:— "We  being,  for  these  many  years  past,  in  very  destitute  circumstances  for 
want  of  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel  statedly  among  us,  many  of  us  under  distress- 
ing spiritual  languishments,  and  multitudes  perishing  in  our  sins  for  want  of  the 
bread  of  life  broken  among  us;  our  Sabbaths  wasted  in  melancholy  silence  at  home, 
or  sailly  broken  and  profaned  by  the  more  thoughtless  among  us ;  our  hearts 
and  hands  discouraged,  and  our  spirits  broken,  with  our  mournful  condition  and 
repeated  disappointments  of  relief  in  this  particular.  In  these  afHicting  circuni' 
stances,  which  human  language  cannot  paint,  we  have  had  the  happiness,  by  the 
good  providence  of  God,  of  enjoying  a  share  of  your  labours  to  our  abundant  satis- 
faction; and,  being  universally  well  satisfied  with  your  ministerial  abilities  in  gene- 
ral, and  the  peculiar  agreeableness  of  your  qualifications  to  us  in  particular,  as  a 
gospel  minister,  we  entreat  you  to  have  compassion  on  us,  and  accept  this  our 
call  and  invitation  to  the  pastoral  care  of  our  immortal  souls." 


ELIPHALET   BALL.  657 

Brown  married  the  daughter  of  John  Preston^  a  native  of  Ire- 
land, who  settled  at  Tinkling  Spring,  Virginia,  and  became  the 
ancestor  of  a  long,  honourable  line  of  Prestons,  Browns,  Brecken- 
ridges,  McDowells,  and  Marshalls. 

He  resigned  the  care  of  Timber  Ridge*  in  1776,  and  removed, 
in  1797,  to  Kentucky.  He  died  in  1803,  aged  seventy-five;  his 
wife  died  in  1802,  aged  seventy-three.  His  eldest  daughter  mar- 
ried the  Rev.  Thomas  B.  Craighead,  of  Tennessee.  His  eldest  son, 
John,  was  three  times  elected  a  member  of  the  United  States 
Senate,  from  Kentucky;  he  married  the  only  sister  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  and  died  in  1837,  aged  eighty.  His  third 
son,  James,  was  the  first  Secretary  of  State  of  the  Commonwealth 
of  Kentucky,  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate  for  many 
years  from  Louisiana,  and,  for  six  years,  minister  to  the  Court  of 
jrance.  Plis  fourth  son,  Samuel,  was  an  eminent  physician  and  a 
Professor  in  the  Transylvania  Medical  School. 


ELIPHALET   BALL 


Graduated  at  Yale  in  1748.  On  the  resignation  of  Sackett, 
in  1753,  Bedford  had  leave  of  Sufiblk  Presbytery  to  go  to  the 
Congregational  Associations  for  a  candidate:  at  a  pro  re  nata 
meeting,  December  11,  1753,  they  presented  Ball  as  their  choice. 
For  an  exegesis,  they  gave  him  "An  Christus  pro  omnibus  mor- 
tuus  sit?"  They  met  at  Bedford,  December  31,  and  the  next  day 
examined  him,  and  heard  him  preach  from  Romans  iii.  28.  When 
Sackett  came,  they  resumed  the  examination  for  his  sake.  On  the 
2d  of  January,  1754,  Mr.  Silliman  prayed,  Joseph  Parke  preached 
from  1  Timothy  iv.  6,  Prime  presided,  Sackett  gave  the  right 
hand,  and  Dagget  exhorted  the  people. 

In  May,  1757,  they  met  a  week  earlier  than  usual,  because  of 
complaints  made  against  him,  and  adjourned  to  meet  at  Bedford- 
on-the-Main.  He  was  charged  with  using  his  neighbours'  fowls 
which  frequented  his  barn ;  with  imprudent  levity  and  unguarded 
airiness  of  deportment;  with  setting  aside  the  elders,  and  managing 
contrary  to  the  Presbyterian  mode ;  and,  while  professing  not  to  act 


*  It  was  called  Timber  Ridge,  or  Timber  Grove,  because  it  was  the  only  wooded 
tract  in  1737,  in  that  district, — the  Valley  being  overgrown  by  the  pea-vine,  the 
annual  fires  keeping  down  the  shoots  from  the  vigorous  roots,  until,  on  the  retire- 
ment of  the  Indians,  the  white  man  saw  the  open  country  transformed  into  a  forest. 
— Dr.  Foote. 

42 


^ 


658  HUGH   KNOX. 

on  the  strict  plan,  requiring  a  full  profession  of  godliness  in  all 
who  presented  children  for  baptism.  The  presbytery  judged  that 
he  was  not  blaineAvorthy,  as  was  alleged,  and  gave  him  some  cau- 
tions with  respect  to  his  natural  turn  and  the  formula  suitable  for 
baptism.  Thus,  for  a  time,  were  allayed  "the  jars  and  matters  of 
uneasiness." 

He  was  joined  by  the  synod,  in  1763,  to  the  newly-formed  Pres- 
bytery of  Dutchess  county.  He  had,  for  several  years,  no  small 
difficulty  with  his  session :  two  elders  were  dismissed  from  their 
office  by  him  and  the  other  elders;  and  the  presbytery  admitted 
their  right,  in  common  with  every  other  body  in  church  or  state, 
to  purge  itself.  Mr.  John  Lawrence  appealed  to  the  synod  from 
some  other  decision  of  presbytery ;  and,  having  declared  all  the 
grievances  he  had  to  allege  against  his  pastor,  it  was  decided  that 
they  were  too  trivial,  even  if  true,  to  warrant  any  judicial  censure, 
and  could  in  no  way  justify  any  in  forsaking  Ball's  public  minis- 
trations. He  was  dismissed,  December  21,  1768,  and  when  his 
successor  resigned,  in  1772,  he  resumed  the  charge,  and  remained 
till  1784.  Having  spent  four  years  at  Amity,  in  Woodbridge,  Con- 
necticut, he  removed,  with  a  part  of  the  Bedford  congregation,  in 
1788,  to  Saratoga  county.  The  settlement  was  named  Ball  Town, 
but  has  long  since  become  widely  known  as  Ballston.  He  died  in 
1797. 


HUGH  KNOX 


Came  from  Ireland  in  1751,  and  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia, 
hearing  that  he  and  Mr.  John  Alison  were  desirous  of  being  taken 
on  trials,  directed  them  to  meet  Newcastle  Presbytery  at  Elk  River. 
Probably  they  did  so ;  for  Alison  w^as  soon  licensed,  and  w^as  exten- 
sively employed  as  a  missionary  in  the  Southern  provinces. 

Knox  gave  up  all  thought  of  the  ministry,  and  led  a  life  of 
"worldly  gayety,  teaching  for  a  support.  He  was  recommended,  by 
Dr.  Francis  Alison,  to  Rodgers,  of  St.  George's,  and  was  em- 
ployed as  a  teacher  near  Middletown,  Delaware.  He  attended  the 
Forest  Church  on  Sabbath  mornings,  and  kept  his  tavern-compa- 
nions in  a  roar,  of  an  evening,  by  imitations  of  Rodgers, — imitations 
so  complete  that  Mr.  David  Witherspoon,  the  keeper  of  the  house, 
and  an  elder  in  the  Old-Side  Church  of  Drawyers,  imagined  that 
it  must  be  Mr.  Rodgers  himself,  until  he  entered  the  room.  Soon 
after,  he  shook  off  these  follies,  and  entered  Nassau  Hall:  at  the 
commencement  he  requested  Mr.  Rodgers,  who  with  great  surprise 


HUGH    KNOX.  659 

saw  lilm  there,  to  forgive  him,  and  not  publish  his  delinquencies, 
for  his  mimicry  had  been  the  means  of  his  conversion. 

He  graduated  in  1754,  and  probably  studied  divinity  with  Burr. 
The  Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  the  island  of  Saba  requested 
New  York  Presbytery  to  send  them  a  minister.  They  proceeded 
to  ordain  Knox,  in  1755,  and  were  so  much  pleased  with  his  trial 
sermon,  on  the  "Dignity  and  Importance  of  the  Gospel  Ministry," 
that  they  unanimously  requested  its  publication.* 

He  had,  on  receiving  from  the  Rev.  Jacob  Green,  of  Hanover, 
New  Jersey,  a  copy  of  his  sermon  on  the  sinner's  faultiness  and 
inability,  corresponded  with  him  freely  on  his  peculiar  opinions  on 
those  points.  In  1769,  he  published  "A  Letter  to  Mr.  Green,"f 
expressing  his  high  regard  for  him,  and  for  the  candour  and  charity 
he  displayed  towards  him. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Green,  in  an  article  on  the  New  Haven  speculations 
concerning  God's  inability  to  constitute  a  world  of  free  agents,  in 
which  sin  should  not  enter,  states  that  a  similar  theory  had  been 
advanced  by  Mr.  Knox,  in  this  pamphlet.  We  are  indebted  to  the 
zeal  of  Bishop  Hobart  for  rescuing  Knox's  pamphlet  from  oblivion, 
by  embalming  it  in  the  Churchman's  Magazine  for  1808  and  '09. 
It  serves  to  show  the  wretched  sophistry  of  Hobart;  for  he  has 
appended  to  it  a  note  in  which  he  praises  the  ninth  article  of  "our 
church"  for  saying  that  "IT  (original  sin)  deserveth  God's  wrath 
and  damnation,"  and  for  implying  that  the  persons  in  whom  origi- 
nal sin  is  do  not  deserve  it:  a  distinction  not  unlike  that  of  the 
baron  bishop,  who  fought  as  a  baron  only,  and  gave  some  anxiety 
thereby  to  his  friends,  who  feared  that  the  devil,  in  clutching  the 
baron,  might  not  be  able  to  carry  him  off  without  bearing  the 
bishop  along. 

Knox  appears  in  this  letter  as  a  man  of  acute  mind,  clear  and 
vigorous  in  thought  and  expression,  candid,  and  open  to  convic- 
tion. Green  had  probably  known  the  difficulties  that  he  felt  on 
some  parts  of  the  Hopkinsian  scheme ;  and  on  the  publication,  in 
1767,  of  his  sermon  from  Romans  ix.  19,  on  the  sinner's  faultiness 
and  spiritual  inability,  he  wrote  to  Knox,  sending  him  a  copy. 
This  occasioned  Knox's  pamphlet.  He  thanks  him  for  his  sermon 
and  his  very  kind  letter,  and  then  says,  "I  entirely  approve  of,  and 
cordially  adhere  to,  that  scheme  of  religion  which  tends  to  exalt 
God  and  humble  the  creature.  I  think  God  can  never  be  exalted 
high  enough  in  the  thoughts  of  the  creature,  nor  the  sinful  crea- 
ture sunk  low  enough  in  his  own  thoughts.  Could  I  imagine  that 
there  was  one  article  in  my  creed  which  favoured  the  opposite  false 
abominable  doctrine,  I  would  tear  it  off  with  indignation,  and  tear 


*  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Library, 
f  New  York  Society's  Library. 


66D  HUGH   KNOX. 

away  that  part  of  mj  heart  which  had  harboured  it."  lie  then 
adds,  that  "absolute,  unconditional  reprobation"  seems  abhorrent 
to  every  just  view  of  God,  and  assumes  that  it  was  held  by  Green, 
■whereas  no  man  was  further  than  he  from  supposing  that  reproba- 
tion follows  any  one,  but  as  the  just  punishment  of  his  sin,  and  is 
not  always  conditional  on  the  blameworthiness  of  the  sinner. 

Knox  was  staggered,  and  very  reasonably  too,  by  such  expres- 
sions as  these : — "God  has  willed,  ordered,  and  in  his  way  caused, 
the  quantum  of  sin  in  the  world ;  and  this,  too,  as  a  necessary  and 
glorious  display  of  his  holiness."  "If  God  had  ordered  less  sin  in 
the  world,  it  would  have  proved  him  to  be  not  a  good  and  holy,  but 
an  envious,  being."  He  supposed  that,  "of  all  possible  plans  of  a 
world,  God  adopted  the  one  which  was  best  on  the  whole."  He  hesi- 
tated at  supposing  that  God  might  have  made  a  world  of  free  agents 
without  the  possibility  of  their  falling  into  sin.  He  conceived  that 
God  could  not,  in  consistency  with  his  perfections  and  the  free 
agency  of  the  creature,  make  a  system  of  free  accountable  crea- 
tures without  the  possibility  of  sin's  entering  into  the  system.  He 
made  a  distinction  between  Adam's  liberty  in  a  state  of  innocence, 
and  that  of  sinners  under  a  dispensation  of  preventing  restraining 
grace. 

His  repugnance  was  strong  to  the  Hopkinsian  notion  of  benevo- 
lence, and  of  the  necessity  of  sin  to  the  highest  display  of  God's 
glory,  and  to  President  Edwards's  doctrine  of  the  necessary  con- 
nection between  moral  effects  and  their  causes,  or  the  motives 
which  produce  them.  "Make  it,"  says  he,  "appear  clear  on  your 
principles  [those  of  Edwards  and  Hopkins]  that  God  is  exculpated 
from  the  charge  of  having  any  causality  in  producing  sin,  and  I 
am  satisfied.  Consider  me  in  the  humble  capacity  of  a  learner.  I 
have  such  a  firm  persuasion  of  your  piety,  and  such  a  respect  for 
your  judgment  and  candour,  as  will  keep  me  from  uncharitableness 
in  thought  or  language  towards  you.  There  breathes  such  a  spirit 
of  kindness  and  goodness  through  all  your  letters  as  secures  both 
my  aff'ection  and  my  gratitude. 

"The  distinction  between  natural  and  moral  inability,  I  have 
ever  thought  an  important  and  useful  one,  when  well  stated  and 
explained.  My  worthy  and  excellent  friend.  President  Burr,  was 
the  first  who  ever  gave  me  an  idea  of  this  distinction.  He  did  it 
in  three  sermons,  preached  from  Joshua  xxiv.  19 : — '  Ye  cannot 
serve  the  Lord,  for  he  is  an  holy  God.'  He  acknowledged  they 
were  the  substance  of  Edwards's  book  relative  to  that  subject,  and 
expressed  a  pretty  strong  desire  of  having  them  printed,  as  some 
of  the  most  useful  and  important  he  had  ever  preached.  I  would 
define  moral  inability  thus : — A  natural  and  contracted  disinclina- 
tion or  aversion  to  the  exercises  of  piety  and  moral  virtue,  which 
becomes  faulty  and  criminal  by  our  resisting  the  motives  which 


HUGH   KNOX.  661 

vrould  haA'G  overcome  it ;  and  neglecting,  by  prayer  and  other 
duties,  to  apply  to  God,  through  the  Redeemer,  for  those  influcnceg 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  which  it  would  have  been  wholly  subdued, 
and  our  volitions  and  actions  engaged  on  the  side  of  piety  and 
moral  rectitude. 

"The  system  of  the  ancient  Calvinists  is  well  jointed,  and  hangs 
together;  but  Calvinism,  as  held  by  President  Edwards's  admirers, 
seems  to  me  as  dififerent  from  it  as  Arminianism, — a  middle  thing 
patched  up  out  of  both, — and  ought  to  be  called  'Edwardism.'" 

"I  greatly  question,"  he  says,  "what  you  say  on  p.  19: — 'They 
have  all  the  powers  that  can  be  conceived  in  the  nature  of  things 
for  a  sinner  to  have ;  for  they  have  light  in  the  understanding ; 
they  see  the  reasonableness  and  fitness  of  things,  and  the  obliga- 
tions they  are  under,'  I  always  thought  the  understanding  was 
sadly  darkened  and  blinded  by  the  fall ;  that  the  natural  man  could 
not  know  nor  discern  the  things  of  God,  and  that  it  required  the 
power  of  renewing  grace  to  cure  this  faculty  of  its  blindness ;  but 
I  find  that  Mr.  Hopkins  and  you  make  out  this  faculty  pretty 
sound  and  vigorous,  as  though  it  had  sufi'ered  little,  if  any  thing, 
by  the  original  apostasy." 

These  extracts  speak  favourably  of  the  spirit  of  the  man,  and 
show  that  he  was  a  strenuous  opponent  of  Hopkinsianism.  Unfor- 
tunately, he  resorted  to  a  bad  hypothesis  in  order  to  get  rid  of  one 
not  so  bad,  anticipating  therein  the  New  Haven  divinity,  and  fol- 
lowing, if  we  may  believe  the  Edinburgh  Review,  in  the  steps  of 
Bishop  Butler,  Dr.  Balguy,  and  Archdeacon  Paley. 

What  efiect  the  pamphlet  produced,  who  answered  it,  and  whe- 
ther the  New  York  Presbytery  took  notice  of  it,  are  among  the 
things  unknown. 

Yale  College  gave  him  the  degree  of  A.M.  in  1768,  and  the 
University  of  Glasgow  made  him  a  Doctor  in  Divinity. 

In  1772,  his  church  was  destroyed  by  a  hurricane;  and,  at  the 
request  of  New  York  Presbytery,  the  synod,  in  1773,  appropriated 
fifty  pounds  out  of  the  collections  for  pious  uses,  to  aid  him  in  re- 
building. The  presbytery  corresponded  with  him  yearly,  through 
Dr.  Rodgers,  and  expressed  their  regret  on  hearing,  after  the  Revo- 
lution, of  the  declining  condition  of  his  flock.  They  asked  him  if 
there  was  not  some  way  in  which  they  could  aid  him. 

In  the  records  of  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  is  entered  the  baptism 
of  his  son  Hugh,  in  1781,  who  graduated  at  Yale  in  1800. 

He  spent  the  closing  years  of  his  life  in  St.  Croix,  and  died 
there  in  October,  1790. 

The  celebrated  Alexander  Hamilton,*  in  early  boyhood,  was 
placed  under  the  instruction  of  Dr.  Knox,  who,  delighted  with  the 

*  Life  of  Hamilton. 


662  HENRY   MARTIN — JOHN   HOGE. 

unfolding  of  his  mind,  took  a  deep  intei'est  in  his  welfare;  and 
Knox's  fervent  piety  gave  a  strong  religious  bias  to  Hamilton's 
feelings.  Knox  espoused  the  American  cause  warmly,  and  main- 
tained a  pleasant  and  familiar  correspondence  with  his  pupil. 

lie  published  two  volumes  of  sermons  on  interesting  subjects  at 
Glasgow,  in  1772.     A  copy  is  in  the  library  of  Nassau  Hall. 


HENRY   MARTIN 


Graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1751,  and  was  licensed  by  New 
York  Presbytery.  Hopewell  and  Maidenhead  asked  for  him,  in 
May,  1752.  He  was  accused  of  having  behaved  ill,  in  preaching 
as  a  candidate  at  Tehicken,  and  refusing  to  settle,  as  they  thought 
he  had  encouraged  them  to  expect;  but  New  Brunswick  Presby- 
tery examined  the  matter  and  justified  him.  He  was  called  to 
Newtown  and  Salisbury,  in  Bucks  county,  in  May,  1753,  and  was 
ordained  and  installed  by  Abingdon  Presbytery,  April  9,  1754, 
He  died  before  May,  1764. 


JOHN  HOGE, 


j  A  SON  of  William  Hoge*,  "  an  exile,  for  Christ's  sake,"  from 
Scotland,  in  the  days  of  the  persecution.  After  some  time  spent 
in  Amboy,  he  removed  to  Delaware,  and  from  thence  to  the  Swa- 
tara,  in  Dauphin  county,  Pennsylvania.  He  was  among  the  first 
settlers  on  Cedar  Creek,  in  Opeckon,  Virginia. 

Samuel  Gclston  went  there,  as  the  first  missionary  of  our 
church,  in  the  fall  of  1735.  "  0  Pekin  wrote  for  him"  to  Donegal 
Presbytery  in  the  next  May,  and  he  was  sent.  Anderson  visited 
the  place  in  1737.  Craig  and  Thomson  were  there  in  1739, — ■ 
"  both  parts  of  Opeckon"  having  written  for  Thomson.  In  April, 
1740,  Gavin  was  at  Bullskin  and  Opeckon :  Lyon  and  Anderson 
went  thither.  Year  after  year  came  its  supplications.  It  also 
asked  for  Lyon  in  1740,  and  for  Hyndman  in  1742.     With  the 


*  MS.  Life  of  Dr.  Moses  Hoge :  by  Rev.  J.  B.  Hoge. 


JOHN  HOGE.  663 

loss  of  Donegal  Records,  after  1750,  disappears  the  last  faint 
trace  of  the  visits  of  the  Old-Side  ministers  to  Frederick 
county. 

Lying  on  the  road  by  which  the  Valley  of  Virginia  was  entered, 
Opeckon  had  the  benefit  of  the  New-Side  ministers,  as  they  went 
down  to  the  numerous  vacancies.  Robinson  preached  there,  and 
so  probably  did  John  Blair  and  Roan,  Gilbert  Tennent  and  Fin- 
ley,  William  Tennent  and  Samuel  Blair.  A  supplication  for  sup- 
plies, and  in  particular  for  the  opportunity  of  a  probationer  from 
Cedar  Creek  and  Opeckon,  was  brought  to  the  Synod  of  New 
York  in  May,  1748,  after  Dean  and  Byram  had  preached  there 
with  success. 

In  1748,*  John  Hoge  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall,  but  was  dis-  . 
couraged,  by  the  New-Side  Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  from  enter- 
ing on  trials,  lest  his  genius  should  not  be  fit  for  the  ministry. 
Persevering  in  his  purpose,  he  gave  the  presbytery  more  satis- 
faction in  his  trials  than  was  expected,  and  he  was  licensed,  Octo- 
ber 10,  1753.  He  was  ordained  in  1755,  and  settled  at  Cedar 
Creek.  His  father  gave  the  ground  on  which  Opeckon  Meeting- 
house stands.  His  brother  James  was  one  of  his  elders,  but 
withdrew,  and  united  with  an  Associate  congregation  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. James  Hoge  thought,  in  the  solemn  exercises  of  his  early 
life,  "  I  would  be  willing  to  travelf  round  the  world,  if  I  could  be 
sure  to  meet  with  Christ,  and  get  him  to  take  me  in  his  arms,  and 
tell  me  that  he  loved  me,  and  would  save  me." 

On  the  union,  Hoge  was  annexed  to  Donegal  Presbytery.  In 
1760,  he  had  charge  of  Tuscarora,  Opeckon,  and  Back  Creek. 
He  rarely  attended  ecclesiastical  meetings.  In  April,  1762,  he 
lamented  the  sad  deficiency  of  his  people.  Cedar  Creek  and 
Opeckon  promised  forty-five  pounds  a  year,  and  the  arrears 
amounted  to  twenty-five  pounds.  He  resigned,  and  removed  into 
Pennsylvania,  and  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  Huntingdon 
Presbytery,  being  without  charge. 

*  Davies's  Diary. 

f   "  Travel"  being  used  in  the  North  of  Ireland  as  synonymous  with  going  oa 
foot. 


664i  NATHANAEL  WHIIAKER. 


NATHANAEL   WIIITAKER 

Was  born*  on  Long  Island,  February  22,  1722,  and  graduated 
at  Nassau  Hall  in  1752.  He  was  ordained,  and  settled  in  the 
bounds  of  New  York  Presbytery,  in  1752.  In  1759,  he  was  called 
to  Chelsea,t  near  Norwich,  Connecticut.  It  was  conditional : — 
"  provided  he  be  first  liberated  from  his  charge  in  the  Jerseys." 
This  church  was  Presbyterian  in  its  organization,  and  was  in  its 
infancy,  having  six  communicants,  and  no  house  of  worship.  The 
installation  took  place  in  the  open  air,  February  25,  1761 :  the 
sermon,  by  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Lord,  of  Norwich,  was  printed,  with 
those  parts  which,  out  of  mercy  to  the  shivering  people,  had  been 
omitted  in  the  delivery. 

Whitaker  had  fine  talents,  and  was  very  prepossessing.  He 
engaged  in  traffic,  and  "pierced  himself  through  with  many  sor- 
rows." His  people  accused  him  of  being  greedy  of  gain  and  neg- 
lectful of  their  interests :  he  charged  them  with  violent  and  un- 
christian conduct. 

The  meeting-house  was  completed  in  1766.  The  Connecticut 
Board  of  Correspondents  for  Evangelizing  the  Indians  selected 
him  to  go  to  Great  Britain  with  the  Rev.  Samson  Occum,  of  the 
Mohegan  tribe,  to  solicit  funds  for  a  mission  school.  Philip  sup- 
poses the  project  to  have  been  set  on  foot  by  Whitefield.  He  had 
frequently,  in  previous  years,  urged  that  Occum  might  be  sent 
over. 

Lady  Huntingdon!  warmly  advocated  the  cause ;  Romaine,  and 
Venn,  and  Powley,  (son-in-law  of  Mrs.  Unwin,)  exerted  them- 
selves at  Leeds,  Huddersfield,  and  Halifax.  A  considerable  sum 
v/  was  collected  at  Newcastle,  where,  at  Whitaker's  particular  desire, 
John  Wesley  preached. 

They  returned  after  eighteen  months'  absence,  having  had 
great  success,  and  prepared  the  way  for  founding  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege. The  University  of  St.  Andrew's  conferred  on  Whitaker,  in 
1767,  the  degree  of  D.D. 

While  in  England,  he  published  several  sermons  on  "  Recon- 
ciliation to  God,"  in  which  he  endeavours  to  prove, — 

That  the  renewed  soul  is  reconciled  to  God's  original  essential 
properties  and  character  as  absolute  Lord  and  Governor  of  all ; 
that  the  ground  of  reconciliation  is  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  and  the 


*  Rev.  Joseph  B.  Felt's  History  of  Salem. 

■f   Calkins' 8  History  of  Norwicli. 

j  Life  and  Times  of  Lady  Huntingdon. 


NATHANAEL  WHITAKER.  665 

means  of  it ;  the  knowledge  of  Christ  crucified,  and  the  power  of 
the  IIolj  Spirit. 

That  the  sinner  is,  hy  regeneration,  imbued  with  a  new  temper 
and  ♦a  taste  and  relish  for  divine  things. 

That  Christ's  work  has  not  rendered  God  in  himself  any  more 
lovely  to  the  unrenewed  heart ;  and. 

That  the  sinner  is  not  renewed  by  "objective  light." 

The  difficulties  with  his  people  blazed  afresh  on  his  return,  and 
he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Second  Church  in  Salem,  Massachusetts, 
May  9,  1769.  He  had  written  to  them  a  month  before,  insisting 
on  the  adoption  of  the  Presbyterian  system.  He  declared  that 
he  never  was  so  perfectly  sick  of  the  Congregational  method,  and 
demanded  that  he  should  have  a  full  negative  on  the  proceedings 
of  the  church,  and  that  no  church  act  should  be  valid  without 
him.  This  strange  demand  was  accounted  a  part  of  the  Presby- 
terian system  by  the  New  England  divines ;  and  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards tells  us  that  the  church  of  Northampton  conceded  to  his 
grandfather,  the  venerable  Stoddard,  in  accordance  with  his  Pres- 
byterian principles,  "  a  negative  on  all  their  proceedings,  and 
never,  so  far  as  I  heard,  disputed  it."  He  was  installed,  July  28, 
1769. 

But  Salem,  though  by  interpretation  signifying  "  peace,"  haa 
been  the  scene  of  much  theological  warfare.  In  1773,  the  people 
declared  that  they  had  not  acquiesced  in  Whitaker's  proposals. 
He,  with  fourteen  friends,  withdrew,  and  formed  a  Presbyterian 
congregation,  and  united  with  Boston  Presbytery,  November  27, 
1773.  The  presbytery  dismissed,  without  censure,  those  who  with- 
drew from  him,  and,  a  council  being  called,  declared  these  persona 
to  be  the  Third  Church.  His  friends  erected  a  house  of  worship, 
and  the  property  was  conveyed  to  him,  as  founder  and  sole  pro- 
prietor, for  the  use  of  the  congregation  only  so  long  as  it  con- 
tinued orthodox  in  faith.  It  was  burned,  October  6,  1774;  and, 
in  the  spring,  Dr.  Whitaker,  and  his  elder,  Mr.  Nathaniel  Silsbee, 
met  with  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  as  corre- 
spondents, to  ask  aid  to  rebuild.  The  synod  commended  them  to 
the  charity  of  all.  They  completed  their  new  church  in  February, 
1776. 

Whitaker,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  espoused  warmly  the 
cause  of  independence.  He  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  salt- 
petre, and  five  hundred  pounds  were  subscribed  to  enable  him  to 
erect  "works  at  the  head  of  the  turnpike."  The  town  gave  him 
leave.  May  13,  1776,  to  sink  cisterns  to  procure  nitre.  In  a  few 
weeks  he  furnished  the  authorities  with  ninety-two  pounds,  and 
soon  after  with  two  hundred  and  eighty-two  pounds.  On  the  oc- 
casion of  the  Boston  massacre,  in  1771,  he  printed  a  sermon  on 
"  The  Fatal  Tragedy  in  King  Street;"  and,  on  the  proclamation  of 


666  NATHANAEL  WHITAKER. 

independence,  another,  entitled  "An  Antidote  to  Toryism."  At 
the  termination  of  the  struggle,  he  reprinted  the  latter,  with 
another, — "  On  the  Reward  of  Toryism." 

The  Synod  of  New  England  was  formed,  May  31,  1775,  by 
forming  the  three  Presbyteries  of  Londonderry,  Salem,  and 
Palmer.  It  met  only  once  or  twice ;  and,  in  1782,  only  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Salem  remained,  with  barely  a  quorum.  Whitaker  was 
again  in  trouble.  The  church  resolved  to  adopt  the  Congrega- 
tional form,  November  28,  1783,  and  called  a  council,  which  dis- 
missed him,  February  10,  1784.  He  was  shut  out  of  the  church, 
March  25.  Salem  Presbytery  justified  him,  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Cleveland,  of  Chebacco,  defended  the  people  and  the  council. 
He  published  a  history  of  the  case,  and  then  a  confutation  of  the 
pamphlets  on  the  other  side. 

He  removed  to  Maine,  and,  after  vainly  attempting  to  establish 
a  presbytery,  he  went  to  Virginia,  and  died,  January  21,  1795, 
in  poverty,  at  Woodbridge,  near  Hampton,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
three. 

His  son  Jonathan  graduated  at  Harvard,  in  1797,  and  became  a 
Congregational  minister  with  Unitarian  sentiments. 

The  Rev.  William  Hart,  of  Saybrook,  who  was  declared  by 
Davenport  to  be  unconverted,  attacked  the  sermons  on  "  Recon- 
ciliation" on  their  appearance  in  this  country.  He  held  them  up 
as  new,  objectionable,  and  of  the  invention  of  Samuel  Hopkins. 
Whitaker  replied,  in  1770,  and  retorts  on  Hart  that  he  held, 
that,  as  all  men  have  a  conscience,  they  have  a  taste  for  and  an 
admiration  of  holiness :  asserting,  on  the  contrary,  that  there  is  a 
natural  enmity  of  the  heart  to  God, — "  an  inward,  partial,  in- 
terested aflFection,  contrary  to  the  inward  sense  of  righteousness." 
Hart,  also,  attacked  Hopkins,  and  occasioned  the  publication  of 
his  treatise  on  holiness.  He  had  represented  Whitaker  as  teach- 
ing that  man  is  turned  devil.  Hopkins  replied,*  that,  before  Hart 
let  Whitaker  go,  he  blackened  him,  and  made  him  look  like  a 
devil. 

There  was  another  Nathanael  Whitaker,  who  was  a  native  of 
Medford,  Massachusetts,  and  studied  at  Harvard.  In  June,  1742, 
it  is  mentioned,  in  the  public  prints,  that  he  had  sailed  from 
Boston,  to  enter  "  into  orders."  He  was  settled  in  Maryland; 
and  Archbishop  Seckerf  was  informed,  in  1759,  on  unquestionable 
authority,  that  he  was  one  of  the  worst  of  men. 

*  Essay  on  Holiness.  f  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson :  Albany  Documents. 


BENJAMIN  HAIT — BENJAMIN  TALLMADGE.        667 


BENJAMIN  HAIT 

\Yas  probably  a  native  of  Norwalk,  Connecticut.  He  graduated 
at  Nassau  Hall  in  1754.  While  a  student,  be  went,  in  company 
with  Davies,  from  Newark  to  New  York.  "  A  promising  young 
man,"  be  observes.  "I  bad  an  agreeable  conversation  with  bim 
on  original  sin,  and  tbe  influence  of  tbe  flesh  upon  the  spirit  to 
incline  it  to  sin."  He  was  taken  on  trials  by  New  Brunswick 
Presbytery,  as  soon  as  be  received  bis  diploma,  September  27, 
1754,  and  was  licensed,  October  25,  and  sent  to  supply  tbe  Forks 
of  Delaware. 

On  the  records  of  Forks  his  name  is  spelled  Hoit,  as  it  was 
uniformly  pronounced.  In  tbe  next  May,  Amwell  and  the  Forks 
asked  for  him,  and  be  was  called  to  Fagg's  Manor.  Amwell 
presented  a  call,  November  11,  1755,  which  he  accepted,  and 
was  ordained,  December  4,  1755.  He  continued  there  till  May, 
1765;  and,  being  dismissed,  be  was  called,  in  November,  to  Wall- 
kill.  He  settled  at  Connecticut  Farms,  and  died  there,  June  27, 
1779. 

Mr.  Hait's  son  was  a  merchant  in  Schenectady,  and  married  a 
daughter  of  the  younger  President  Edwards. 


BENJAMIN   TALLMADGE 

Was  born  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  January  1,  1725,  and 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1747.  On  the  death  of  Youngs,  he  was  sent 
for,  in  May,  1752,  by  tbe  people  of  Brookhaven.  He  was  or- 
dained at  large  by  Suffolk  Presbytery,  October  23,  1754.  Park 
prayed ;  Buell  preached,  from  Isa.  liii.  1 ;  Prime  presided,  and  set 
forth  the  nature  of  Presbyterian  ordination ;  Dagget  gave  the 
right  band  of  fellowship,  Brown  exhorted  tbe  people,  and  Thomas 
Paine  closed  with  prayer. 

Tbe  church  in  Brookhaven  bad  not  escaped  rending,  and  was 
in  a  deplorable,  languishing  condition;  so  he  was  not  installed. 
A  "  Separate"  meeting-house  was  put  up,  two  miles  beyond  Se- 
tauket.  John  Churchman,  in  tbe  exercise  of  the  ministry  among 
Friends,  travelled  on  Long  Island,  in  1769,  and,  applying  for  tbe 
use  of  Tallmadge's  church,  was  refused.  He  went  to  "  the  Sepa- 
rates," supposing  that,  "having  come  out  from  us,  they  bad  laid 
aside  bigotry;  but,  on  making  known  his  object,  they  refused  bim 


668  ABNER    REEVE. 

promptly, — as  promptly  as  any  Friend's  meeting-house  would  have 
been  refused  to  a  Separate  or  a  Presbyterian," 

Tallmadge  married  the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Smith,  of 
Rye.  His  son.  Colonel  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  of  Connecticut,  was 
a  distinguished  officer  of  the  Revolution. 

He  was  a  highly-honoured  minister. 

He  died,  February  5,  1786. 


ABNER   REEVE, 

Born  in  Southold,  in  1710,  and  graduated  at  Yale  in  1731. 
Licensed  in  1735,  he  preached  at  Smithtown  ten  or  twelve  years, 
but  was  laid  aside  for  intemperance.  After  Mr.  Throop  was  set- 
tled at  Southold,  Reeve*  was  led,  by  his  faithful  care  and  minis- 
tration, to  repentance,  and  was  admitted  to  resume  his  license  by 
Suflfolk  Presbytery,  they  being  satisfied  there  was  a  saving  change 
in  him.  Moriches  and  Ketchabonock  obtained  his  services,  and 
he  was  ordained  and  installed,  November  6,  1755,  in  the  Western 
Meeting-house.  Brown  prayed ;  Throop,  by  the  request  of  Reeve, 
preached,  from  1  Cor.  ix.  27 ;  Prime  presided,  Park  made  the  or- 
daining prayer,  Tallmadge  gave  the  right  hand  of  fellowship, 
Buell  exhorted  the  people,  and  Dagget  closed  with  prayer. 
Being  dismissed,  in  1763,  he  settled  at  Blooming  Grove,  New 
York,  soon  after.  Adopting  the  Independent  scheme,  he  with- 
drew from  New  York  Presbytery  in  1770,  and  was  the  minister  at 
Burlington,  Vermont,  till  his  death,  in  1795. 

His  son  Tapping  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall,  in  17 — ,  and  was 

the  tutor  from  to  .      He  married  the   only   daughter 

of  President  Burr.  He  resided  at  Litchfield ;  was  eminent  as  a 
lawyer,  a  judge,  and  a  Christian.  His  law-school  was  in  great 
repute. 

*  MS.  Records  of  SuflFolk  Presbytery. 


MOSES   TUTTLE — JOHN    HARRIS.  669 


MOSES  TUTTLE, 

The  son  of  John  Tuttle,*  of  New  Haven,  was  born  in  that 
town,  June  25,  1715,  and  is  said  to  have  followedf  the  sea  before 
graduating  at  Yale  in  1745.  In  1747,  he  Avas  ordained  the  first 
minister  in  Granville,  Massachusetts,  and  was  dismissed  in  1753. 
"He  was,"  says  Dr.  Cooley,  of  Granville,  "an  orthodox  and 
faithful  minister:  his  short  ministry  here  was  blessed  with  pros- 
perity and  peace."  In  1756,  he  was  a  member  of  the  New-Side 
Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  and  was  then  employed  in  Kent  county, 
Delaware.  On  the  union,  he  was  joined  to  Lewes  Presbytery*  N^ 
In  November,  17G3,  the  Corporation  for  the  Relief  of  Poor  and 
Distressed  Ministers  paid  him  twenty-five  pounds,  he  being  in  ex- 
treme poverty,  and  intending  to  return  to  the  place  whence  he  was 
driven  in  the  late  war.  Soon  after — in  1764 — he  belonged  to  New 
York  Presbytery,  and  withdrew  in  1769.  The  cause  which  im- 
pelled him,  Mr.  Reeve,  of  Blooming  Grove,  and  Mr.  Dorbe,  of 
Parsippany,  to  this  step,  about  the  same  time,  is  unknown. 

He  died  at  Southold,  Long  Island,  it  is  said,  in  April,  1771. 

He  was  a  brother-in-law  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  having  married, 
in  1746,  his  sister  Martha,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Timothy  Edwards, 
of  Windsor.  Dr.  Cooley  says,  "  The  good  man,  after  his  dismission 
from  Granville,  preached  in  various  places,  and  died  in  peace,  in  a 
good  old  age." 

His  daughter  Esther,  widow  of  Mr.  Amos  Cady,  of  Vernon, 
Connecticut,  was  living  there  in  October,  1851,  at  the  age  of 
ninety-five,  in  the  possession  of  her  memory  and  other  faculties. 


JOHN   HARRIS 


Graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1753,  and,  soon  after,  October 
12,  was  examined  by  the  New-Side  Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  with 
a  view  to  his  being  taken  on  trials.     Davies  speaks  of  him  as  a      )^^ 
promising  candidate.      He  acquitted    himself   to  universal  satis- 
faction.     It  would  seem   that  he   had  resided  in  Virginia ;    for 

*  Communicated  by  N.  Goodwin,  Esq.,  Hartford. 

t   Having  signed  the  letter  to  the  archbishop,  he  receives  a  notice  from  the 
Covenanting  Presbyterian,  in  his  letter  to  the  "  Cursing  Prophet." 


670  WILLIAM   RAMSEY. 

Finley,*  writing  to  Bellamy  to  "  second  the  present  application  to 
Mr.  Edwards,"  says,  (August  1,  1751,)  "Our  presbytery  was 
providentially  sitting  when  Mr.  Harris  came  along  from  Virginia ; 
and  we  sent  a  letter  to  Mr.  Edwards,  to  signify  our  hearty  con- 
currence with  our  brethren  in  Virginia,  in  their  address  to  him," 
to  settle  in  the  Old  Dominion,  lie  Avas  the  bearer  of  the  pro- 
posals to  Edwards. 

In  1756,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  Indian  River,  near  Lewes, 
Delaware,  and  resigned  in  1769.  In  the  spring  of  that  year,  he 
was  sent,  by  the  synod,  to  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  "  those 
parts  of  South  Carolina  that  are  under  our  care."  In  1771,  the 
synod  ordered  him  to  supply  at  Hitchcock's  and  Cartridge  Creek, 
in  Anson  county.  North  Carolina,  for  three  months.  He  joined 
Orange  Presbytery  in  1774,  and  was  set  off,  with  five  others, 
in  1784,  to  form  South  Carolina  Presbytery. 


WILLIAM   RAMSEY, 

The  sonf  of  James  Ramsey,  a  pious  man,  from  Ireland,  was 
born  in  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania.  His  youngest  brother, 
David,  born  in  1749,  was  a  physician  in  Charleston,  and  distin- 
guished as  an  author  as  well  as  for  his  worth.  William  Ramsey 
graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1754,  and,  while  preparing  for  the 
ministry,  was  selected  as  a  suitable  person  to  unite  the  divided  con- 
gregation of  Fairfield,  in  Cohanzy,  left  vacant  by  the  death  of 
Elmer.  Dr.  AlisonJ  furnished  their  messenger,  Mr.  Ogden,  with  a 
letter  to  President  Stiles,  to  assist  them  in  seeking  a  candidate,  both 
parties  being  anxious  to  come  harmoniously  together.  Ramsey 
went  to  Connecticut,  and  was  licensed  by  the  Association  of  the 
eastern  district  of  Fairfield  county,  in  order  that  he  might  appear 
before  the  people  free  from  all  that  could  alienate  any  from  him. 
He  was  received  by  Abingdon  Presbytery,  May  11, 1756,  and  was 
ordained  and  installed  at  Fairfield,  December  1,  1756. 

He  died  November  5,  1771,  aged  thirty-nine,  greatly  lamented. 
His  brother-in-law.  Dr.  Jonathan  Elmer,  pronounced  a  glowing 
eulogy  on  his  piety,  talents,  and  excellence.     It  was  printed. § 

He  lies  buried  in  "the  old  New  Englandtown"  graveyard, ||  with 
this  inscription: — "Beneath  this  stone  lie  interred  the  remains  of 


*  Bellamy  papers.  f  Memoir  of  Dr.  David  Ramsey. 

J  Stiles  MSS.  ?  New  York  Historical  Society's  Library. 

II  Communicated  by  Dr.  John  Barron  Porter,  of  Bridgeton,  New  Jersey. 


HUGH   McADEN.  671 

the  Rev.  William  Ramsey,  M.A.,  for  sixteen  years  a  faithful  pastor 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  place,  whose  superior  genius 
and  native  eloquence  shone  so  conspicuously  in  the  pulpit  as  to 
command  the  attention  and  gain  the  esteem  of  all  his  hearers.  In 
every  situation  of  life  he  discharged  his  duty  faithfully.  He  lived 
greatly  respected,  and  died  universally  lamented." 
He  married  Miss  Sarah  Sealy,  of  Cohanzy. 


HUGH  McADEN 


Was  born*  in  Pennsylvania,  and  graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in 
1753.  Licensed  in  1755,  by  Newcastle  Presbytery,  he  was  sent  at 
once  on  a  mission  to  the  South.  Leaving  Kirkpatricks,  in  Not- 
tingham, June  3,  he  passed  to  Conecocheague,  and,  crossing  the 
Potomac,  travelled  along  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  It  was  a  season 
of  great  distress :  the  dreadful  tokens  of  long-prevailing  drought 
met  his  eye  every  day ;  the  uneasiness  occasioned  by  the  war  was 
changed  to  terror  by  the  news  of  Braddock's  defeat,  and  he  met 
the  people  flying  from  Virginia,  for  security,  into  North  Carolina. 
He  visited  the  new  settlers  in  South  Carolina,  on  Broad  River, 
Tyger  River,  Waxhaw,  and  Catawba ;  and,  returning,  was  invited 
to  divide  his  time  between  Cathy's  Creek  (Thyatira)  and  Rocky 
River,  North  Carolina;  but  the  state  of  the  people,  not  united 
among  themselves,  led  him  to  decline.  After  preaching  among  the 
Scotch  Highlanders,  he  passed  three  Sabbaths  at  the  Welsh  Tract, 
and  was  called  by  the  people  there,  and  at  Goshen.  He  was  or- 
dained, by  Newcastle  Presbytery,  in  1757,  and  probably  returned 
at  once  to  the  South,  In  May,  1759,  he  was  dismissed  to  accept 
the  calls,  which  had  then  been  in  his  hands  some  years.  Goshen 
being  the  Grove  congregation  in  Duplin  county,  and  the  Welsh 
Tract  being  on  Cape  Fear  River,  in  Hanover  county,  he  joined 
Hanover  Presbytery,  July  18,  1759,  and  in  March,  1768,  he  was 
settled  at  Hico,  Dan  River,  and  County  Line.  Subsequently  he 
served  the  congregations  of  Grier's,  Red  House,  and  Pittsylvania. 
In  1770,  with  six  other  ministers,  he  was  set  off  to  form  Orange 
Presbytery.  He  died  January  20, 1781,  two  days  after  the  British 
army  passed  by.  Systematic  in  study,  in  visiting,  in  examining, 
he  faithfully  fulfilled  his  ministry,  and  left  behind  an  honourable 
memory. 

*  Dr.  Foote's  Sketches  of  North  Carolina,  in  which  is  printed  his  journal  of  hia 
first  missionary  tour. 


d72  GEORGE   DUFFIELD. 


GEORGE  DUFFIELD 

Was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  in  October,  1732,  and  graduated  at 
Nassau  Hall  at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  was  a  tutor  there  from  1754 
to  1756.  He  was  ordained  by  the  New-Side  Presbytery  of  New- 
castle, in  March,  1756,  and  was  directed  by  the  synod,  in  the  next 
September,  to  the  several  vacancies  to  the  southward.  In  the 
y/  spring  of  1757,  there  was  a  revival  of  religion  at  Fagg's  Manor, 
^  under  Mr.  Duffield.  He  was  soon  after  sent  by  the  synod  to  Hano- 
ver, in  Virginia ;  and  he  accepted  a  call  to  Carlisle  and  Big  Spring 
early  in  1759 ;  reluctantly,  and  with  uneasiness,  he  joined  Donegal 
Presbytery.  He  was  installed  the  third  Wednesday  of  September. 
In  April,  1763,  he  was  called  to  the  Second  Church,  Philadelphia; 
but  Gilbert  Tennent,  with  the  trustees,  opposed  the  call  being 
handed  to  him :  the  presbytery  transmitted  it  to  Donegal  Presby- 
tery, and  they  decided  not  to  present  it  to  him,  without  even  con- 
sulting his  congregations.  An  appeal  being  taken  by  the  Second 
Church,  the  synod  ordered  a  rehearing,  because  the  presbytery  had 
acted  without  sujBicient  light.  The  matter  was  dropped,  but  was 
again  renewed  in  January,  1768,  a  joint  call  being  made  for  him  and 
Strain,  of  Slate  Ridge.  This  also  the  presbytery  declined  to  give 
him.     In  1765,  he  was  sent  to  Carolina. 

He  gave  up  Big  Spring,  and  was  installed,  November  14,  1769, 
at  Monaghan,  to  give  it  one-third  of  his  time.  Roan  presided,  and 
Cooper,  of  Middle  Spring,  preached.  The  First  Church  in  Phila- 
delphia,* having  taken  up  land  on  Society  Hill,  proposed  to  the 
Second  Congregation  to  join  with  them  in  erecting  a  house  of 
•worship :  they  declined.  The  First  Church  proceeded  to  build,  and 
obtained  a  charter  of  incorporation  for  the  united  committees  of 
the  First  and  Third  Churches.  The  Pine  Street  Church  presented 
a  call  to  Patrick  Alison :  he  accepted  it,  but  in  a  short  time  re- 
turned it.  Samuel  Eakin,  a  licentiate  of  Lewes  Presbytery,  was 
settled,  in  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  Dr.  EAving:  on  his  removal, 
Duffield  was  called;  in  1771,  the  session  objecting,  the  Second 
Philadelphia  Presbytery  declined  to  consent  to  its  being  prose- 
cuted. The  synod  gave  them  leave  by  a  large  majority,  but  the 
presbytery  refused  to  receive  Duffield  as  a  member.  The  synod, 
in  1773,  judged  that  he  had  good  cause  of  complaint,  and  declared 
him  to  be  the  minister  of  the  Third  Congregation,  and  ordered  that 
he  be  put  upon  the  list  of  the  aforesaid  presbytery.  At  the  re- 
quest of  the  people,  they  were  set  off  to  the  First  Philadelphia 

— y; 

*  MSS.  of  Samuel  Hazard,  Esq. 


ABRAHAM   KETTLETAS.  673 

Presbytery,  and  the  elders  were  authorized  to  resign  if  they  could 
not  concur  in  the  settlement  of  the  minister  according  to  the  wish 
of  the  congregation. 

He  was  a  *zealous  patriot,  "an  early,  decided,  and  uniform 
friend  of  his  country."  In  early  life,  he  was  remarkably  ani- 
mated in  his  public  addresses,  and  very  popular;  his  manner  was 
always  warm  and  forcible ;  his  talent  of  touching  the  conscience 
and  seizing  the  heart  was  peculiar.  Abundant  in  labours,  pecu- 
liarly qualified  for  planting  churches,  zeal  to  do  good  exposed  him 
to  the  disease  which  called  him  away. 

He  died  February  2,  1790.  His  first  wife  was  a  daughter  of 
Samuel  Blah- ;  the  second,  of  Colonel  John  Armstrong. 


ABRAHAM    KETTLETASf 

Was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  December  26,  1732,  and 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1752.  He  was  early  impressed  with  a  sense 
of  religion.  He  was  probably  licensed  by  New  York  Presbytery, 
and  was  installed  at  Elizabethtown,  September  14, 1757.  His  stay 
was  short,  having  left  before  September  29,  1760.  In  the  next 
spring  he  appealed  from  the  judgment  of  New  York  Presbytery, 
and  earnestly  requested  the  synod  to  endeavour  to  remove  the  diffi- 
culties between  him  and  his  brethren.  The  presbytery  had  borne 
testimony  in  a  moderate  manner  against  what  they  disapproved  in 
a  brother  for  whom  they  had  a  very  high  esteem,  and  did  not  in- 
tend to  suspend  or  exclude  him ;  and,  to  remove  all  misunderstand- 
ing, they  condescended,  at  the  request  of  the  synod's  committee,  to 
receive  him  as  though  no  censure  had  ever  passed  on  him.  The 
breach  was  not  healed,  and  he  withdrew  before  May,  1765. 

He  married  the  daughter  of  the  Hon.  William  Smith,  of  New 
York,  and  resided  at  Jamaica,  having  no  pastoral  charge.  Being 
familiar  with  the  three  languages  then  spoken  in  the  province,  and 
an  eloquent  speaker,  he  often  preached  for  the  Dutch  and  French 
churches  as  well  as  the  Presbyterian. 

Entering  warmly  into  the  struggle  for  independence,  his  safety 
required  him  to  leave  Long  Island,  and,  until  the  close  of  the  war, 
he  sojourned  in  New  England.  He  was  elected,  in  1777,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  convention  to  form  a  Constitution  for  the  State  of  New 
York,  but  he  did  not  attend.     He  was  a  political  writer  of  note. 

He  died  September  30, 1798. 

Several  of  his  sermons  were  published. 

*  Dr.  Green,  at  Lis  funeral.  f  Dr.  Hodge  spells  his  name  "Kittlctas." 

43 


674  JOHN   MARTIN — EBENEZER   PRIME. 


JOHN  MARTIN 

Studied  with  Davies,  Avas  taken  on  trials  by  Hanover  Presby- 
tery, March  18, 1756,  and  -was  licensed  August  25.  He  ■was  -widely 
employed  in  supplying  vacancies,  and  was  called  to  Albemarle, 
April  '21,  1757. 

The  New  England  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  resolved 
to  support  a  missionary  to  the  Cherokee  upper  towns,  if  the  Scot- 
tish Society  would  do  the  same.  Martin  was  ordained,  June  9, 
1757,  being  the  first  minister  of  our  church  ordained  in  Virginia. 
Davies  preached  from  1  Timothy  iii.  1,  Martin  engaged  in  the 
Indian  mission,  January  25,  1758:  the  prospects  were  at  first 
cheering,  but,  the  Cherokees  having  joined  the  French  on  the 
breaking  out  of  war,  the  enterprise  Avas  abandoned.  He  settled  in 
South  Carolina,  and  is  mentioned  in  1770  as  subscribing  for  seven 
sets  of  the  two  additional  volumes  of  Davies's  sermons,  published 
in  London. 


EBENEZER  PRIME 


Was  born*  at  Milford,  Connecticut,  July  21,  1700,  and  gradu- 
ated at  Yale  in  1718.  He  Avas  ordained  by  a  council,  as  colleague 
to  the  Rev.  Eliphalet  Jones,  at  Huntingdon,  Long  Island,  June  5, 
1723.  "A  diligent  student,  extremely  exact  and  systematic,  he 
kept  a  register  of  the  texts,  places,  and  times  of  preaching,  Avith- 
out  a  single  omission,  for  more  than  fifty  years."  In  the  Great 
Awakening,  his  labours  were  much  blessed;  "the  poAver  of  God 
Avas  marvellous."  ConA'ictions  of  long  continuance  then  issued  in 
joy  and  peace.  There  was  a  great  and  general  aAvakeningf  at 
Huntingdon  in  1748,  and  it  was  still  prospering  in  the  next  year. 
This  Avas  immediately  after  the  formation  of  Suffolk  Presbytery: 
so  Aviscly  and  so  prayerfully  did  they  seek  to  stay  the  progress  of 
disorder,  and  so  graciously  did  the  Lord  smile  on  their  attempt  to 
build  up  the  broken  churches. 

In  the  summer  of  1758,  he  expressed  to  the  presbytery  his 
doubts  of  the  Scripture  Avarrant  for  licensing  probationers  for  the 
ministrj'-,  it  being  his  judgment   that    investiture  Avith  the  office 

^  Dr.  Prime's  History  of  Long  Island.  f  Buell,  in  Edwai-ds's  Life. 


EBENEZER  prt:me.  675 

of  the  gospel  ministry  was  necessary  before  one  could  preach; 
"preaching  being  office-work,  to  be  performed  not  without,  but  in 
consequence  of,  solemn  ordination."  His  brethren  yielded  so  far 
as  to  ordain  in  every  instance  where  the  candidates  professed  that 
they  could  not  in  conscience  receive  license.  Such  a  course  con- 
flicting with  all  Presbyterian  usage  and  with  the  order  of  the  synod 
in  1704,  he  opened  his  views  to  the  synod  in  1771,  and  they,  not 
being  convinced  of  their  soundness,  could  not  repeal  the  act,  yet, 
having  full  confidence  that  he  would  never  consent  to  ordination  in 
any  case  except  after  making  the  necessary  trials,  left  him  to 
pursue  his  own  course.  The  year  1763  was  a  year  of  disquiet 
at  Huntingdon,  and,  according  to  the  ancient  custom  in  such 
junctures,  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  not  adminis- 
tered for  twelve  months.  Happily,  in  May,  1764,  "the  greatest 
part*  of  the  people  seemed  solemn  and  thoughtful,  not  a  few 
Avounded  deeply,  and  groaning  under  burdens  insupportable ;  some 
under  shuddering  horror  and  fearful  apprehensions  of  Divine  wrath. 
God's  glorious  work  of  grace  goes  on  here;"  and,  in  September,  he 
said,  "  God  has  poured  out  his  Spirit  in  a  surprising  manner  upon 
this  people." 

The  disquiet  was  owing  to  the  desire  of  the  people  to  settle  a 
colleague,  and  Kirkpatrick,  of  Amwell,  was  their  choice :  they  had 
leave  from  the  presbytery  to  prosecute  the  call,  October  25,  1763, 
but  he  could  not  be  obtained.  Prime  refused  to  have  a  licentiate 
occupy  the  pulpit  as  a  candidate  for  settlement ;  and  on  the  4th  of 
June,  1764,  the  presbytery,  having  heard  both  sides,  decided  that 
when  the  congregation  resolved  to  admit  a  licentiate  to  preach  to 
them,  the  pastoral  relation  should  be,  ipso  facto,  dissolved.  Soon 
after,  George  Gilmour,  a  licentiate  of  the  Eastern  Association  of 
Fairfield,  who  had  previously  preached  in  the  Presbyterian  congre- 
gation in  Blandford,  Massachusetts,  was  invited  in  an  irregular 
manner,  and  greatly  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  many  in  the  town,  and 
of  the  presbytery.  In  December,  1765,  they  asked  leave  to  hear 
John  Close,  a  licentiate  of  Dutchess  Presbytery :  he  was  soon  called, 
but  was  not  ordained  till  October  30,  1766,  and  his  short  stay  was 
full  of  trouble.  Many  felt  that  the  pastoral  relation  had  been 
rudely  rent,  so  that,  although  two  hundred  and  thirty  persons  op- 
posed Close's  removal,  he  resigned,  and  was  dismissed  April  4, 1773. 
They  then  called  Matthias  Burnet,  also  a  licentiate ;  but  he  declined ; 
and,  in  March,  1775,  they  sought  for  Ebenezer  Bradford,  also  not 
ordained ;  but,  after  much  hesitation,  he  also  refused.  In  the  war, 
Huntingdon  was  held  by  the  British,  and  much  wanton  and  malig- 
nant injury  was  done  to  the  dwelling,  library,  and  other  property 
of  the  aged,  patriotic  minister.     He  died  in  the  fall  of  1779. 

*  Prime:  in  Buell's  account  of  the  revival  of  1764. 


676  JOHN   MALTBY — HENRY   PATILLO. 


JOHN   MALTBY 

AVas  the  son*  of  Captain  William  Maltby,  of  New  Haven.  His 
mother  was  a  sister  of  James  Davenport,  and  a  descendant  of  the 
Kev.  Abraham  Pierson,  first  minister  of  Newark.  Being  early  left 
a  widow,  she  married  the  Rev.  Eleazer  Wheeloek,  of  Lebanon 
Crank,  Connecticut,  the  founder  of  Dartmouth  College.  She  was 
a  woman  of  great  worth,  and  died  while  her  son  was  in  college. 
He  graduated  at  Yale  in  1747,  and  was  a  tutor  in  Nassau  Hall 
from  1749  to  '52.  Probably  he  studied  divinity  with  Burr.  Ap- 
plication being  made  by  the  people  of  Bermuda  to  Pemberton,t  he 
applied  to  Bellamy  and  Wheeloek  to  point  out  a  suitable  person. 
Maltby  was  ordained  by  New  York  Presbytery,  in  1753  or  '54,  and 
was  for  a  number  of  years  the  much-loved  pastor  of  the  church  on 
that  island.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Fowle  gathered  a  flock  there  early  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  Avas  succeeded  by  Josiah  Smith,  subse- 
quently minister  of  Cairhoy  and  Charleston.  Maltby  was  fol- 
lowed by  Dr.  James  "Muir,  afterwards  of  xA.lexandria,  A^irginia; 
after  whom  they  had  Enoch  Mattson.  In  1770,  Maltby  was  dis- 
missed to  South  Carolina  Presbytery,  and  is  said  to  have  laboured 
in  Charleston ;  but,  his  health  failing,  he  removed  to  Hanover,  New 
Hampshire,  and  died  there  in  1771. 


HENRY  PATILLO, 


A  NATIVE  of  Scotland,!  was  in  a  counting-house,  in  Virginia, 
and,  probably  through  the  influence  of  Thomson,  was  on  his  way 
to  Pennsylvania,  with  a  view  to  study  for  the  ministry,  when  he 
met  Davies  at  Roanoke.  This  was  in  1751.  He  went  with  him 
to  his  house,  and  pursued  a  course  of  instruction  under  his  care, 
and  was  licensed,  by  Hanover  Presbytery,  September  29,  1757, 
"agreeably  to  the  practice  of  the  Church  of  Scotland."  He  had 
spent  some  time  in  teaching,  and  was  married  to  Miss  Anderson. 
He  "desired  to  do  good,"  and  was  sent  to  Hico,  (Dismal  Swamp,) 
Albemarle,  Orange,  and  Cumberland.  He  was  called  to  the 
churches   of  Willis  Creek,  Byrd,  and  Buck  Island,   and  was  or- 

*  History  of  the  Davenport  family,  by  A.  B.  Davenport. 

f  Belbuiiy  papers. 

t  Dr.  Foote's  Sketches  of  North  Cai'olina. 


HENRY    PATILLO.  677 

dainecl  July  IB,  1758.  He  was  dismissed  from  his  charge,  Octo- 
ber, 1762,  and  spent  two  years  in  Cumberland,  Harris  Creek,  and 
Deep  Creek.  He  then  removed  to  North  Carolina,  and  was  in- 
stalled, October  2,  1765,  at  Hawfields,  Eno,  and  Little  River. 
He  was  a  delegate,  in  1775,  to  the  Provincial  Congress.  In  1780, 
he  became  the  minister  of  Grassy  Creek  and  Nutbush  congrega- 
tions, largely  made  up  of  converts  under  the  ministry  of  Davies. 
They  gave  him  three  hundred  acres  in  fee,  on  condition  of  his 
staying  with  them  for  life. 

He  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  Orange  Presbytery,  and 
presided  at  the  organization  of  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas. 

He  published  a  small  volume,*  containing,  among  other  things, 
his  letter,  "On  Predestination,"  to  Francis  Asbury,  dated  Gran- 
ville, June  14,  1787,  and  a  defence  of  his  conduct  in  admitting  to 
the  Lord's  table  persons  holding  Arminian  sentiments :  on  one  oc- 
casion, six  or  eight  Methodist  preachers,  and  a  number  of  their 
people,  after  due  notice,  received  the  sacrament  at  his  hands. 

At  the  close  of  a  long  life,t  he  was  stripped  of  his  property, 
and  reduced  to  want,  on  account  of  the  failure  of  his  son  in  busi- 
ness, for  whom  he  had  been  an  indorser.  He  and  his  aged  wife 
are  said  to  have  adorned  the  doctrine  of  God  their  Saviour  by 
their  submission  and  patience  under  this  trial. 

He  died  in  Dinwiddle  county,  Virginia,  in  1801,  aged  seventy- 
five. 

To  originality  of  genius  and  superior  powers  he  added  piety, 
public  spirit,  and  faithfulness  in  his  ministry.  Like  his  teacher 
and  model,  Samuel  Davies,  he  paid  much  attention  to  the  coloured 
people,  and  Avas  successful  in  doing  much  good  among  them. 
"  Of  the  religious  negroes  in  my  congregation,  some  are  intrusted 
with  a  kind  of  eldership,  so  as  to  keep  a  watch  over  the  others : 
any  thing  wrong  seldom  happens."  After  the  Revolution,  he 
lamented  that  the  supply  of  good  books  from  abroad  ceased,  and 
that  he  had  none  to  give  away  to  the  servants. 

Several  instances  of  unworthy  men  from  abroad  coming  to  the 
South,  and  occasioning  trouble,  with  disgrace  to  the  ministry,  led 
him  to  write  to  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas  not  to  admit  any 
foreign  ministers  to  labour  in  their  bounds,  counting  it  better  to 
have  laymen  discharge  the  sacred  function,  ,or  even  leave  the 
churches  entirely  vacant.  He  rejoiced  greatly  in  the  revival  under 
John  B.  Smith,  in  Virginia,  and  welcomed  the  young  men  who, 
under  his  influence,  entered  the  ministry. 

Patillo  had  "  often  thought  that  the  popular  Congregational 
form,  joined   to  the   Presbyterian   judicatures   as    a    last    resort, 


*  In  the  possession  of  Rev.  A.  B.  Cross, 
■j-  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine. 


678  WILLIAM    RICHARDSON. 

■would  form  the  most  perfect  model  of  cliurch  government  that 
the  state  of  things  on  earth  admits  of."  The  errors  wliich  after- 
wards carried  away  Barton  W.  Stone  and  the  New  Lights  in  one 
direction,  and  Thomas  B.  Creaghead  in  another,  received  counte- 
nance, in  some  measure,  from  Patillo.  He  was  inclined  to  assume 
the  pre-existence  of  the  human  soul  of  Christ,  and  the  peccability 
of  his  human  nature. 


WILLIAM  RICHARDSON 

Was  born  in  Egremont,  near  White  Haven,  in  England,  and, 
coming  to  America,  became  a  resident  in  the  family  of  Samuel 
Davies,  and  studied  Avith  him.  Davies  speaks*  of  him  to  his  cor- 
respondents in  Scotland  as  though  he  were  known  to  them :  he 
was  then  under  his  roof,  and  would  assist  him  in  distributing 
among  the  negroes  the  books  sent  out  by  the  Glasgow  Society. 
He  was  taken  on  trials,  by  Hanover  Presbytery,  June  9,  1757, 
and  was  licensed  in  the  next  January,  and  was  ordained,  July  13, 
1758,  in  Cumberland  county,  as  a  missionary!  to  the  Cherokee 
towns  in  North  Carolina.  Davies  preached,  on  the  occasion,  on 
the  love  of  souls  a  necessary  qualification  for  the  sacred  office. 
Todd  gave  the  charge.  The  Indians  taking  up  arms,  the  mission 
was  abandoned  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  French  War.  In 
1761,  he  connected  himself  with  the  South  Carolina  Presbytery; 
and,  in  1763,  he  was  the  minister  in  the  Waxhaw  settlement. 
Having  no  children,  he  adopted  his  nephew,  William  R.  Da  vie,  |  a 
distinguished  officer  of  the  Revolution,  Governor  of  South  Caro- 
lina, and  minister  to  France  in  1799.  Governor  Davie  died  in 
1820,  aged  sixty-three. 

*  Gillies.         f  Brown's  History  of  Missions.         J  National  Portrait  Gallery. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  INDEX. 


[On  the  left  hand,  are  the  names  of  the  parties  whose  memoirs  are  giren  in  this  work.  The  column 
to  the  right,  shows  the  place  of  their  nativity,  so  &r  as  known  to  the  author.  The  third  column  indi- 
cates the  year  in  which  they  were  bom.  The  fourth  column  shows  the  date  of  their  ordination,  or 
their  recognition  as  ministers  in  the  Presbyterian  Church ;  and  the  next  column  intimates  the  year 
of  their  decease;  while  that  on  the  right  hand  points  out  the  page  in  the  work  where  their  respectire 
biographies  will  be  found.] 

Name.  Country.  Date  of  Birth.    Ordination.  Death.  page 

Francis  Makemie Ireland 1G80 1708 297 

Samuel  Davis Ireland? 1705 1725 310 

John  Wilson 1702 1712 ail 

Jedediah  Andrews Massachusetts 1674 ITjOB 1746 312 

Nathanael  Taylor Scotland 1690 1710 318 

George  McNish Ireland 1705 1770 818 

John  Hampton Scotland? 1706 1720? 322 

John  Boyd Scotland 1706..... 323 

Joseph  Smith Massachusetts 1708 1736 323 

John  Henry Ireland 1710 1717 325 

James  Anderson Scotland 1678 1709 1736 326 

Nathanael  Wade Massachusetts 1708 333 

Joseph  Morgan Connecticut 1674 1700 335 

Paulus  VanVleck Holland 1710 338 

George  Gillespie Scotland 1683 1713 1760 339 

John  Mackey 341 

Thomas  Bratton 1712 1712 342 

Eobert  Lawson Scotland  1713 1713 342 

Daniel  McGill Scotland 1713 1724 343 

Howell  Powell Wales 1714 1717 345 

Malachi  Jones Wales 1714 1729 346 

Robert  Wotherspoon Scotland 1714 1718 347 

David  Evans Wales 1714 1743 347 

JohnBradner Scotland 1715 1733 351 

Hugh  Conn Ireland 1685 1715 1752 351 

Robert  Orr Ireland? 1715 353 

Samuel  Pumry Massachusetts 1687 1715 1744 353 

John  Thomson Ireland 1717 355 

John  Pierson New  England 1689 1717 1770 357 

Jonathan  Dickinson Massachusetts 1688 1717 1747 358 

Samuel  Gelston Ireland 1C92 1717 1782 361 

George  Phillips Massachusetts 1644 1702 1739 363 

Henry  Hook Ireland 1718 1741 363 

Joseph  Lamb Connecticut? 1717 1749 364 

William  Tennent Ireland 1673 1718 1746 364 

679 


680  BIOGRAPHICAL    INDEX. 

Name.  Country.  Date  of  Birth.     OrJination.  Di-ath.  PAOB 

Samuel  Young Irelaml 1718 1721 807 

Robert  Cro.ss Ireland 1G89 1719 17GU 3G7 

John  Clement Great  Britain 1719 371 

William  .Steward Great  Britain 171'J 1734 371 

Joseph  Webb Connecticut 1720 1741 372 

John  Orme England 1720 1758 372 

Moses  Dickinson Massachufcctts 1095 1722 1778 373 

Thomas  Evans Wales 1723 1743 374 

Alexander  Ilutcheson Ireland  ? 1723 17(Jtj 375 

Robert  Laing Scotland? 1722 377 

John  Walton Connecticut 1721 17<J8? 377 

William  McMillan 1724 379 

Thomas  Creaghead Ireland 1724 1739 381 

Joseph  Houston Ireland 1693 1724 1741 383 

Adam  Boyd 1G92 1724 17G8 384 

Noyes  Parris Massachusetts 1692 1724 386 

Nathauael  Ilubbell Massachusetts 1727 1745 386 

Gilbert  Tennent Ireland 1703 1726 1754 387 

Archibald  McCook Ireland 1727 1727 397 

Ebenezer  Pemberton Massachusetts 1704 1727 1779 397 

Daniel  Elmer Connecticut 1690 1728 1755 403 

Ilugh  Stevenson Ireland 1729 1744 404 

John  Wilson Ireland 1G67 1729 1733 405 

Ebenezer  Gould New  England 1727 1778 405 

Eleazer  Wales Massachusetts 1657 1730 1749 406 

Richard  Treat Connecticut 1708 1731 1778 407 

Robert  Cathcart Ireland 1730 1754 409 

William  Orr Ireland 1730 1755 410 

William  Bertram Ireland 1674 1732 1746 411 

John  Cross Scotland 1732 413 

Benjamin  Campbell Ireland 1733 1735 414 

John  Nutman New  Jersey 1703 1730 1751 415 

Samuel  Hemphill Ireland 1734 416 

Andrew  Archbold , 1735 420 

John  Tennent Ireland 1707 1730 1732 421 

William  Tennent Ireland 1705 1733 1777 422 

Samuel  Blair Ireland 1712 1734 1751 426 

James  Martin Ireland 1734 1743 431 

Robert  Jamison Ireland 1734 1744 431 

Isaac  Chalker Connecticut 1734 17C5 432 

Simon  Horton Massachusetts 1711 1734 432 

Hugh  Carlisle Ireland? 1735 433 

Alexander  Craighead Pennsylvania? 1735 1766 434 

John  Paul Ireland 1736 1739 438 

Patrick  Glascow 1736 1753 438 

Samuel  Black Ireland 1735 1770 438 

Francis  Alison Ireland 1705 1737 1779 440 

David  Cowell Massachusetts 1704 1736 1760 443 

Charles  Tennent Ireland 1711 1737 1771 446 


BIOGRAPHICAL    INDEX.  681 

Name.  Country.  Date  of  Birth.    Ordination.  Death.  pagb 

Aaron  Burr Connecticut 1715 1737 1757 447 

Walter  Wilmot Long  Island 1709 1738 1744 453 

David  .ilexander Ireland 1738 453 

John  Elder Scotland 1738 1702 454 

David  Sanckey Ireland 1730 457 

Silas  Leonard Massachusetts » 1738 1764 458 

Samuel  Cavin Ireland 1701 1739 1750 459 

Francis  McHenry Ireland 1739 1757 460 

Samuel  Thomson 1739 1787 461 

John  Craig Ireland 1711 1740 1774 4C2 

Azariah  Horton Massachusetts 1715 1740 1777 465 

John  Guild Massachusetts 1741 1787 466 

Samuel  Evans Pennsylvania? 1742 467 

Alexander  McDowell Ireland 1741 1782 468 

Hamilton  Bell 1742 469 

John  Rowland Wales 1738 1747 469 

William  Robinson 1741 1746 474 

Charles  Beatty Ireland 1712-15.. ..1743 1772 478 

John  Hindman 1742 481 

Timothy  Johnes Long  Island 1717 1743 1794 481 

Timothy  Griffith Pennsylvania 1743 1764 481 

John  Steel Ireland 1744 1779 484 

James  Scougal Scotland? 1743 1746 485 

Charles  McKnight 1742 1778 485 

John  Blair Ireland 1720 1742 1771 486 

Samuel  Finley Ireland  1715 1742 1766 488 

Eliab  Byram Massachusetts 1743 1754 491 

Robert  Sturgeon Scotland 1732? 492 

J.ames  McCrea Ireland 1741 1769 493 

David  Youngs Long  Island 1719 1742 1752 494 

David  Thorn Delaware 1746 1750 495 

John  Dick Maryland 1746 1747 495 

John  Hamilton 1746 1756 496 

Hector  Alison 1746 496 

David  Brown Scotland 1748 497 

John  Campbell Scotland 1713 1747 1753 497 

John  Roan Ireland 1745 1775 498 

David  Bostwick Connecticut 1721 1745 1763 500 

Thomas  Arthur 1723 1746 1750 504 

Andrew  Hunter 1746 1755 505 

David  Brainerd Connecticut 1718 1744 1747 506 

William  Dean 1719 1746 1748 526 

Jacob  Green Massachusetts 1722 1746 1790 527 

Nathaniel  Tucker Massachusetts 1747 1747 529 

David  Brown Scotland 1748 529 

James  Campbell Scotland 1742 630 

.James  Davenport Connecticut 1716 1738 1757 531 

Daniel  Lawrence Long  Island 1718 1747 1766 .545 

Samuel  Sackett Long  Island 1741 1784 546 


682  BIOGRAPHICAL   INDEX. 

Name.  Country.  Date  of  Birth.    Ordination.  Death.  pace 

Timothy  .Syinmes Ma.ssaclmsetts 1715 1744 1750 548 

Samuel  Davies Delaware 1723 1747 1701 549 

John  Brainerd Connecticut 1748 1781 503 

Job  I'rudden Connecticut 1715 1747 1774 509 

Thomas  Lewis New  England 1747 1778 572 

Andrew  Sterling 1747 170G 573 

Andrew  Bay Ireland 1747 1777  ? 573 

John  Grant 171G 1746 1753 576 

John  Rodgers Massachusetts 1727 1749 1811 576 

Aaron  Ricliards 1719 1749 1793 583 

Caleb  Smith Long  Island 1723 1748 1702 582 

Timothy  Allen 1716 1748 1806 583 

Israel  Reid 1750 1793 585 

Daniel  Thane Scotland 1750 1784? 586 

Enos  Ayres 1750 1765 587 

Elihu  Spencer Connecticut 1721 1750 1784 587 

Sylvanus  AVhite Massachusetts 1704 1747 1756 591 

Samuel  Buell Connecticut 1716 1746 1798 592 

John  Moffat Scotland 1751..* 1788 599 

Joseph  Tate 1748 1774 600 

Samson  Smith Ireland 1752? 601 

Robert  McMordie 1754 1796 602 

Chauncey  Graham Connecticut 1750 1784 002 

Samuel  Kennedy Scotland 1751 1787 604 

Benjamin  Chesnut England 1751 1775 604 

Johnes  Brown Connecticut 1748 1788 605 

Naphthali  Dagget Massachusetts 1727 1751 1780 606 

Jonathan  Elmer New  England 1750 1807 608 

John  Todd 1751 1793 608 

Conrad  Worts Germany 1752 610 

James  Fiuley Ireland 1725 1752 1795 610 

Evander  Morrison Scotland 1752 612 

Robert  Smith Ireland 1722 1751 1793 612 

Alexander  Gumming New  Jersey 1726 1750 1763 614 

Hugh  Henry 1751 1763 616 

John  Kinkead Ireland 1753? 610 

Alexander  Miller Ireland 1757 618 

John  Miller Massachusetts 1722 1749 1791 619 

William  McKennan Delaware 1756 620 

Matthew  Wilson Pennsylvania 1731 1755 1790 620 

Joseph  Tark 1752 621 

Samuel  Harker 1752 622 

John  Wright Scotland 1753 624 

The  Church  in  New  York 628 

Robert  Henry Scotland 1752 1767 650 

John  Smith England 1702 1763 1771 652 

Eleazer  Whittlesey Connecticut 1752 653 

Nehcmiah  Greenman Connecticut 1750 1779 654 

John  Brown Ireland 1728.... 1753 1803 656 


BIOGRAPHICAL    INDEX.  683 

Xame.  Country.  Date  of  Birth.      Ordination.        Death.  paob 

Eliphalet  Ball 1754 1797 657 

Hugh  Knox Ireland 1755 1790 G58 

Henry  Martin 1754 17G4 G62 

John  Hoge Scotland 1755 662 

NathanaenVliitaker Long  Island 1722 1752 1795 664 

Benjamin  Hait Connecticut 1755 1779 6G7 

Benjamin  Tallmadge Connecticut 1725 1754 1786 067 

Abner  Reeve Connecticut 1710 1755 1795 668 

Moses  Tuttle Connecticut 1715 1747 1771 669 

John  Harris 1756 669 

William  Ramsey Pennsylvania 1732 1756 1771 670 

Hugh  McAden Pennsylvania 1781 671 

George  Duffield Pennsylvania 1732 1756 1790 672 

Abraham  Kettletas New  York 1732 1798 673 

John  Martin 1757 674 

Ebenezer  Prime Connecticut 1700 1723 1779 675 

John  Maltby Connecticut 1753? 1771 676 

Henry  Patillo Scotland 1726 1758 1801 676 

William  Richardson England , 1758 678 


ALniABETICAL  LIST  OF  BIOGRAPHIES. 


Name.  page 

Alexander,  David 453 

Alison,  Francis 440 

Alison,  Hector 496 

Allen,  Tiniotby 583 

Anderson,  James 326 

Andrews,  Jedediah 312 

Archbold,  Andrew 420 

Arthur,  Thomas 504 

Ayres,  Enos 587 

Ball,  Eliplialet 657 

Bay,  Andrew 573 

Beatty,  Charles 478 

Bell,   Hamilton 4G9 

Bertram,  William 411 

Black,  Samuel 438 

Blair,  John 486 

Blair,  Samuel 42(j 

Bostwick,  David 500 

Boyd,  Adam 384 

Boyd,  John 323 

Braduer,  John 351 

Brainerd,  David 506 

Brainerd,  John 563 

Bratton,  Thomas 342 

Brown,  David 529 

Brown,  David 497 

Brown,  James 605 

Brown,  John 656 

Buell,  Samuel 592 

Burr,  Aaron 447 

Byram,  Eliab 491 

Campbell,  Benjamin 414 

Campbell,  James 530 

Campbell,  John 497 

Carlisle,  Hugh 433 

Calhcart,  Robert 409 

684 


]  Name.  p  \oe 

j  Cavin,  Samuel 459 

Chalker,  Isaac 4?2 

Chesnut,  Benjamin 004 

I  Clement,  John 371 

Conn,  Hugh .351 

Cowell,  David 443 

I  Craig,  John 4G2 

I  Craighead,  Alexander 434 

Creaghead,  Thomas 381 

Cross,  John 413 

Cross,  Robert 367 

Cumming,  Alexander 614 

Dagget,  Naphtali 606 

Davenport,  James 531 

Davies,  Samuel 549 

Davis,  Samuel 310 

Dean,  William 526 

Dick,  John 495 

Dickinson,  Jonathan 358 

Dickinson,  Moses 373 

Duffield,  George 672 

Elder,  John 454 

Elmer,  Daniel 403 

Elmer,  Jonathan 608 

Evans,   David 347 

Evans,  Samuel 467 

Evans,  Thomas 374 

Finley,  James 610 

Finley,  Samuel 4S8 

Gelston,  Samuel 361 

Gillespie,  George 339 

Glasgow,  Patrick 438 

Gould,  Ebenezer 405 

Graham,  Chauncey 602 


ALPHABETICAL  LIST   OF   BIOGRAPHIES. 


685 


Name.  page 

Grant,  John 576 

Green,  Jacob 527 

Greenman,  Nehemiah 654 

Griffith,  Timothy 483 

Guild,  John 466 

Ilait,  Benjamin 667 

Hamilton,  John 496 

Hamilton,  John 322 

Harker,  Samuel ,..622 

Harris,  John 669 

Hemphill,  Samuel 416 

Henry,  Hugh » 616 

Henry,  John 325 

Henry,  Robert 650 

Hindman,  John 481 

Hoge,  John 662 

Hook,  Henry 863 

Horton,  Azariah 465 

Horton,  Simon 433 

Houston,  Joseph 383 

Hubbell,  Nathaniel 386 

Hunter,  Andrew 505 

Hutcheson,  Alexander 375 

Jamison,  Robert 431 

Johnes,  Timothy 481 

Jones,  Malachi 346 

Kennedy,  Samuel 604 

Kettletas,  Abraham 673 

Kinkead,  John 616 

Knox,  Hugh 658 

Laing,  Robert 377 

Lamb,  Joseph 364 

Lawrence,  Daniel 545 

Lawson,  Robert 342 

Leonard,  Silas 458 

Lewis,  Thomas 572 

Mackey,  John 341 

M.ikemie,  Francis 297 

MaUby,  John 676 

Rl;u-tin,  Henry.. 662 

]M;irtin,  James 431 

Martin,  John 674 

Miller,  Alexander 618 


Name.  paoe 

Miller,  John 619 

MotFat,  John 599 

Morgan,  Joseph 335 

Morrison,  Evander 612 

McAden,  Hugh 671 

McCook,  Archibald 397 

McCrea,  James 493 

McDowell,  Alexander 468 

McGill,  Daniel 343 

McHenry,  Francis 460 

McKnight,  Charles 485 

McKennan,  William 620 

McMordie,  Robert 602 

McMillan,  William 379 

McNish,  George 318 

Nutman,  John 415 

Orme,  John 372 

Orr,  Robert 353 

Orr,  William 410 

Park,  Joseph ■... 621 

Parris,  Noyes 380 

Patillo,  Henry 676 

Paul,  John 438 

Pemberton,  Ebenezer 397 

Philli£S,^Ge.orge. 363 

Eierson,  John 357 

Powell,  Howell 345 

Prime,  Ebenezer 675 

Prudden,  Job 569 

Pumry,  Samuel 353 

Ramsey,  William 670 

Reeve,  Abner 668 

Reid,  Israel 585 

Richards,  Aaron 582 

Richardson,  William 678 

Roan,  John 498 

Robinson,  William 474 

Rodgers,  John 576 

Rowland,  John 469 

Sackett,  Samuel 546 

Sanckey,  Richard 457 

Scougal,  James 485 

Smith,  Caleb 582 


686 


ALPHABETICAL    LIST   OF  BIOGRAPHIES. 


Name.  page 

Smith,  John 652 

Smith,  Joseph 328 

Smith,  Robert G12 

Smith,   Sampson 601 

Spencer,  Elihu 587 

Steel,  John 484 

Sterling,  Andrew 573 

Stevenson,  Hugh 404 

Steward,  William 371 

Sturgeon,  Robert 492 

Symmes,  Timothy 548 

Taylor,  Nathaniel 318 

Tallmadge,  Benjamin 667 

Tate,  Joseph 600 

Tennent,  Charles 446 

Tennent,  Gilbert 387 

Tennent,  John 421 

Tennent,  William 364 

Tennent,  William 422 

Thane,  Daniel 586 

Thomson,  John 355 

Thomson,  Samuel 461 

Thorn,  David 495 

Todd,  John 608 


Nhuio  paob 

Treat,  Richard 4<»7 

Tucker,  Nathaniel 529 

Tuttle,  Moses 669 

Van  Vleck,  Paulus 338 

Wade,  Nathaniel 333 

Wales,  Eleazer 408 

Walton,  John 377 

Webb,  Joseph 372 

Whitaker,  Nathaniel 664 

White,  Sylvanus 591 

Whittlesey,  Eleazer 653 

Wilson,  John 311 

Wilson,  John 405 

Wilson,  Matthew 020 

Wilmot,  Walter 453 

Worts,  Conrad 610 

Wotherspoon,  Robert 347 

Wright,  John 624 

Young,  Samuel 367 

Youngs,  David 494 

The  Church  in  New  York 028 


RESOLUTIONS 


OF 


SYNODS   AND   PRESBYTERIES. 


The  well-known  ability  of  the  author  prompted  the  adoption,  by 
several  of  the  synods,  and  many  of  the  presbyteries,  of  resolutions 
encouraging  the  extensive  circulation  of  this  History,  and  we  publish  all 
we  have  received  up  to  the  time  of  going  to  press. 

The  following  resolutions  were  passed  unanimously  by  the 

SYNOD  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 

Whereas,  It  is  well  known  that  the  late  Rev.  Richard  Webster  left,  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  a  manuscript  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Chui-ch  in  America, — a 
work  full  of  antiquarian  research  and  facts  of  great  value  to  all  Presbyterians, — 
and  that  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  work,  together  with  the  fact  that  the  family 
of  the  author  are  interested  in  its  sale,  renders  its  extensive  circulation  desirable : 
Therefore — 

Resolved,  That  this  synod  cordially  and  earnestly  recommend  this  History 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  (about  to  be  published)  to  the  ministers  and  churches 
under  our  care,  and  likewise  express  the  hope  that  suitable  eflFort  will  be  used  to 
secure  the  sale  of  as  large  a  niunber  of  copies  as  possible  within  the  bounds  of  the 
synod. 

Resolved,  That  we  would  respectfully  suggest  to  our  Presbyterian  Board  of  Pub- 
lication the  propriety  of  placing  the  work  in  hands  of  their  colporteurs,  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  a  more  general  circulation  among  all  our  churches. 

R.    K.    RODGERS, 

Stated  Clerk. 

The  following  was  also  adopted  unanimously  by  the 

SYNOD  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 

Whereas,  The  late  Rev.  Richard  Webster  left  for  publication  a  manuscript 
History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America, — a  work  of  deep  research  and 

44  689 


690  RESOLUTIONS   OF 

of  great  value  to  all  Presbyterians, — and  the  family  of  the  author  are  interested 
in  its  sale,  its  extensive  circulation  is  desirable :    Therefore, 

Resolved,  That  this  synod  cordially  recommend  the  History  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  to  the  ministers  and  churches  under  our  care,  and  earnestly  request  that 
every  effort  bo  made  to  secure  the  sale  of  as  large  a  number  of  copies  as 
possible. 

Resolved,  That  we  would  suggest  to  our  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  the 
propriety  of  placing  the  work  in  the  hands  of  their  colporteurs,  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  a  more  general  circulation  among  all  the  members  of  our  church. 

S.  M.  Andrews, 

Slated  Clerk. 

Also,  the  following  presbyteries : — 

PRESBYTERY  OF  NEW  BRUNSWICK. 

Resolved,  That  this  presbytery  cordially  approve  of  the  publication  of  the 
History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  by  the  late  Rev.  Richard  Webster,  believing 
that  the  well-known  industry  and  habits  of  patient  investigation  which  he  for  so 
many  years  gave  to  the  whole  subject  of  the  antiquities  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches  in  this  country  will  make  it  all  that  might  be  expected. 

Resolved,  That  the  work  be  recommended  to  the  patronage  of  all  the  churches 

under  our  care. 

A.  D.  White, 

Slated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY    OF  FORT  WAYNE. 

Resolved,    That   we  heartily  commend   the  work  to   the   churches   under   our 

care,  as  well  as  to  individuals,  as  worthy  of  their   confidence,  entitled  to  their 

patronage,  and  adapted  to  their  profit. 

Wilson  M.  Donaldson, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OF  DONEGAL. 

Resolved,  That  the  presbytery  have  learned  with  great  pleasui-e  of  the  pro- 
posed publication  of  the  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  by  the  late  Rev. 
Richard  Webster ;  and,  in  view  of  the  intrinsic  value  of  such  a  work,  especially 
from  so  competent  a  source,  as  well  as  the  relation  which  the  enterprise  bears  to 
the  family  of  the  lamented  deceased,  would  cordially  recommend  the  forthcoming 
volume  to  the  patronage  of  the  members  of  our  several  congregations. 

John  Faeqchar, 

Stated  Clerk. 


SYNODS   AND   PRESBYTERIES.  691 

PRESBYTERY  OF  LONG  ISLAND. 

Resolved,  That  we  heartily  commend  to  the  churches  under  our  care,  and  to 
the  community  at  large,  the  forthcoming  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
America,  by  the  late  Rev.  Richard  AVebster,  and  that  we  esteem  it  our  privilege 
to  give  it  the  widest  circulation  possible  within  our  bounds. 

T.  McCaulet, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OP  SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

Resolved,  That,  inasmuch  as  the  work  promises  to  be  a  standard  volume  of 
great  value  to  the  Presbyterian  churches,  and  as  the  family  of  the  self-denying 
and  laborious  author  have  an  interest  in  its  sale,  we  recommend  that  the  members 
of  this  presbytery  make  special  efforts  in  procuring  subscribers  for  it. 

T.  L.  McBrtde, 

Stated  Clerk, 

PRESBYTERY   OF   BEDFORD. 

Resolved,    That  the  members  of  presbytery  be  requested  to  act  as   agents  in 

their  respective  charges,  to  procure  subscriptions  for  the  new  work  about  to  be 

published,  entitled  "  The  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,"  by  the  late  Rev. 

Richard  Webster. 

William  Patterson, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY   OP  CARLISLE, 

Resolved,  That  presbytery  recommend  to  the  pastors  and  sessions  under  its 
care,  to  promote,  as  far  as  possible,  the  circulation  of  the  History  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  by  the  late  Rev.  Richard  Webster. 

James  F.  Kennedy, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OF  NEWCASTLE. 

The  Stated  Clerk  read  a  circular,  in  regard  to  the  publication  of  a  History  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  by  the  late  Rev.  Richard  Webster:   whereupon  it  was 

Resolved,  That  this  presbytery  do  hereby  earnestly  recommend  this  forthcoming 
work  to  the  patronage  of  the  congregations  under  its  care. 

Robert  P.  Dubois, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OF   GREENBRIER. 

Presbytery,  having  leai-ned  that  Joseph  M.  Wilson,  of  Philadelphia,  expects  to 
publish  a  work  on  the  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country,  do 
hereby  express  their  gratification  at  the  prospect  of  the  publication  of  the  work 


692  RESOLUTIONS    OF 

prepared  bv  the  late  Rev.  Richard  Webster,  and  recommend  it  to  the  ministers 

and  churches  under  our  care. 

S.  H.  Brown, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OF  NORTHUMBERLAND. 
Resolved,  That  presbytery  would  earnestly  commend  the  History  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  by  the   Rev.  Richard  Webster,  deceased,  to  the  attention  and 
patronage  of  the  officers  and  members  of  our  churches ;  and  the  ministers  of  pres- 
bytery are  requested  to  publish  this  resolution  from  their  pulpits. 

Isaac  Greer, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OF  MAURY. 

Resolved,  That  we  cordially  and  earnestly  recommend  the  History  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  America,  by  the  Rev.  Richard  Webster,  to  the  members  of  all 

our  churches,  and  to  all  others. 

J.  Stephenson  Frierson, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OF   RARITAN. 

The  Stated  Clerk  laid  before  presbytery  a  communication  from  Mr.  Joseph  M. 
Wilson,  of  Philadelphia,  in  relation  to  the  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  by 
the  late  Rev.  Richard  Webster,  of  Mauch  Chunk,  which  he  is  about  to  publish  for 
the  benefit  of  the  family  of  the  author :  whereupon  it  was 

Resolved,  That  this  presbytery  highly  approve  of  this  enterprise,  and  cordially 
recommend  it  to  the  patronage  of  our  churches,  and,  furthermore,  request  our 
pastors  and  ruling  elders  to  use  their  endeavours  to  obtain  subscribers  to  the 
work  in  their  respective  congregations. 

A  true  extract :  P  0.  STUDDiFOEn, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OF  CHEROKEE. 

Resolved,  That  the  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  by  the  late  Rev.  Richard 
Webster, — now  in  course  of  publication  by  Joseph  M.  Wilson, — be  cordially  recom- 
mended to  all  the  churches  and  members  under  our  care. 

John  F.  Lanneau, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OF  ERIE. 

A  letter  having   been   read — from  J.   M.  Wilson,  publisher  —  relative   to   the 
History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  by  Rev.  Richard  Webster,  deceased,  it  was 
Resolved,    That   this  presbytery  do   cordially  recommend   said  history  to  the 


SYNODS   AND    PRESBYTERIES.  693 

favourable  notice  of  ministers  and  uicmhers  of  cliurches  throughout  our  bounds, 
as  an  interesting  and  valuable  contribution  on  a  subject  of  great  importance  to  all 
lovers  of  the  doctrines  and  order  of  the  Presbyterian  church ;  and  also  to  their 
acceptance,  in  view  of  the  benevolent  objects  designed  by  its  publication,  as  well 
as  of  its  intrinsic  excellency. 

Extract  from  Minutes  of  Presbytery  of  Erie,  January  7,  1857. 

S.  J.  M.  Eaton, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OF  CENTRAL  MISSISSIPPI. 

Resolved,  That  this  presbytery  feel  a  deep  interest  in  the  publication  of  the 
above-named  History,  and  would  earnestly  recommend  to  our  ministers,  elders, 
and  members  to  subscribe  for  the  same,  and  send  their  names  and  subsci-iptions  to 
Mr.  J  M.  Wilson,  of  Philadelphia,  the  publisher. 

James  S.  Montgomery, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OF  MISSISSIPPI. 

Resolved,  That  this  presbytery  take  a  deep  interest  in  the  circulation  of  thig 

work,  and  earnestly  recommend  it  to  all  the  members  of  the  church  within  their 

bounds ;  and,  further,  express  the  hope  that  each  member  of  the  presbytery,  and 

the   elders   of   our  churches,  will  exert  themselves  to  obtain  subscriptions,  and 

forward  the  same  to  Joseph  M.  Wilson,  27  South  Tenth  Street,  below  Chestnut, 

Philadelphia. 

E.  Pkicb, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY    OF  PALMYRA. 

Whereas,  We  have  learned  that  Joseph  M.  Wilson,  of  Philadelphia,  is  about  to 
publish  a  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  by  the  late  Rev.  Richard  Webster : 
Therefore — 

Resolved,  That  we  recommend  to  all  our  ministers  and  elders  to  procure  the 
work,  and  to  introduce  it  into  the  families  of  our  churches  so  far  as  practicable. 

A.    P.    FORMAN, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY   OF  LOUISIANA. 

Resolved,  That   the   members  of  this  Presbytery  be   requested  to  present  the 

claims  of  Webster's  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  the  churches  under 

their  care,  secure  subscribers  for  it,  and  forward  the  same  to  Joseph  M.  Wilson, 

publisher,  Philadelphia. 

John  A.  Smylie, 

Stated  Clerk. 


694  RESOLUTIONS   OF  SYNODS  AND   PRESBYTERIES. 


PRESBYTERY  OF    STEUBENVILLE. 

Resolved,  That  the  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  by  the  late  Rev.  Richard 
Webster, — now  in  the  course  of  publication  by  Joseph  M.  Wilson,  of  Phila- 
delphia,— ■will,  no  doubt,  be  both  instructive  and  interesting,  it  be  recommended 
to  as  many  of  the  members  as  may  find  it  convenient  to  subscribe  for  the  same, 
especially  as  it  is  published  for  the  benefit  of  the  family  of  Mr.  Webster. 

John  R.  Agnew, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OF  TUSCALOOSA. 

Resolved,  That  Presbytery  earnestly  recommend  to  the  pastors  and  members  of 
the  churches  under  our  care  the  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  by  Rev. 
Richard  Webster,  now  in  course  of  publication,  as,  from  the  well-known  reputa- 
tion of  the  authoi-,  it  will  be  a  volume  of  great  interest  and  value. 

C.  A.  Stillman, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OP  HUNTINGDON. 

Resolved,  That  pastors  be  requested  to  interest  themselves  in  the  circulation  of 

Webster's  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Chuixh. 

Robert  Hammill, 

Stated  Clerk. 

PRESBYTERY  OF  CONCORD. 

Whereas,  Mr.  Joseph  M.  Wilson,  of  Philadelphia,  is  about  to  publish  a  History 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  prepared  by  the  late  Rev.  Richard  Webster;  therefore, 
Resolved,  That  this  presbytery  would  cordially  recommend  to  all  our  ministers 
and  members  of  our  churches  to  supply  themselves  with  the  work. 

R.  H.  Laffertt, 

Stated  Clerk. 

SECOND  PRESBYTERY  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 
Extract  from  the  Minutes  of  the  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  at  Brides- 
burg,  October  8,  1856:— 

"  Presbytery  earnestly  recommended  to  all  its  members,  ministers,  and  elders,  to 
take  such  action  in  their  respective  congregations  as,  in  their  judgment,  will  best 
secure  a  wide  circulation  of  the  Church  History  prepared  by  the  late  Rev.  R.  Web- 
ster, and  now  in  course  of  publication  by  Mr.  Joseph  M.  Wilson,  of  Philadelphia." 
A  true  extract.  Jacob  Belville, 

Stated  Clerk. 


PRESEYTERIAN  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  op  the  Presbyte- 
rian Historical  Society,  held  on  August  5th,  1856,  the  undersigned 
was  appointed  to  draw  up  a  statement  in  reference  to  the  plans  and 
objects  of  the  Society,  and  to  append  it  to  the  Rev.  Richard  Webster's 
History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  conformity  with  this  resolution, 
the  following  statement  is  respectfully  presented  to  the  public : — 

The  Presbyterian  Historical  Society  was  organized  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  in  the  city  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in  May, 
1852.  At  the  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Society  held  in  the  city  of 
Buffalo  in  May,  1854,  some  amendments  were  made  in  the  Constitution, 
chiefly  with  a  view  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  all  branches  of  the  Pres- 
byterian church.  These  amendments  were  more  definitely  incorporated 
into  the  Constitution  at  the  anniversary  meeting  held  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  in  May,  1856.  The  Revised  Constitution  will  be  found 
annexed  to  this  statement. 

The  Presbyterian  Historical  Society  aims  at  accomplishing  the  follow- 
ing objects : — 

I.  To  collect  the  materials — manuscript,  published,  or  traditionary — 
which  serve  to  illustrate  the  history  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America. 

II.  To  lireserve  these  materials  safe  from  danger,  and  accessible  to 
all,  at  a  location  convenient  for  general  reference. 

III.  To  promote  the  hnowledge  of  the  history  thus  collected  and  pre- 
served.    This  will  be  done,  in  part,  by  the  circulation  of  an  Annual 

G95 


696  PRESBYTERIAN    HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Report  and  Address ;  by  public  meetings,  held  from  time  to  time  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  Church,  at  which  papers  on  historical  subjects  may  be 
read  and  discussed ;  and  by  the  publication  of  such  of  the  writings  of  the 
Presbyterian  fathers,  and  of  other  historical  memorials,  as  may  be  deemed 
expedient. 

The  MODE  in  which  co-operation  can  be  efficiently  and  successfully 
exerted  may  be  in  the  following,  among  other  forms  which  may  suggest 
themselves  to  your  independent  reflections  : — 

1.  By  every  presbytery,  in  all  the  churches  represented  in  the  So- 
ciety, taking  measures  to  induce  each  minister  to  write,  without  delay, 
the  history  of  the  church  or  churches  which  he  serves, — the  whole  col- 
lection to  be  arranged  in  historical  order,  and  prefaced  by  a  general 
history  of  the  presbytery,  by  some  person  or  committee  appointed  for  that 
purpose;  the  latter  committee  also  to  secure  the  history  of  vacant 
churches. 

The  following  points  in  the  history  of  the  churches  are  of  special  im- 
portance,— viz. :  the  circumstances  of  their  organization;  the  names  of  all 
their  ministers  and  elders;  number  of  communicants  at  different  periods; 
revivals;  donations  to  benevolent  objects;  candidates  for  the  ministry; 
foreign  missionaries ;  schools  for  education  of  children,  &c., — in  short,  all 
the  details  of  the  religious  or  secular  history  likely  to  be  interesting. 

2.  The  presbytery  may  do  a  very  important  historical  service  by  ob- 
taining a  biographical  sketch  of  eveiy  minister  in  their  body  who  departs 
this  life;  and  also  of  elders,  or  prominent  laymen,  as  may  seem  desirable. 
A  biographical  sketch  of  our  deceased  ministers,  in  particular,  is  absolutely 
necessary  in  elucidating  the  history  of  the  Church.  The  following  points 
are  of  special  biographical  interest: — Age  and  place  of  birth;  whether 
of  pious  parents ;  at  what  college  and  seminary  educated ;  circumstances 
of  conversion;  when  licensed  and  ordained;  his  various  fields  of  labour; 
incidents  and  characteristics  of  his  ministry  or  public  life;  name  of  wife 
and  of  children ;  publications ;  circumstances  and  date  of  death,  &:c. 

3.  In  the  third  place,  the  presbytery  is  requested  to  co-operate  in 
obtaining,  for  present  use,  a  complete  list  of  all  the  ministers  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  from  the  beginning,  with  (he  dates  of  their  ordina- 
tion, and  their  names  written  out  in  full,  with  the  name  of  the  ordaining 
■prcxhijtcri/.  This  can  be  done: — 1st.  By  each  minister  giving  his  own 
name,    with   date   of   ordination  and  the   ordaining  presbytery,  to  some 


PRESBYTERIAN    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY.  697 

one  who  will  transmit  the  whole  list  of  the  presbytery  to  the  Society. 
2d.  By  each  presbytery  authorizing  some  person,  who  may  volunteer  to 
do  the  work,  to  transcribe  from  the  records  of  presbytery  the  names  and 
dates  of  all  the  ordinations  from  the  organization  of  the  presbytery.  By 
these  means  immediate  information  can  be  obtaineJ,  on  the  points  in 
question,  which  is  an  object  of  great  interest,  as  records  maybe  destroyed, 
deaths  may  ensue,  and  other  providential  hiuderances  may  occur. 

4.  It  is  extremely  desirable  for  every  minister  to  transmit  to  the  So- 
ciety a  copy  of  every  published  sermon,  or  other  religious  and  literary 
production  of  his  pen ;  and  also  to  send  a  manuscript  sermon,  to  be 
deposited  among  the  archives  of  the  Society  as  a  memorial  connected  with 
the  current  history  of  the  Church, — which  will,  with  the  lapse  of  time, 
possess  increasing  interest  to  Presbyterians  generally,  as  well  as  to  those 
specially  concerned  in  such  collections. 

5.  Each  minister,  elder,  and  member  of  the  congregation  may  co- 
operate by  collecting  and  transmitting  old  sermons,  pamphlets,  news- 
papers, magazines,  letters,  books,  manuscripts,  portraits,  or  any  relics  of 
the  olden  time,  which  throw  light  upon  our  annals.  A  copy  of  all  the 
new  Presbyterian  books,  pamphlets,  and  periodicals,  is  also  desired, — it 
being  the  purpose  of  the  Society  to  publish  annually  an  historical  account 
of  the  current  literature  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  to  collect  all 
the  publications — past,  present,  or  future — which  illustrate  its  lite- 
rature. 

Having  thus  frankly  stated  the  objects  of  the  Institution  and  the 
reliances  for  prosecuting  them,  the  co-operation  of  every  presbytery  and 
of  all  the  members  of  our  congregations  is  respectfully  solicited,  in  the 
modes  and  forms  suggested,  or  in  whatever  way  may  best  suit  their  con- 
venience. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  a  work  of  no  ordinary  magnitude  and  dili- 
gence is  before  the  Church.  Much  historical  research,  literary  labour, 
patient  toil,  and  miscellaneous  drudgery,  must  be  endured  for  history's 
and  the  Church's  sake.  Considerable  expense  will  also  be  involved  in 
carrying  into  execution  plans  for  cultivating  a  field  so  extensive,  and  so 
long  left  a  comparatively-neglected  waste.  The  Society  will  endeavour 
to  meet  honourably  all  necessary  and  reasonable  claims  for  remuneration  j 
but  they  know  too  well  the  ministers  and  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches  not  to  suppose  that,  in  a  work  like  this,  much  service  will  be 


698  PRESBYTERIAN    EISTOP.ICAL    SOCIETY. 

spontaneously  and  gratefully  rendered.  History  presents  interesting  and 
important  topics  of  investigation  ;  and  the  particular  history  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  in  its  different  branches,  has  materials  of  doctrinal, 
ecclesiastical,  literary,  evangelistic,  and  political  value,  which  invite  the 
free  and  full  investigations  of  her  most  devoted  and  ablest  sons. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 
I  C.  Van  Rensselaer, 

Chairman  of  Executive  Committee, 
Philadelphia,  March,  1857. 

P.S.  —  In  this  connection,  it  is  deemed  proper  to  append  the 
CHAllTER  of  the  Presbyterian  Historical  Society,  which  has 
just  passed  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Constitution  of  the 
Society  will  be  found  in  the  Act  of  Incorporation. 


AN  ACT  TO  INCORPORATE  THE  PRESBYTERIAN   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

Section  1.  Be  it  enacted  hy  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  -in  General  Assembly  met,  and  it 
is  hereby  enacted  by  authority  of  the  same,  That  David  Elliott,  William  M. 
Englcs,  W.  R.  De  Witt,  Albert  Barnes,  George  H.  Stuart,  J.  B.  Dales,  J. 
T.  Cooper,  James  Hoge,  Charles  Hodge,  Samuel  Hazzard,  Samuel  Aguew, 
Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  William  Chester,  George  Howe,  William  B. 
Sprague,  Henry  A.  Boardman,  C.  Van  Rensselaer,  John  C.  Backus,  John 
Leyburn,  William  S.  Martien,  Alfred  Nevin,  Thomas  H.  Skinner,  Johu 
A.  Brown,  Samuel  H.  Cox,  Peter  Force,  Edwin  F.  Hatfield,  George  Duf- 
field,  George  Duffield,  Jr.,  Henry  B.  Smith,  Matthew  W.  Baldwin,  Henry 
J.  Williams,  B.  J.  Wallace,  J.  N.  McLeod,  John  Forsyth,  James  Wood, 
Thomas  Beveridge,  James  M.  Wilson,  T.  W.  J.  Wylie,  S.  J.  Wylie, 
Thomas  Smyth,  M.  L.  P.  Thompson,  and  J.  F.  Stearnes,  and  their  asso- 
ciates and  successors,  shall  forever  be,  and  they  are  bereby,  erected  and 
created  a  body  politic  and  corporate  in  deed  and  in  law,  by  the  name, 
style,  and  title  of  the  Presbyterian  Historical  Society,  and  by  that  name, 
style,  and  title  shall  have  and  enjoy  perpetual  succession,  and  be  able  and 
capable  to  purchase,  receive,  take  hold,  and  dispose  of  real  and  personal 
estate,  to  sue  and  be  sued,  plead  and  be  impleaded,  to  receive  and  make 
all  deeds,  transfers,  conveyances,  and  assurances,  contracts,  and  agree- 
ments whatever,  to  have  ana  use  a  common  and  corporate  seal,  and  the 
same  to  break,  alter,  and  renew  at  pleasure,  and  generally  to  do  and  per- 


PRESBYTERIAN    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY.  699 

form  any  act,  matter,  and  thing  necessary  to  promote  the  objects  and 
design  of  this  act  of  incorporation,  with  full  power  to  enact  and  repeal  all 
rules,  regulations,  and  by-laws  which  may  be  found  expedient  or  desirable : 
Provided  ahcai/s,  That  such  rules,  regulations,  and  by-laws  shall  not  be 
contrary  to  or  inconsistent  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  or 
of  this  Commonwealth. 

Sect.  2.  That  the  fundamental  articles  of  the  Constitution  of  this  So- 
ciety shall  be  as  follows  : — 

Article  1.  This  Society  shall  be  known  by  the  name  of  the  Presby- 
terian Historical  Society. 

Art.  2.  The  objects  of  this  Society  shall  be  to  collect  and  preserve  the 
materials,  and  to  promote  the  knowledge,  of  the  History  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

Art.  3.  Any  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  whose  admission  shall 
be  approved  by  the  Society  at  its  annual  meeting,  shall  become  an  integral 
part  of  the  same.  The  branches  now  constituting  the  Society  are — The 
Presbyterian  Church  whose  General  Assembly  met  in  the  First  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  New  York  City,  in  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty- 
six  ;  The  Presbyterian  Church  whose  General  Assembly  met  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  on  Madison  Square  in  New  York  City,  in  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  fifty-six;  The  Associate  Reformed  Church,  the  Asso- 
ciate Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church. 

Art.  4.  Any  person  may  become  a  member  of  this  Society  by  the  pay- 
ment of  one  dollar  annually,  and  shall  thereby  be  entitled  to  receive  a 
copy  of  the  annual  report.  The  payment  of  ten  dollars  at  one  time,  or  in 
annual  payments,  shall  constitute  a  life-member. 

Art.  5.  The  officers  of  the  Society  shall  be  a  President,  one  Vice- 
President,  (from  each  of  the  churches  represented  in  the  Society,)  a  Cor- 
responding and  Recording  Secretary,  a  Treasurer,  and  an  Executive  Com- 
mittee, of  which  committee  at  least  one  member  shall  be  from  each  of  the 
churches  represented  in  the  Society :  all  the  officers  shall  be  elected  at  each 
annual  meeting  of  the  Society. 

Art.  6.  The  annual  meeting  of  the  Society  shall  be  held  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  May. 

Art.  7.  The  Executive  Committee  shall  be  composed  of  not  less  than 
nine  nor  more  than  twelve  members,  (of  whom  the  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary and  the  Treasurer  shall  be  members  ex  officio,)  to  whom  shall  be  com- 
mitted the  work  of  devising  and  executing  measures  to  secure  the  objects 
of  the  Society.  They  shall  make  an  Annual  Report  of  their  proceedings 
at  the  Anniversary  Meeting,  shall  cause  an  address  or  addresses  to  be  de- 
livered during  the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  or  Synod  of  each 
Church  represented  in  this  Society,  and  shall  have  power  to  issue  publi- 
cations from  time  to  time,  and  to  provide  means  for  defraying  the  neces- 


700  PRESBYTERIAN   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

sary  expenses  of  their  operations.  The  Executive  Committee  shall  meet 
quarterly,  on  the  first  Tuesdays  of  February,  May,  August,  and  November, 
and  at  other  times,  if  deemed  necessary  by  any  two  members,  on  the  call 
of  the  chairman.  Vacancies  occurring  in  their  body  by  death  or  other- 
wise may  be  filled  at  any  regular  quarterly  meeting. 

Art.  8.  The  formation  of  a  library,  containing  publications  and  manu- 
Bcripts,  shall  be  regarded  as  a  prominent  measure  to  be  accomplished  by 
the  Society.  The  Executive  Committee  shall  have  charge  of  the  library, 
and  shall  appoint  a  Librarian.  Publications,  manuscripts,  and  other  his- 
torical relics,  may  be  placed  on  deposit  in  the  library,  to  be  returned  to 
the  persons  depositing  the  same  on  their  written  application. 

Art.  9.  This  Constitution  may  be  amended  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of 
the  members  present  at  any  annual  meeting :  Provided,  That  notice  of 
such  alteration  be  proposed  at  a  preceding  meeting  of  the  Society. 

Sect.  3.  That  the  officers  and  members  of  the  Executive  Committee 
of  this  Society,  until  others  are  regularly  chosen  under  the  provisions  of 
this  act,  shall  be  those  now  in  office,  namely: — President,  Thomas  II. 
Skinner,  D.D.;  Vice-Presidents,  R.  J.  Breckinridge,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  William 
B.  Sprague,  D.D.,  Edward  F.  Hatfield,  D.D.,  Colonel  Peter  Force,  John 
Forsyth,  D.D.,  John  N.  McLeod,  D.D.,  Thomas  Beveridge,  D.D.;  Secre- 
tary, J.  B.  Dales,  D.D.;  Treasurer,  Samuel  Agnew,  Esq.;  Executive  Com- 
mittee, C.  Van  Rensselaer,  D.D.,  J.  C.  Backus,  D.D.,  Samuel  Hazzard, 
Esq.,  George  Duffield,  Jr.,  B.  J.  Wallace,  H.  J.  Williams,  Esq.,  G.  H. 
Stuart,  Esq.,  J.  B.  Dales,  D.D.,  and  Joseph  T.  Cooper,  D.D. 

Sect.  4.  That  the  annual  income  of  the  real  estate  held  at  any  time 
by  the  said  Society  shall  not  at  any  time  exceed  the  sum  of  three  thou- 
sand dollars. 


P.S. — All  donations  for  the  Presbyterian  Historical  Society  may  be  sent  to  SamceIi 
Agnew,  Esq.,  821  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia, 


A  LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CPIURCIL 


Abbey,  Charles,  Philadelpliia. 
Abbey,  W.  R.,  Philadelphia, 
Abbot,  M.,  Summit  Hill,  Pa. 
Abbott,  Rev.  C.  J.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Abbott,  J.  W.,  Tamaqua,  Pa. 
Adair,  James  A.,  McConnelsville,  0. 
Adam,  Rev.  M.T.,  Dykman's  Station, N.Y. 
Agaew,  B.  L.,  Theol.  Sem.,  Allegheny,  Pa, 
Agnew,  Rev.  J.  R.,  Steubenville,  0. 
Agnew,  Samuel,  Philadelphia. 
Albright,  J.  J.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Alexander,  Francis,  Potter's  Fort,  Pa. 
Alexander  &  Grier,  Kishacoquillas,  Pa. 
Alexander,  J.  A.,  D.D.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Alexander,  J.  B.,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Alexander,  John,  Kishacoquillas,  Pa. 
Alexander,  S.,  M.D.,  Clinton,  Ala. 
Alexander,  W.  S.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Algeo,  James,  Philadelphia. 
Allen,  Rev.  A.  C,  Franklin,  la. 
Allen,  John,  Bordentown,  N.J. 
Allen,  John,  Wysox,  Pa. 
Allender,  John,  Williamsburg,  Pa. 
Allison,  Andrew,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Allison,  John,  Indiana,  Pa. 
Allison,  Mrs.  Mary,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Allison,  Robert  K.,  Allen ville.  Pa. 
Anderson,  Daniel  S.,  Newton,  N.J. 
Anderson,  Rev.  E.,  Summerfield,  Ala. 
Anderson,  James  A.,  Clinton,  Ala. 
Anderson,  Rev.  J.  P.  S.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Anderson,  Mrs.  M.  H.,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Anderson,  R.  B.,Theo.Sem.Columbia,S.C. 
Andrew,  Joseph,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Andrews,  James,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Andrews,  James,  Sr.,  Philadelphia. 


Ansley,  J.  A.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Ansley,  W.  J.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Anthony,  J.  J.,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Archibald,  E.  A.,  Pleasant  Ridge,  Ala. 
Archibald,  J.  H.,  Pleasant  Ridge,  Ala. 
Arden,  Mrs.  Allison,  West  Chester,  N.Y. 
Arms,  Rev.  Clifford  S.,  Ridgebury,  N.Y. 
Armstrong,  E.,  Germantown,  Pa. 
Armstrong,  J.,  Meigsville,  0. 
Armstrong,  J.  D.,  Romney,  Va. 
Armstrong,  Rev.  John,  Hazleton,  Pa. 
Armstrong,  Rev,  R.,  Adena,  0. 
Arnell,  W.  H.,  Florence,  Ala. 
Arthur,  William  C,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Atkins,  Lay  ton  T.,  Fredericksburg,  Va. 
Atterbury,  E.  J.  C,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Atwater,  L.  H.,  D.D.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Axtell,  Rev.  C,  Galena,  HI. 
Ayrault,  Hon.  Allen,  Geneseo,  N.Y. 
Ayres,  Rev.  John  W.,  Pigeon  Creek,  Mo. 

Backus,  John  C,  D.D.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Backus,  John  T.,  D.D.,  Schenectady,  N.Y. 
Baer,  Mrs.  M.  S.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Bailey,  Benjamin  S.,  Richmond,  0. 
Bailey,  James,  Kishacoquillas,  Pa, 
Bailey,  Yancey,  Hat  Creek,  Va. 
Baird,  E.  T.,  D.D.,  Columbus,  Miss. 
Baird,  Rev.  J.  H.,  Lock  Haven,  Pa. 
Baird,  Rev,  S.  J.,  Woodbury,  N.J. 
Baker,  Elias,  Altoona,  Pa. 
Baker,  Mrs.  F.  A.,  Quincy,  HI. 
Baker,  Rev.  John  F.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Baker,  Miss  P.  Amelia,  North  Salem,  N.Y. 
Baker,  Peter  H.,  Greenville,  Ky. 
Baldwin,  Pvev.  J.  A.,  Newark,  N.J. 
701 


702 


A    LIST    OF   SUBSCRIBERS   TO   THE 


Bank,  Ephraim  M.,  Greenville,  Ky. 
Banks,  Gen.  E.,  Lewistown,  Pa. 
Banks,  Hugh  S.,  Nevvburg,  N.Y. 
Barber,  Augustus  S.,  Woodbury,  N.J. 
Bard,  Rev.  Isaac,  Greenville,  Ky. 
Barefoot,  John,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Barker,  Ralph,  West  Chester,  N.Y. 
Barnard,  Rev.  Alfred,  West  Chester,  N.Y. 
Barnard,  John,  D.D.,  Lima,  N.Y. 
Barnes,  Mrs.  E.,  Tamaqua,  Pa. 
Barnes,  James  C,  D.D.,  Somerset,  Ky. 
Barnes,  J.  Edward,  Tamaqua,  Pa. 
Barnwell,  Robert,  Indiana,  Pa. 
Barr,  Rev.  Andrew,  Crestline,  0. 
Barr,  Rev.  J.  C,  Princeton,  111. 
Barrett,  Rev.  Myron,  Newton,  N.J. 
Bates,  Davis,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Bathgate,  R.  D.,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Bayard,  James,  Philadelphia. 
Bayard,  Col.  N.  J.,  Rome,  Ga. 
Beadle,  Rev.  E.  R.,  Hartford,  Conn, 
Beau,  J.  S.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Beard,  Benjamin,  Hardin,  Iowa. 
Beard,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Beard,  William,  Hardin,  Iowa. 
Beattie,  Rev.  D.,  Scotchtown,  N.Y. 
Beattie,  Rev.  James,  West  Chester,  N.Y. 
Beattie,  Rev.  R.  H.,  Salisbury  Mills,  N.Y. 
Beatty,  C.  C,  D.D.,  Steubenville,  0. 
Beatty,  John,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Beatty,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Beatty,  Ormond,  Prof.,  Danville,  Ky. 
Beck,  C.  F.,  M.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Beck,  T.  W.,  Rodney,  Miss. 
Beebe,  Capt.  E.  H.,  Galena,  HI. 
Beebe,  Mrs.  Sarah,  Galena,  HI. 
Beisel,  William,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Belden,  E.  L.,  Theol.  Sem.,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
Belford,  George,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Bell,  George,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Bellas,  Thomas,  Philadelphia. 
Bellville,  Rev.  Jacob,  Hartsville,  Pa. 
Bemiss,  J.  W.,  M.D.,  Rodney,  Miss. 
Benedict,  A.  W.,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Benedict,  G.  C,  North  Salem,  N.Y. 
Berry,  J.  M.  S.,  Paris,  Mo, 
Bertsch,  Daniel,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Bertsch,  Daniel,  Jr.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Betts,  N.  N.,  Towanda,  Pa. 


Bevcridge,  Rev.  A.  M.,  Hoosick  Falls, N.Y. 
Beveridge,  Rev.  T.  IL,  Philadelphia. 
Beveridge,  Thomas,  D.D.,Xenia,  0. 
Bick,  George,  Port  Carbon,  Pa. 
Bigham,  John,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Billington,  H.,  Sunbury,  Pa. 
Bingham,  Rev.  W.  R.,  Warren  Tavern,  Pa. 
Bird,  A.  D.,  Hazleton,  Pa. 
Bissell,  Rev.  S.  B.  S.,  New  York. 
Bittinger,  Rev.E.C,  U.S.N.,  Philadelphia. 
Black,  A.  W.,  D.D.,  Sewicklcyville,  Pa. 
Blackburn,  Rev.  A.,  Bristol,  Tenn. 
Blackwell,  Rev.  H.,  Flint  Hill,  Mo. 
Blackwood,  John  F.,  Hamburg,  Ga. 
Blackwood,  William,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Blair,  Brice  X.,  Shade  Gap,  Pa. 
Blair,  D.,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Bloom,  Joseph,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Boal,  Hon.  George,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Boardman,  H.  A.,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Boggs,  A.  C,  West  Liberty,  Va. 
Boggs,  Rev.  John  M.,  Independence, Iowa. 
Boiling,  A.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Bones,  Mrs.  S.,  Augusta,  6a. 
Borden,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Bossert,  John  J.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Bosworth,  Rev,  E.,  Baltimore,  Md, 
Bouton,  Edgar  M.,  Galena,  111. 
Bower,  Rev.  E.  R,,  Wappinger  Falls,  N,T. 
Bowers,  Aaron,  Theo.  Sem.,  Allegheny, Pa. 
Bowers,  C,  M.D.,  Newton  Hamilton,  Pa. 
Bowman,  Rev.  J.  R.,  Eutaw,  Ala. 
Boyd,  Alexander,  Philadelphia. 
Boyd,  David,  Philadelphia. 
Boyd,  Miss  Jane,  Washingtonville,  Pa. 
Boyd,  Mrs.  Jean  L.,  Philadelphia. 
Boyd,  Joseph  E.,  Mt.  Vernon,  Iowa. 
Boyd,  J.  Howard,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Boyd,  J.  S.,  Theol.  Sem.,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
Boyd,  Mrs.  Margaret,  Rising  Sun,  la. 
Boyd,  W^  B.,  Petersburg,  Va. 
Bojde,  Edwin,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Boyles,  James,  Philadelphia. 
Brace,  R.  J.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Bracken,  Rev.  T.  A.,  Independence,  Mo. 
Brackett,  Mrs.  S.  A.,  Rock  Island,  111. 
Bradshaw,  Rev.  F.,  Bridgeville,  Ala. 
Brank,  Rev.  R.  G.,  Lexington,  Ky. 
Brearley,  Johnes,  Lawrenceville,  N.J. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH. 


703 


Breai-ley,  Joseph  G.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Breckinriage,R.J.,D.D.,LLD.,Danville,Ky. 
Breed,  Rev.  W.  P.,  Philadelphia. 
Brishiu,  David,  Potter's  Fort,  Pa. 
Brodhead,  A.  G.,  Jr.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Brodhead,  A.  J.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Brodhead,  L.  W.,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Brodrick,  Thomas,  Rockport,  Pa. 
Brothwell,  Miss  Frances,  Kingston,  Pa. 
Broughton,  J.  E.,  Rodney,  Miss. 
Brown,  Rev. Allen H.,  May's  Landing,N.J. 
Brown,  Mrs.  Andrew,  Philadelphia. 
Brown,  D.,  Philadelphia. 
Brown,  Mrs.  D.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Brown,  Geo.  W.,  M.D.,  Port  Carbon,  Pa. 
Brown,  James,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Brown,  John,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Brown,  Joseph,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Brown,  R.  F.,  Sybertsville,  Pa. 
Brown,  Samuel  H.,  Frankfort,  Va. 
Brown,  Samuel  T.,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Brown,  Mrs.  Sarah,  Holmesburg,  Pa. 
Brown,  S.  S.,  Galena,  111. 
Brown,  Wallace,  Mill  Hall,  Pa. 
Bryan,  R.  R.,  HoUidaysburg,  Pa. 
Bryan,  William  F.,  Peoria,  111. 
Buck,  R.  S.,  Bridgeton,  N.J. 
Buck,  Miss  Sarah  H.,  Bridgeton,  N.J. 
Budman,  Miss  Sarah,  Danville,  Pa. 
Buford,  Goodloe  W.,  College  Hill,  Miss. 
Bull,  Edward  C,  Rome,  Pa. 
Bullock,  Joshua,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Burdett,  Rev.  M.,  Philadelphia. 
Burgess,  J.  C,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Burnside,  Francis  C,  Jeffersonville,  Pa. 
Burr,  Charles  H.,  Astoria,  L.  I.,  N.Y. 
Burt,  Rev.  N.  C,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Burtt,  Rev.  John,  Blackwoodtown,  N.J. 
Bush,  Rev.  George  C,  Stewartsville,  N.J. 
Bush,  Rev.  Stephen,  Cohoes,  N.Y. 
Butler,  A.  W.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 

Caldwell,  Hon.  D.,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Calvin,  Hon.  Samuel,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Cameron,  A.,  Allegheny  City,  Pa. 
Cameron,  H.  C,  Th.  Sem.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Camp,  George  H.,  Roswell,  Ga. 
Campbell,  Don,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 
Campbell,  Hugh,  Philadelphia. 


Campbell,  James  E.,  Rising  Sun,  la. 
Campbell,  John  W.,  Brimfield,  111. 
Campbell,  Joseph,  Jr.,  Belleville,  Pa. 
Campbell,  J.  N.,  D.D.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Campbell,  J.  0.,  Belleville,  Pa. 
Campbell,  Robert,  Belleville,  Pa. 
Campbell,  S.  C,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 
Canfield,  W.  B.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Canning,  Mark,  Philadelphia. 
Cargen,  Rev.  William,  Cambridge,  Wis. 
Carmine,  Andrew,  Franklin,  la. 
Carnahan,  Rev.  D.  T.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Carnahan,  James,  D.D.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Carr,  F.  E.  G.,  Charlottesville,  Va. 
Carr,  John,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Carrell,  Rev.  B.,  Clover  Hill,  N.J. 
Carroll,  Miss  Josephine,  New  York. 
Carson,  Mrs.  Mary,  Marion,  N.C. 
Carson,  Thomas,  Philadelphia. 
Carter,  John,  Bloomsbury,  N.J. 
Carter,  Robert  &  Brothers,  New  York. 
Caskey,  Samuel,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Castner,  Wesley  W.,  Bloomsbury,  N.J. 
Cater,  Rev.  Edwin,  Haddrells,  S.C. 
Catt,  Christopher,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Cattell,  Rev.  W.  C,  Easton,  >a. 
Catto,  Rev.  William  T.,  Philadelphia. 
Chamberlain,  John,  Pontiac,  Mich. 
Chambers,  Col.  Geo.,  Chambersburg,  Pa. 
Chambers,  John  S.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Chapin,  Lyman,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Chapman,  J.  H.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Chapman,  R.  Hett,  D.D.,  AsheviUe,  N.C. 
Chappin,  Thomas,  Jr.,  Columbus,  Ga. 
Chase,  Joseph,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Cheesman,  L.,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Chester,  Rev.  Alfred,  Morristown,  N.J. 
Chester,  AVilliam,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Chilas,  Bradley,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Childs,  Rev.  Thomas  S.,  Hartford,  Conn. 
Chrisman,  G.  W.,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Christian,  Rev.  L.  H.,  Philadelphia. 
Christy,  J.  A.,  Mifflintown,  Pa. 
Church,  Harvey,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Clark,  Miss  Annie  E.,  Washingtonville,  Pa. 
Clark,  John,  Macomb,  111. 
Clark,  John,  Williamsburg,  Pa. 
Clark,  Lambert,  West  Chester,  Pa. 
Clark,  William  F.,  Hat  Creek,  Va. 


704 


A   LIST   OF   SUBSCRIBERS   TO   THE 


Clarke,  Freeman,  Rochester,  X  Y. 
Clarke,  Henry  S.,  D.D.,  I'liiladelpiiia. 
Clarke,  Rev.  Joseph,  Chambersburg,  Pa. 
Clarke,  Robert  C,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Clarke,  Samuel  S.,  Peoria,  111. 
Clayton,  Rev.  J.  A.,  Clarkston,  Mich. 
Clegg,  Isaac,  Mt.  Pleasant,  Iowa. 
Clift,  Joseph,  Holmesburg,  Pa. 
Clifton,  William  B.,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Close,  H.  L.,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Close,  W.  T.,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Cobb,  Rev.  A.  P.,  Philadelphia. 
Cochran,  Rev.  William  P.,  Hansons,  Mo. 
Coffee,  Alexander  D.,  Florence,  Ala. 
Coffee,  Mrs.  John,  Florence,  Ala. 
Collins,  Charles,  Philadelphia. 
Collins,  Rev.  Charles  J.,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Collins,  Hon.  Orestes,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Colt,  Charles,  Jr.,  Geueseo,  N.Y. 
Colt,  Rev.  S.  F.,  Towanda,  Pa. 
Colwell,  Stephen,  Philadelphia. 
Candict,  Rev.  J.  B.,  Stillwater,  N.J. 
Condit,  J.  W.,  M.D.,  Dover,  N.J. 
Condron,  James,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Cone,  Ephraim,  Geneseo,  N.Y. 
Connitt,  Rev.  G.  W.,  Deep  Run,  Conn. 
Connor,  E.  T.,  Summit  Hill,  Pa. 
Conrad,  Rev.  L.  L.,  West  Manchester,  Pa. 
Cook,  Cyrus,  Rome,  Pa. 
Cook,  Rev.  Darwin,  Rome,  Pa. 
Cook,  Watts,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Cook,  William  G.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Cook,  Ziri,  Rome,  Pa. 
Cooper,  A.  B.,  Prairie  Bluff,  Ala. 
Cooper,  Rev.  Charles  W.,  Pontiac,  Mich. 
Cooper,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Cooper,  Rev.  Joseph  T.,  Philadelphia. 
Cooper,  Rev.  S.  M.,  Walker,  Pa. 
Copp,  Rev.  J.  A.,  Chelsea,  Mass. 
Corey,  Rev.  Benj.,  Perth  Amboy,  N..J. 
Corl,  Nathan,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Corning,  Erastus,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Cortright,  N.  D.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Coryell,  M.,  Hazleton,  Pa. 
Coulter,  Rev.  David,  Lexington,  Mo. 
Conper,  James,  M.D.,  Newcastle.  Del. 
Couper,  AVilliam,  Newcastle,  Del. 
Covert,  Daniel,  Franklin,  la. 
Covert,  George  L.,  Franklin,  la. 


Covert,  P.  G.,  Franklin,  la. 
Cowell,  Mrs.  Sarah,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Cox,  Alexander,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Crabb,  Rev.  John  .M.,  Bryan,  0. 
Craig,  J.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Craig,  Samuel,  Bordentown,  N.J. 
Crane,  Walter  B.,  Rondout,  N.Y. 
Craven,  Rev.  Elijah  R.,  Newark,  N.J. 
Craven,  H.  L.,  Th.  Sem.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Crawford,  Alexander,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Crawford,  Rev.  A.  L.,  Indiantown,  S.C. 
Crawford,  Armstrong,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Crawford,  E.D.,  M.D.,  Thompsontown,  Pa. 
Crawford,  Mrs. Eunice,  SinkingValley,Pa. 
Crawford,  Holmes,  Chambersburg,  Pa. 
Crawford,  Joseph,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Crawford,  J.  R.,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Crawford,  Rev.  Robert,  Crookville,  Pa. 
Crawford,  Rev.  Thomas  M.,  Slatehill,  Pa. 
Creveling,  Jacob  V.,  Washington,  N.J. 
Creveling,  John  A.,  Bloomsbury,  N.J. 
Crook,  AVilliam  T.,  Crookville,  Pa. 
Crooks,  H.  L.,  Galena,  111. 
Crouch,  George,  Bethel,  Pa. 
Crowell,  Rev.  James  M.,  Parksburg,  Pa. 
CuUen,  William,  Rising  Sun,  la. 
Gumming,  S.  J.,  Monroeville,  Ala. 
Gumming,  Thomas,  Williamsburg,  Pa. 
Cummins,  Col.  Wm.,  Kishacoquillas,  Pa. 
Cummins,  Williamson,  Belleville,  Pa. 
Cunningham,  R.,  Mifflintown,  Pa. 
Curran,  Rev.  Richard,  Petersburg,  Pa. 
Curtin,  Hon.  A.  G.,  Belief onte,  Pa. 
Curwen,  John,  M.D.,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 
Cuttler,  J.,  Hardin,  Iowa. 
Cuttler,  W.,  Hardin,  Iowa. 
Cuyler,  Mrs.  C.  C,  Philadelphia. 
Cuyler,  Theodore,  Philadelphia. 

Dale,  Rev.  James  W.,  Chester,  Pa. 
Dales,  Rev.  J.  B.,  Philadelphia. 
Dana,  Ai-a,  Tunkhannock,  Pa. 
Dana,  Daniel,  D.D.,  Newburyport,  Mass, 
Daniel,  Hugh,  Green  Tree,  Pa. 
Daniel,  Mrs.  R.  T.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Daughtrey,  M.  F.,  M.D.,  Portsmouth,  Va. 
Davenport,  Mrs.  Mary,  Hazleton,  Pa. 
David,  S.,  Knox\'ille,  Ala. 
Davidson,  A.,  Louisville,  Ky. 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 


705 


Davidson,  Robt.,  D.D.,  N.Brutiswick,N.  J.    Du  Bois,  Edward,  Tamaqua,  Pa 


Davidson,  R.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Davies,  James  W.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Davies,  Rev.  J.Le  Roy,Coate'sTavern,S.C. 
Davis,  Rev.  J.  B.,  Titusville,  N.J. 
J)avison,  John  S.,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
Deaderick,  David  A.,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 
Deal,  John,  Frankford,  Pa. 
Dean,  Samuel,  Williamsburg,  Pa. 
Dean,  W.  W.,  West  Liberty,  Va. 
Dearin,  Thomas,  New  Hamburg,  N.Y. 
Delancy,  N.,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 
Dennis,  N.  M.,  Williamsburg,  0. 
Dennison,  D.  W.,  Philadelphia. 
Denniston,  James,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Depuy,  George,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Derrickson,  Aquilla,  Mermaid,  Del. 
Dexter,  Mrs.  S.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Dick,  Rev.  John  N.,  Kittanning,  Pa. 
Dickey,  Rev.  Samuel,  Oxford,  Pa. 
Dickson,  Rev.  Cyrus,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Dickson,  James  N.,  Philadelphia. 
Dickson,  Robert  M.,  Vernon,  Iowa. 
Diehl,  Joseph,  Damdlle,  Pa. 
Dietrick,  Mrs.  C,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Dilworth,  Robert,  D.D.,  Enon  Valley,  Pa. 
Doak,  Rev.  D.  G.,  Oxford,  Miss. 
Doby,  Joseph,  Tulip,  Ark. 
Dod,  Rev.  W.  A.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Dodge,  Rev.  J.  V.,  Springfield,  111. 
Dodson,  Mrs.  C,  Weatherly,  Pa. 
Donaldson,  Mary  C,  Philadelphia. 
Donaldson,  William,  Tamaqua.  Pa. 
Donnan,  W.  S.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Doolittle,  Rev.  Henry  L.,  Mill  Hall,  Pa. 
Doremus,  Rev.J.E.C,  Oakland  Coll., Miss. 
Dorrance,  Col.  Charles,  Kingston,  Pa. 
Dorrance,  John,  D.D.,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Dorrance,  Mrs.  P.,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Dorsheimer,  B.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Doty,  Edmund  S.,  Mifflintown,  Pa. 
Dougherty,  S.  B.,  Bordentown,  N.J. 
Douglass,  A.  A.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Douglass,  David,  Shirleysburg,  Pa. 
Douglass,  E.  A.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Dowd,  C.  H.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
DowfJ,  William  G.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Drake,  Charles  D.,  St.  Louis,  Me. 
Dreer,  Henry  J.,  Philadelphia. 


Dudley,  Rev.  J.  D.,  Dover's  Mills,  Va. 
DufBeld,  Rev.  George,  Jr.,  Philadelphia. 
Duffield,  Rev.  John  T.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Duncan,  Samuel,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Duncan,  Mrs.  S.  P.,  Port  Gibson,  Miss. 
Dungan,  C.  B.,  Philadelphia. 
Dunham,  A.  W.,  Clinton,  N.J. 
Dunlap,  James,  Philadelphia. 
Dunlap,  J.  E.,  Theol.  Sem.,  Columbia,  S.C. 
Dunlap,  John,  Springfield,  0. 
Dunlap,  Robert,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Dunlap,  Maj.  W.  S.,  Coates'  Tavern,  S.C. 
Dunwody,  John,  Roswell,  Ga. 
Dwart,  William  L.,  Sunbury,  Pa. 
Dysart,  Alexander,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Dysart,  Joseph,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 

Eagleton,  G.  E.,  Comersville,  Teim. 
Earp,  Miss,  Philadelphia. 
Easter,  Hamilton,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Easton,  Rev.  William,  Smyrna,  Pa. 
Eaton,  Rev.  S.  M.  J.,  Franklin,  Pa. 
Edgar,  Rev.  E.  B.,  AVestfield,  N.J. 
Edgar,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Eckard,  Rev.  J.  R.,  Washington,  D.C. 
Edgar,  Wm.,  Rahway,  N.J. 
Edwards,  James,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Edwards,  Rev.  J.,  South  Hanover,  la. 
Eells,  Rev.  W.  W.,  Carlisle,  Pa. 
Elliott,  David,  D.D.,  Allegheny  City,  Pa. 
Elliott,  Rev.  George,  Alexandi-ia,  Pa. 
Elliott,  Mrs.  H.  G.,  Philadelphia. 
Elliott,  Theo.  H.,  Philadelphia. 
Elmer,  Hon.  L.  Q.  C,  Bridget  on,  N.J. 
Elmer,  Wm.,  M.D.,  Bridgeton,  N.J. 
Elstun,  W.  P.,  M.D.,  Columbia,  0. 
Ely,  Richard,  Binghampton,  N.Y. 
Emery,  Wm.  P.,  Flemington,  N.J. 
Engle,  Mrs.  C.  B.,  Germantown,  Pa. 
Engle,  J.,  Sybertsville,  Pa. 
Engle,  M.  D.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Engle,  S.,  Hazleton,  Pa. 
Engles,  Joseph  P.,  Philadelphia. 
Engles,  Wm.  M.,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
English,  Rev.  J.  T.,  Liberty  Corners,  N.J. 
Erskine,  Rev.  E.,  Columbia,  Pa. 
Erwin,  John  S.,  M.D.,  Marion,  N.C. 
Esler,  Benjamin,  Philadelphia. 


45 


70C 


A    LIST    OF   SUBSCRIBERS   TO   THE 


Espcy,  Mrs.  Agnes,  Rising  Sun,  la. 
Evany,  Rev.  R.  R.,  Gerniantown,  Tenn. 
Everliart,  James  B.,  West  Cliester,  Pa. 
Evins,  Col.  S.  N.,  Spartanburg,  S.C. 
Ewing,  Amos,  Battle  Swamp,  Md. 
Ewing,  Rev.  C.  II.,WestPhiladelphia,Pa. 

Faires,  J.  W.,  Philadelphia. 
Faris,  Rev.  John  M.,  Steubenville,  0. 
Farley,  Mrs.  S.  R.,  Colliersville,  Tenn. 
Farnum,  P.,  Holmesburg,  Pa. 
Farquhar,  Rev.  J.,  Lower  Chanceford,  Pa. 
Farris,  Rev.  R.  P.,  Peoria,  111. 
Farrow,  James,  Spartanburg,  S.C. 
Feay,  Joseph,  Williamsburg,  Pa. 
Fegley,  Nathan,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Fell,  Mrs.  M.  A.,  Waverley,  Pa. 
Fellows,  A.  W.,  Summit  Hill,  Pa. 
Feuton,  Rev.  Jos.  F.,  Kirkwood,  Mo. 
Field,  James,  Philadelphia. 
Fillmore,  Rev.  J.  0.,  Batavia,  N.Y. 
Fine,  Hon.  John,  Ogdensburg,  N.Y. 
Finlay,  Rev.  J.  B.,  LL.D.,  Kittanning,  Pa. 
Finley,  Rev.  J.  P.,  Paris,  Mo. 
Finley,  Rev.  Robert  S.,  Metuchin,  N.J. 
Finley,  W.  R.,  M.D.,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Fish,  Jonathan,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Fishback,  Charles,  M.D.,  Shelbyville,  la. 
Fisher,  Rev.  James  P.,  Johnstown,  N.Y. 
Fisk  &  Little,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Fithian,  George,  Philadelphia. 
Fithian,  Joseph,  M.D.,  Woodbury,  N.J. 
Fitten,  John  H.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Fleming,  John,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Fleming,  John  M.,  Colliersville,  Tenn. 
Fleming,  Morton,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Fleming,  Porter,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Fleming,  Rev.  W.  A.,  Farmington,  111. 
Foote,  W.  Henry,  D.D.,  Romney,  Va. 
Ford,  Rev.  C.  E.,  Williamstown,  N.J. 
Foresman,  Rev.  R.  B.,  INIiddaghs,  Pa. 
Forest,  Joseph,  Mfiuch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Forman,  Mrs.  A.  H.,  Fasten,  Pa. 
Forman,  Rev.  A.  P.,  Hannibal,  Mo. 
Forsyth,  A.  R.,  Greensburg,  la. 
Forsythe,  Rev.W.  H.,  Mt.  Pleasant,  Kj'. 
Foster,  Asa  L.,  Council  Ridge,  Pa. 
Foster,  John  C,  Jr.,  Bethel,  Pa. 
Foster,  Rev.  Julius,  Towanda,  Pa. 


Foster,  Thomas,  Galena,  111. 
Foster,  Wm.,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Fowler,  M.  P.,  Tamaqua,  Pa. 
Fowler,  Peter,  V.  B.,  Newburg,  N.Y. 
Frazer,  Simon  A.,  Hinesville,  Ga. 
Fredericks,  J.F.,  Th.  Sem.,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
Freeman,  Alfred,  M.D.,  New  York  City. 
Freeman,  E.  B.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Frew,  H.  B.,  Mifflintown,  Pa. 
Fricrson,  John  M.,  College  Hill,  Miss. 
Frisbie,  Chauncey,  Rome,  Pa. 
Frisbie,  Zebulon,  Rome,  Pa. 
Frothingham,  Rev.  W.,  Johnstown,  N.Y. 
Frymire,  .John,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Fuller,  Charles,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Fuller,  E.  C.  Scranton,  Pa. 
Fuller,  Mrs.  Harriet,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Fuller,  J.  S.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Fulton,  Mrs.  Sarah  A.,  Philadelphia. 
Fulton,  William  F.,  Sumpterville,  Ala. 
Futhey,  J.  Smith,  West  Chester,  Pa. 

Gahgan,  Daniel,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Galbraith,  Rev.  R.  C,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Gale,  E.  Thompson,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Gamble,  Archibald,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Garvin,  W.,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Gaston,  Rev.  Daniel,  Philadelphia. 
Gates,  Jabez,  Gerniantown,  Pa. 
Gayley,  Andrew,  Philadelphia. 
Gayley,  Andrew  W.,  Philadelphia. 
Gayley,  James  F.,  M.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Gayley,  Oliver,  Parkesburg,  Pa. 
Gayley,  Rev.  S.  A.,  Battle  Swamp,  Md. 
Gayley,  Rev.  S.  M.,  Media,  Pa. 
Gayley,  Rev.  S.  R.,  Shanghae,  China. 
Gazlay,  Rev.  Sayrs,  Williamsburg,  0 
Gibboney,  D.  C,  Hollidaj'sburg,  Pa. 
Gibson,  David,  Romney,  Va. 
Gibson,  George  S.,  M.D.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Gibson,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Gibson,  J.  W.,  M.D.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Gibson,  William  J.,  D.D.,  W'alker,  Pa, 
Giger,  Rev.  G.  M.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Gilbraith,  Rev.  J.  N.,  Kirkwood,  Mo. 
Gilchrist,  Charles,  Hat  Creek,  Va. 
Gildersleeve,  AV.  C,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Gilfillan,  Henry,  Philadelphia. 
Gillespie,  James,  Oxford,  Miss. 


HISTORY   OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 


707 


Gillespie,  Mrs.  Margaret,  Rising  Sun,  la. 
Gilliland,  David,  Potter's  Mills,  Pa. 
Gilliland,  John,  Potter's  Mills,  Pa. 
Gilliland,  Samuel,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Gilmore,  H.,  Sybertsville,  Pa. 
Gilson,  William  B.,  Academia,  Pa. 
Given,  Rev.  James,  Bakerstown,  Pa. 
Glazier,  Henry,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Glen,  Rev.  Wm.  R.,  German  Valley,  N.J. 
Godfrey,  Walter  B.,  Stewartsville,  N.J. 
Godfiy,  T.  A.,  Tremont,  Pa. 
Going,  A.  Pleasant  Grove,  Ala. 
Going,  E.  T.,  Pleasant  Grove,  Ala. 
Good,  Abraham,  Nescopeck,  Pa. 
Good,  Anthony,  Nescopeck,  Pa. 
Good,  James,  Nescopeck,  Pa. 
Gordon,  A.  A.,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Gordon,  George,  Philadelphia. 
Gordon,  J.  Smith,  Th.Sem.,Princeton,N.J. 
Gould,  W.  n.,  D.D.,  Edinburgh,  Scotland. 
Gould,  William  F.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Grafius,  Israel,  Alexandria,  Pa. 
Graham,  G.  M.,  M.D.,  Perrysville,  Pa. 
Graham,  James,  Philadelphia. 
Graham,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Graham,  Rev.  W.  R.,  Woodbury,  N.J. 
Grant,  John  C,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Grant,  W.  H.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Gray,  J.  H.,  D.D.,  Memphis,  Tenn. 
Gray,  John,  D.D.,  Easton,  Pa. 
Gray,  Robert,  Philadelphia. 
Gray,  Wm.  H.,  Philadelphia. 
Green,  Caleb  S.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Green,  Rev.  E.  H.,  Portersville,  Tenn. 
Green,  George  S.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Gi-een,  Henry  W.,  Trenton,  N.J, 
Green,  John  B.,  Philadelphia. 
Green,  John  C,  New  York. 
Green,  Rev.  W.  Henry,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Gregg,  Rev.  George  C,  Mayesville,  S.C. 
Gregory,  Rev.  C.  R.,  Oneida,  N.Y. 
Gregory,  Henry  D.,  Philadelphhia. 
Gretter,  G.  W.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Grier,  James  K.,  Brandy  wine  Manor,  Pa. 
Grier,  J.  Mason,  Palmyra,  Mo. 
Grier,  John  C,  Peoria,  111. 
Grier,  Rev.  J.  W.,  U.S.N.,  Philadelphia. 
Grier,  Rev.  M.  B.,  Wilmington,  N.C. 
Grier,  M.  C,  Danville,  Pa. 


Grier,  M.  C,  Philadelphia. 
Grimes,  Rev,  J.  S.,  Salem,  0. 
Griswold,  John  L.,  Peoria,  111. 
Groninger,  Jacob,  Perrysville,  Pa. 
Grove,  Rev.  T.  A.,  Wegee,  0. 
Grubb,  William  A.,  Philadelphia. 
Gubby,  Rev.  James,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Guiteau,  Rev.  S. ,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Guthrie,  Rev.  H.  W.,  Mackinac,  Mich. 
Guthrie,  Miss  Margaret,  Cedar  Creek,  Ky. 
Gwatheney,  Mrs.  H.  B.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Gwin,  Hon.  James,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Gwynn,  Samuel,  Louisville,  Ky. 

Hageman,  William  L.,  Williamsburg,  0. 
Hagerty,  Joseph,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Haggarty,  Miss  Mary,  Belleville,  Pa. 
Haines,  A.W.,  Theol.  Sem.,  Allegheny,Pa. 
Haines,  R.  T.,  Elizabeth,  N.J. 
Hale,  Rev.  George  Pennington,  N.J. 
Hall,  J.  A.,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Hall,  John,  D.D.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Hall,  Wilfred,  Philadelphia. 
Halsey,  L.,  D.D.,  Blooming  Grove,  N.Y. 
Halsey,  Rev.  L.  J.,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Halsey,  Stephen  A.,  Astoria,  L.  I.,  N.Y. 
Halsy,  R.  C,  Jr.,  M.D.,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Hamersley,  Rev.  Wm.,  Rough  Creek,  Va. 
Hamill,  Rev.  Robert,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Hamill,  Rev.  S.,  Lawrenceville,  N.J. 
Hamilton,  Alfred,  D.D.,  Cochranville,  Pa. 
Hamilton,  Miss  C,  Philadelphia. 
Hamilton,  .James,  Annapolis,  0. 
Hamilton,  James,  Washington  City,  D.C. 
Hamilton,  R.  R.,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Hamilton,  Thomas,  Indiana,  Pa. 
Hand,  Rev.  A.  H.,  Bloomsbury,  N..J. 
Handy,  Rev.  I.  W.  K.,  Portsmouth,  Va. 
Hanewinckel,  F.  W.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Hannay,  A.  M.,  Florence,  Ala. 
Happersett,  R.,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Hardwick,  Mrs.  M.  A.,  Philadelphia. 
Hardy,  Mrs.  Delia  H.,  Asheville,  N.C. 
Harned,  Rev.  A.  G.,  Summit  Hill,  Pa. 
Harper,  James,  Philadelphia. 
Harper,  John  M.,  Philadelphia. 
Harper,  T.  Esmond,  Philadelphia. 
Harrington,  James,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Harris,  Francis,  Bordentown,  N.J. 


'08 


A    LIST    OF   SUBSCRIBERS   TO   THE 


Harris,  Rev.  John  S.,  Guthriesville,  S.C. 
Harris,  William  D.,  New  York. 
Harrison,  A.  S.,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Harrison,  J.  R.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Hartihberger,  A.,  M.D.,  Perrysville,  Pa. 
Hartz,  Miss  Mar3',  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Harvey,  Joseph,  Philadelphia. 
Harvey,  Samuel,  Germantown,  Pa. 
Hassinger,  Rev.  Peter,  Moro,  111. 
Hassler,  CharlesW., Washington City,D.C. 
Hatch,  Rev.  L.  D.,  Greensborough,  Ala. 
Hautz,  D.,  M.  D.,  Alexandria,  Pa. 
Hay,  Rev.  Samuel  H.,  Camden,  S.C. 
Hays,  Christiana,  Williamsport,  Pa. 
Hays,  John,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Hays,  John  R.,  Williamsport,  Pa. 
Hazard,  F.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Hazlett,  Andrew,  Allenville,  Pa. 
Hazlett,  Mrs.  Ann  C,  Kishacoquillas,  Pa. 
Hazzard,  Samuel,  Sr.,  Philadelphia. 
Heacock,  Rev.  Jos. S.,  Kingsborough,N.Y. 
Headings,  John,  Allenville,  Pa. 
Heaton,  Reuben,  Tamaqua,  Pa. 
Heaton,  Mrs.  Sarah,  Tamaqua,  Pa. 
Heberton,  Rev.  A.,  Williamsport,  Pa. 
HebertoD,  G.  Craig,  M.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Heebnor,  Abraham,  Port  Carbon,  Pa. 
Helm,  Rev.  James  I.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Henderson,  Mrs.  C,  Florence,  Ala. 
Henderson,  Rev.  James,  Newville,  Pa. 
Henderson,  Joseph,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Henderson,  Thomas,  Franklin,  la. 
Hendrick,  J.T.,  D.D.,  Clarksville,  Tenn. 
Henry,  Alexander,  Columbia,  Ky. 
Henry,  Mrs.  Alexander,  Philadelphia. 
Henry,  E.,  Nescopeck,  Pa. 
Henry,  George,  Philadelphia. 
Henry,  George  W.,  Philadelphia. 
Henry,  Rev.  James  V.,  Jersey  City,  N.J. 
Henry,  Mrs.  John  S.,  Germantown,  Pa. 
Henry,  Rev.  P.  B.,  Biidgeton,  N.J. 
Henry,  Rev.  Robert,  Belfast,  Ireland. 
Henry,  S.  C,  D.D.,  Cranberry,  N.J. 
Henry,  William,  Kishacoquillas,  Pa. 
Hepburn,  A.,  M.D.,  AVilliamsport,  Pa. 
Hepburn,  Rev.  S.  C,  Goshen,  N.Y. 
Heroy,  Rev.  P.  B.,  Bridgeton,  N.J. 
Herron,  James  B.,  Hillsborough,  0. 
Heston,  Elisha  B.,  Boalsburg.  Pa. 


Hetrick,  Andrew  J.,  Elizabeth,  N.J. 
Heugh,  Walter,  Philadelphia. 
Hewett,  Benjamin  L.,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Ilewett,  Joseph  N.,  Williamsburg,  Pa. 
Hewit,  N.,  D.D.,  Bridgeport,  Conn. 
Hibben,  Hon.  A.,  Haddrells,  S.C. 
Ilickok,  Rev.  .Milo  J.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Hileman,  Philip,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Hiles,  James,  Oxford  Furnacle,  N.J. 
Hinchman,  Reuben,  Salem,  N.J. 
Hinsdale,  Rev.  H.  G.,  Oyster  Bay,  N.Y, 
Hitchcock,  Rev.  R.  S.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Hoagland,  0.  M.,  Bardolph,  111. 
Hodge,  Rev.  A.  A.,  Fredericksburg, Va. 
Hodge,  Charles,  D.D.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Hodge,  Hugh,  M,D.,  Philadelphia. 
Hodge,  Rev.  J.  A.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Hoffman,  Josiah,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Holby,  John,  Greensburg,  la. 
Hollenback,  Mrs.  Sallie,  Wilkesbarrc,  Pa. 
HoUond,  Miss  H.,  Philadelphia. 
Holt,  B.  S.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Holt,  Mrs.,  West  Chester,  N.Y. 
Hood,  A.,  Bridgeville,  Ala. 
Hood,  John,  Sr.,  Kittanning.  Pa. 
Hood,  M.  G.,  Philadelphia. 
Hood,  Samuel,  Sr.,  Philadelphia. 
Hope,  Levi,  Oxford,  Miss. 
Hopkins,  John,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Hornblower,  Rev.  W.  H.,  Paterson,  N.J. 
Houser,  Sophia,  AVhite  Haven,  Pa. 
Houston,  Robert,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Houston,  Rev.  S.  R.,  Union,  Va. 
Howard,  Mrs.  B.  C,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Howard,  Pleasant  C,  Hat  Creek,  Va. 
Howard,  W.  D.,  L.D.,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
Howard,  AVilliam  T.,  Hat  Creek,  Va. 
Howe,  Alvah,  Bedford,  N.Y. 
Howe,  Mrs.  Anna  M.,  North  Salem,  N.Y. 
Howe,  George,  D.D.,  Columbia,  S.C. 
Howell,  Rev.  J.  L.,  Dobbs's Feny,  N.Y. 
Howsley,  Rev.  Alban  S.,  Greenville,  Ky. 
Hoy,  James,  Ti-enton,  N.J. 
Hoyt,  H.  F.,  Theol.  Sem.,  Columbia,  S.C. 
Hoyte,  Rev.  James  W.,  Nashville,  Tenn. 
Hudson,  Wra.  A.,  Shade  Gap,  Pa. 
Huey,  William,  Shade  Gap,  Pa. 
Hughes,  Rev.  James  E..  Baltimore,  Md. 
Hulburt,  Chauncey,  Philadelphia. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 


709 


Hulsbizer,  Dauiel,  Stewartsville,  N.J. 
Humphrey,  E.  P.,  D.D.,  Danville,  Ky. 
Humphrey,  Hugh,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Humphrey,  James  E.,  Keokuk,  Iowa. 
Humphrey,  J.  D.,  Towanda,  Pa. 
Hunt,  G.  F.,  Rodney,  Miss. 
Hunt,  Rev.  Thomas  P.,  Wyoming,  Pa. 
Hunter,  Pavid,  M.D.,  Tamaqua,  Pa. 
Hunter,  Rev.  John,  Danville,  Ky. 
Hunter,  Miss  Nancy,  Sunbury,  Pa. 
Hunter,  William,  Kent,  Pa. 
Hunter,  Rev.  William,  Clinton,  Pa. 
Huntington,  Rev.  C,  Ellicott's  Mills,  Md. 
Husted,  Rev.  John,  Zion,  Md. 
Hutchinson,  John,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Hutchinson,  Saml.  B.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Hutchinson,  Saml.  N.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Huyett,  H.  G.,  Williamsburg,  Pa. 
Hyndman,  Hugh,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Hyndman,  James,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Hyndman,  Mark,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Hyndshaw,  Miss  E.,  Stewartsville,  N.J. 
Hynes,  Rev.  T.  W.,  Greenville,  111. 

Ingham,  Samuel  D.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Invilliers,  C.  E.  de,  Philadelphia. 
Irvine,  James,  Florence,  Ala. 
Irvine,  William  H.,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Irwin,  Crawford,  M.D.,  Hollidaysburg,Pa. 
Irwin,  Rev.  D.  S.,  Louisiana,  Mo. 
Irwin,  James,  Philadelphia. 

Jack,  William,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Jackson,  Mrs.  James,  Florence,  Ala. 
Jacksor,  Mrs.  T.,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Jacob,  R.  U.,  Lewistown,  Pa. 
Jacobs,  Rev.  Ferdinand,  Charleston,  S.C. 
Jacobs,  John,  Perrysville,  Pa. 
Jacobs,  S.,  Sybertsville,  Pa. 
Jacobus,  Melancthon  W.,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
Jacques,  John,  Washingtonville,  N.Y. 
Jagger,  Rev.  S.  H.,  Marlborough,  N.Y. 
James,  J.  A.,  M.D.,  Indiautown,  S.C. 
Jamison,  Daniel,  Philadelphia. 
Janeway,  J.. J.,  D.D.,  New  Brun.swick,N.  J. 
Janeway,  Rov.  J.  L.,  Flemington,  N.J. 
Janvier,  George  W.,  Pittsgrove,  N.J. 
Jardine,  Thomas,  West  Chester,  N.Y. 
Jeunison,  Rev.  J.  F.,  Danville,  Pa. 


Jewett,  Rev.  D.,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Johnson,  Mrs. AmeliaG.JIolliday.slmrg.Pa. 
Johnson,  James  T.,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Johnson,  Rev.  John,  Sybertsville,  Pa. 
Johnson,  L.,  Philadelphia. 
Johnson,  Rev.  0.  M.,  New  Hampton,  N.Y. 
Johnson,  Stephen,  Uuionville,  S.C. 
Johnson,  William  H.,  Newton,  N.J. 
Johnston,  D.  0.  N.,  Steubenville,  0. 
Johnston,  Francis,  Philadelphia. 
Johnston,  Robert,  Bethel,  Pa. 
Johnstone,  Rev.  W.  0.,  Philadelphia. 
Jones,  Benjamin,  Orangeville,  Pa. 
Jones,  Rev.  Charles  J.,  New  York. 
Jones,  Hon.  Joel,  Philadelphia. 
Jones,  Rev.  John,  Scottsville,  N.Y. 
Jones,  Joseph  H.,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Jones,  Paul  T.,  Philadelphia. 
Jones,  Samuel  B.,  D.D.,  Bridge  ton,  N.J, 
Jones,  Simon,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Jordan,  A.,  Sunbury,  Pa. 
Joseph,  John  M.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Juiikin,  David  X. , D. D. , Hollidaysburg,Pa. 
Juukin,  J.  M.,  M.D.,  Holmesburg,  Pa. 

Kaufman,  Rev.  J.  H.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Keck,  Charles  L.,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Keen,  Peter,  Nescopeck,  Pa. 
Kellam,  S.  L.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Keith  &  Woods,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Kelly,  Rev.  David,  Rock  Island,  IlL 
Kelly,  John  P.,  Perrysville,  Pa. 
Kelly,  Joseph,  M.D.,  Academia,  Pa. 
Kelly,  Mrs.  Mary  E.,  Charlottesville,  Va. 
Kelso,  John  T.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Kennedy,  Mrs.  David  S.,  New  York. 
Kennedy,  D.,  D.D.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Kennedy,  Rev.  James  F.,  Dickinson,  Pa. 
Kennedy,  John,  Lewistown,  Pa. 
Kennedy,  Rev.  R.  W.  B.,  Pleasant  Ridge, 

Ala. 
Kennedy,  T.  B.,  Chambersburg,  Pa. 
Kemiedy,  William,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Kenny,  Miss  Elizabeth,  Belleville,  Pa. 
Kerr,  George,  Thistle,  Md. 
Kerr,  James,  Allenville,  Pa. 
Kerr,  John,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Kerr,  William,  Potter's  Mills,  Pa. 
Kierstead,  J.  0.,  Scranton,  Pa. 


'10 


A    LIST   OF    SUBSCRIBERS   TO    THE 


King,  i^Irs.  B.,  Roswell,  Ga. 
King,  Jacob,  Ilolnicsbiirg,  Pa. 
King,  James  Roswcll,  Uoswcll,  Ga. 
King,  Joseph  L.,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 
King,  R.  H.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
King,  T.  E.,  Roswell,  Ga. 
Kinkeafl,  Jamos  M.,  Williamsburg,  Pa. 
Kinzy,  P.,  llazleton,  Pa. 
Kirkham,  IMrs.  Thomas,  Florence,  Ala. 
Kirkpatrick,  Rev.  J.,  Jr.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Kline,  Rev.  A.  L.,  Tuscumbia,  Ala. 
Knauss,  Rachel,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Kneeling,  AV.  B.,  Th.  Sem.,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
Knickerbocker,  Mrs.  J.,  Waterford,  N.Y. 
Knighton,  Rev.  F.,  Belvidere,  N.J. 
Knowles,  L.  D.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Knowlson,  James  S.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Knowlson,  R.  J.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Knowlson,  Mrs.  R.  J.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Knowlson,  Richard  J.,  Sand  Lake,  N.Y. 
Knox,  A.,  Philadelphia. 
Knox,  Rev.  J.  H.  M.,  Germantown,  Pa. 
Kocher,  Conrad,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Kolb,  Frederick  T.,  Tamaqua,  Pa. 
Kough,  Jacob,  Indiana,  Pa. 
Krebs,  John  M.,  D.D.,  New  York. 
Kutz,  Henry  C,  Philadelphia. 

Ladd,  Rev.  Francis  D.,  Philadelphia. 
Ladson,  George  W.,  Milledgeville,  Ga. 
Lafferty,  Rev.  R.  H.,  Charlotte,  N.C. 
Laman,  George,  Philadelphia. 
Lane,  Rev.  Charles  W.,  Talmage,  Ga. 
Lane,  Rev.  C.  R.,  Tuiikhannock,  Pa. 
Lane,  George,  Fort  Montgomery,  N.Y. 
Lane,  John  G.,  Meigsville,  0. 
Lane,  Rev.  John  J.,  Wrightsville,  Pa. 
Lanier,  T.  C,  Pleasant  Ridge,  Ala. 
Lantcrman,  William,  Moro,  111. 
Lashell,  James  M.,  Allenville,  Pa. 
Lathrop,  A.,  Willimantic,  Conn. 
Latimer,  Missies,  Philadelphia. 
Latta,  Rev.  James,  Parkesburg,  Pa. 
Latta,  Rev.  W.  W.,  Honey  Brook,  Pa. 
Lauderdale,  W.  E.,  Gencseo,  N.Y. 
Lawrence,  Rev.  S.,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Leaman,  Rev.  John,  M.D.,  Blue  Ball,  Pa. 
Lee,  Edward  W.,  Ballston  Spa,  N.Y. 
Leeper,  Samuel,  Columbiana,  Ala. 


Leet,  J.  D.,  Hollidaysbnrg,  Pa. 
Leggett,  C,  Mauch  chunk,  Pa. 
Li'isenriiig,  Mrs.  A.M.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Leiscnring,  John,  Council  Ridge,  Pa. 
Leisenring,  Reuben,  Council  Ridge,  Pa. 
Lemon,  R.  M.,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Lewis,  Asa  S.,  College  Hill,  Miss. 
Lewis,  J.  L.,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Lewis,  Justus,  Rome,  Pa. 
Lewers,  Dickenson,  Summit  Hill,  Pa, 
Lewers,  Dixon,  Summit  Hill,  Pa. 
Leyburn,  John,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Library,  Alexander  Soc.  of  Inquiry,  Phila. 
Library,  Bd.  of  Domestic  Missions,  Phila. 
Library,  Bd.  of  Education,  Philadelphia. 
Library,  Bd.  of  Foreign  Missions,  N.York. 
Library,  Bd.  of  Publication,  Philadelphia. 
Library,  Classical  Institute,  Media,  Pa. 
Library,  Edge  Hill  School,  Princeton, N.J. 
Library,  Henry  Institute  of  Science,  Phila. 
Library,  Judson  College,  La  Grange,  Ga. 
Library,  New  York  State,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Library,  Presb.  Ch.,  Dobbs's  FeiTy,  N.Y. 
Library,  Presb.  Ch.,  Frankford,  Pa. 
Library,  Presb'n  Hist.  Soc,  Philadelphia. 
Library,  Roseland  Fern. Ins.,HartsviIle,Pa. 
Library,  Second  Presb.  Ch.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Library,  Theol.  Seminary,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
Libi'ary,  Theol.  Seminary,  Danville,  Ky. 
Library,  Theol.  Seminary,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Library,  Th.  Sem.,  Ref.  Presb'n  Ch.,  Phila, 
Liggett,  R.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Limaster,  W.  P.,  Memphis,  Tenn. 
Line,  S.  M.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Lingle,  Thomas,  Potters  Fort,  Pa. 
Linn,  Samuel,  Hillsborough,  0. 
Lippincott,  Charles,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Lippincott,  Thomas  E.,  Holmesburg,  Pa. 
Lisa,  Mrs.  Mary  M.,  Galena,  HI. 
Littell,  Rev.  Luther,  Mount  Hope,  N.Y. 
Livermore,  Alonzo,  Sunbury,  Pa. 
Lockhart,  Robert,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Lockwood,  C.  N.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Lockwood,  H.  N.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Logan,  S.  A.,  Johnstown,  Pa. 
Logan,  Rev.  Saml.  C,  Constantine,  Mich. 
Long,  Thomas,  Summit  Hill,  Pa. 
Lombaert,  H.  J.,  Altoona,  Pa. 
Longshore,  Mrs.  Ann,  Weathei*ly,  Pa. 


HISTORY   OP    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 


711 


Lorance,  Rev.  James  H.,  Courtland,  Ala. 
Lord,  Hon.  Scott,  Geneseo,  N.Y. 
Lord,  Willis,  D.D.,  Brooklyn,  N.Y. 
Loucks,  Peter  0.,  Peoria,  111. 
Loughmiller,W.  C.,P.M.,Springplace,Ga. 
Love,  Rev.  Thomas,  Loveville,  Del. 
Lovejoy,  Amos,  Biiltimore,  Md. 
Lovfland,  George  W.,  Kingston,  Pa. 
Lovell,  John  T.,  Dubuque,  Iowa. 
Lowrie,  John  C,  D.D.,  New  York. 
Lowrie,  Rev.  John  M.,  Lancaster,  0. 
Lowry,  Rev.  A.  M.,  Port  Carbon,  Pa. 
Lucas,  Alexander,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Lull,  Augustus  A.,  Pontiac,  Mich. 
Lupton,  Henry  B.,  Bridgeton,  N.J. 
Lyon,  Rev.  D.  C,  Bedford,  N.Y. 
Lyon,  John,  Stover's  Place,  Pa. 
Lyon,  Scth,  Bedford,  N.Y. 
Lyon,  William  M.,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
Lyons,  Rev.  D.  W.,  Hardin,  Iowa. 
Lyons,  J.  R.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Lytle,  Griffith,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 

Macalester,  Charles,  Philadelphia. 
Macallister,  James,  Philadelphia. 
Macdonald,  Rev.  J.  M.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Macfarlane,  J.,  Towanda,  Pa. 
MacKellar,  Thomas,  Philadelphia. 
Macklin,  A.,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Maclean,  John,  D.D.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Magie,  David,  D.D.,  Elizabeth,  N.J. 
Magill,  Miss  Helen,  Roswell,  Ga. 
Main,  William  S.,  Philadelphia. 
Maitland,  Miss  Sarah,  West  Chester,  N.Y. 
Mangum,  Darius  R.,  New  Hamburg,  N.Y. 
Mann,  John  E.,  Hinesville,  Ga. 
Mannes,  William,  W.,  Scranton,  Pa, 
Markle,  G.,  Hnzleton,  Pa. 
Marquis,  Rev.  John,  Henry,  111. 
Marr,  William  P.,  M.D.,  Tamaqua,  Pa. 
Marsh,  Ephm.,  Schooley's  Mountain, N.J. 
Marshall,  George,  D.D.,  Bethel,  Pa. 
Marshall,  Mrs.  L.  R.,  Natchez,  Miss. 
Marshall,  T.  L.,  Battle  Swamp,  Md. 
Martien,  Wm.  S.  &  A.,  Philadelphia. 
Martin,  Rev.  B.  A.,  Hat  Creek,  Va. 
Martin,  Mrs.  Harriet,  Hazleton,  Pa. 
Marvin,  Alexander,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Mar  vine,  H.  L.,  Scranton,  Pa. 


Mason,  Rev.  J.  D.,  Davenport,  Iowa. 
]Mason,  W.  F.,  New  York. 
Masser,  G.  W.,  M.D.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Massey,  Ann,  Port  Kennedy,  Pa. 
Mateer,  Rev.  Joseph,  Curllsville,  Pa. 
Matheson,  A,  S.,  Columbus,  Ga. 
Masters,  Rev.  F.  R.,  Mattewan,  N.Y. 
Mathews,  E.  M.,  Oxford,  Miss. 
Mattes,  Charles  F.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Matthews,  Rev.  James,  Danville,  Ky. 
Maybin,  Thomas,  M.D.,  Kent,  Pa. 
Mayne,  James  S.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
McAleese,  Rev.  D.  M.,  Montgomery,  N.Y. 
McAllister,  H.  N.,  Bellefonte,  Pa. 
McAllister,  James,  Philadelphia. 
McAllister,  John,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
McArthur,  John,  Philadelphia. 
McAuley,  Rev.  R.  M.,  Philadelphia. 
McAuley,  Rev.  Wm.  H.,  Uniontown,  Ala. 
McCahen,  James  A.,  Hollidaysbiu'g,  Pa. 
McCall,  Mrs.  H.  K.,  Stewartsville,  N.J. 
McCalla,  Rev.  W.  L.,  Ashwood,  La. 
McCallister,  Rev.  J.  R.,  Rock  Island,  111. 
McCamant,  Mrs.  Mary,  Tipton,  Pa. 
McCanagher,  John,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
McCants,  William,  Haddrells,  S.C. 
McCarter,  Agnes,  Newton,  N..J. 
McCai-ter,  Mrs.  Eliza,  Newton,  N.J. 
McCarter,  J.  James,  Newton,  N.J. 
McCarter,  Mary  E.,  Newton,  N.J. 
McCarter,  Thomas  N.,  Newton,  N.J. 
McCaskie,  Rev.  James,  Philadelphia. 
McCaskill,  H.,  Clauselville,  Ala. 
McChesney,  R.,  M.D.,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
McClay,  Samuel,  M.D.,  Milroy,  Pa. 
McClellan,  R.  H.,  Galena,  111. 
McClelland,  H.  T.,  Altoona,  Pa. 
McClelland,  Miss  Jane,  Belleville,  Pa. 
McClerkin,  John,  Portersville,  Tenn. 
McClintock,  Andrew  T.,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
McClintock,  Robert,  Clinton  Depot,  S.C. 
McCloskey,  R.,  Phoenixville,  Pa. 
McClure,  A.  K.,  Chambersburg,  Pa. 
McClure,  Archibald,  Albany,  N.Y. 
McClure,  H.  K.,  Chambersburg,  Pa. 
McClure,  .John,  Philadelphia. 
McCollum,  Miss  MaryA.,  Williamsport.Pa. 
McConn,  John  T.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
McConneU,  B.  R.,  M.D.,  Sum'mit  Hill,Pa. 


712 


A    LIST    OF    SUBSCRIBERS   TO    THE 


JlcConnell,  John,  riiiladelpLia. 
McCorny,  M.  M.,  Moiiroeville,  Ala. 
McCoray,  Neal,  Monroeville,  Ala. 
McCord,  J.  D.,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
McCord,  Rev.  W.  J.,  Tribe's  Hill,  N.Y. 
McCormick,  Hugh,  Belleville,  Pa. 
McCormick,  Rev.  W.  J.,Yonguesville,  S.C. 
McCoy,  Daniel,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
McCoy,  John  A.,  Peoria,  111. 
McCrea,  James,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
McCrea,  William,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
McCreary,  Irvine  P.,  Moulton,  Ala. 
McCue,  Miss  A.  E.,  Mechanicsburg,  Pa. 
McCuUough,  William,  Belleville,  Pa. 
McCullough,  William,  West  Chester,  Pa, 
McCune,  Clement,  Philadelphia. 
McCurdy,  David,  Philadelphia. 
McDonald,  Rev.  S.  H.,  Belleville,  Pa. 
McDowell,  John,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
McDowell,  Robert,  Slatington,  Pa. 
McElvuin,  J.  N.,  Litchfield,  111. 
McFaden,  Archibald,  Ilollidaysburg,  Pa. 
McFarland,  Rev.  D.,  Elmwood,  111. 
McFarland,  W.,  Kent,  Pa. 
McFarlane,  Andrew,  Milroy,  Pa. 
McFarlane,  W.  K.,  Minneapolis,  Min.  Ter. 
McGill,  A.  T.,  D.D.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
McGill,  William,  Franklin,  la. 
McGlashan,  Cyrus,  Meigsville,  0. 
McIIeniy,  Stephen,  Philadelphia. 
McUwain,  Rev.  A.,  Indiana,  Pa. 
Mclutyrc,  Archibald,  Germantown,  Pa. 
Mclntyre,  J.A.,Theo.Sem.,Allegheuy,Pa. 
INIcKee,  James,  Kent,  Pa. 
McKee,  Mrs.  Lilley,  Greensburg,  la. 
McKee,  Samuel,  Columbia,  Ky. 
McKee,  W.  B.,  Theol.Sem.,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
McKeen,  Col.  Thomas,  Easton,  Pa. 
McKeen,  Mrs.  Thomas,  Easton.  P.a. 
McKeever,  William,  Summit  Hill,  Pa. 
McKeiman,  Rev.  Jas.W.,AVest  Liberty,  Va. 
McKibbcn,  Chambers,  Chambersburg,  Pa. 
McKinley,  B.  B.,  Philadelphia. 
McKinney,  A.,  Philadelphia. 
McKinney,A.F.,M.D.,Gernmntown,Temi. 
McLean,  D.  V.,  D.D.,  Easton,  Pa. 
McLean,  Rev,  Hector,  Melrose,  N.C. 
JIcLean,  James,  Jr.,  Summit  Hill,  Pa. 
McLean,  S.  C,  Maucli  Chunk,  Pa, 


McMullin,  John  S.,  Piiiladclphla. 
McMullin,  Rev.  J. P.,  Pleasant  Ridge,  Ala. 
McMullin,  Rev.  R.  B.,  Knoxville,  Tenn, 
McMullin,  Rev.  S.  H.,  Newburg,  N.Y. 
McMurray,  A.  S.,  M.D.,  Philadelphia. 
McMurray,  Rev.  Jos.,  Newportville,  Pa, 
McMurtrie,  J.,  Summit  Hill.  Pa. 
McNair,  Rev.  John,  Clinton,  N.J 
McNair,  Robert,  Macomb,  111. 
McNeil,  B.  F.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
McNeill,  W.  H.,  Columbus,  Ga. 
McNite,  William,  Shirleysburg,  Pa, 
McOmber,  Philip  H.,  Ballston  Spa,  N.Y. 
McPheeters,  Joseph,  Philadelphia. 
McPhersoD,  James,  Port  Kennedy,  Pa. 
McVicker,  James,  Washingtonville,  Pa, 
Mead,  Miss  Loretta,  North  Salem,  N.Y. 
Mead,  Sarah,  North  Salem,  N.Y. 
Mears,  H.,  Hazleton,  Pa. 
Mears,  H.  H.,  Hazleton,  Pa. 
Mears,  John  S.,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Mebane,  Rev.  Wm.  N.,  Madison,  N.C. 
Menaidi,  A.  E.,  Wysox,  Pa. 
Merle  de  Aubigne,  J.  H.,  D.D.,  Geneva, 

Switzerland. 
Metcalfe,  Rev.  A.  D.,  Macon,  Tenn. 
Metcalf,  Rowland,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Metz,  John,  Williamsburg,  Pa. 
Meyer,  M.  H.,  Dobbs's  Ferry,  N.Y. 
Miles,  George,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Miles,  Samuel,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Millard,  Walter,  New  Hamburg,  N.Y, 
Millen,  Hugh,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Miller,  Charles  H.,  Huntingdon,  Pa, 
Miller,  Mrs,  C,  Danville,  Pa. 
Miller,  Jacob,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Miller,  Joseph,  Bethel,  Pa. 
Miller,  Rev.  J.  E.,  Stroudsburg,  Pa, 
Miller,  Gen.  J.  W.,  Spartanburg,  S.C, 
Miller,  Rev.  L.  Merrill,  Ogdensburg,  N.Y, 
Miller,  R.  Allison,  M.D.,  Huntingdon,  Pa, 
Miller,  Samuel,  Memphis,  Mo. 
Miller,  Sarah,  Syberts^-ille,  Pa, 
Miller,  William,  Philadelphia. 
Miller,  W.T.,  Spartanburg,  S.C. 
Milligan,  William,  Potter's  MiHs,  Pa, 
Milliken,  D.  F.,  Kishacoquillas,  Pa. 
Millikcn.  .John,  Acadcmia,  Pa. 
Milliken,  Thomas  J.,  Academia,  Pa. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 


713 


Milton,  John,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Miner,  Mrs.  Joshua,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Mitchell,  Joseph  B.,  Germantown,  Pa. 
Mitchell,  Joseph  G.,  Germautowu,  Pa. 
Mitchell,  W.  C,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Mitchell,  William  11.,  D.D.,  Florence,  Ala. 
Mofi'att,  Rev.  James  C,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Mollison,  Gilbert,  Oswego,  N.Y. 
Montgomery,  Mrs.  Jane  B.,  Danville,  Pa. 
Montgomery,  Rev.  J.  S.,  Yazoo  City,  Miss. 
Moodie,  Thomas,  Columbus,  0. 
Moody,  S.  S.,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Moore,  E.  C,  Newton,  N.J. 
Moore,  George  W.,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Moore,  Jesse,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Moore,  John,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Moore,  John,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Moore,  Perry,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Moore,  Samuel,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Moore,  Samuel,  Philadelphia. 
Moore,  Silas,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Moore,  Thomas  B.,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Moore,  T.  V.,  D.D.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Moore,  Hon.  T.  W.,  Lewistown,  Pa. 
Moore,  Rev.  William  E.,  West  Chester,  Pa. 
Morgan,  E.  D.,  West  Chester,  N.Y. 
Morgan,  Rev.  Gilbert,  Harmony  Coll.,S.C. 
Morgan,  Rev.  J.  J.  A.,  Bridesburg,  Pa. 
Morgan,  Miss  L.,  Hartford,  Conn. 
Morris,  Miss  E.,  Thistle,  Md. 
Moi'ris,  Rev.  George,  Mechanicsburg,  Pa. 
Morris,  Janet,  Mechanicsburg,  Pa. 
Morris,  Rev.  T.  C,  Mountain  Home,  Ala. 
Morrison,  Rev.  A.  A.,  Jones's  Creek,  111. 
Morrison,  Mrs.  Hannah,  Springfield,  0. 
Morrison,  H.M.,Theo.Sem., Columbia,  S.C. 
Morrison,  J.  M.,  M.D.,  Waterloo,  Pa. 
Morrison,  Hon.  J.  R.,  Academia,  Pa. 
Morrison,  Rev.  Robt.,  Cedar  Creek,  Ky. 
Morrison.Mrs.  SallieB. ,  Shepherdsville,Ky . 
Morrow,  Arthur,  Bethel,  Pa. 
Morrow,  James,  Wilmington,  Del. 
Morrow,  James  S.,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Morrow,  Mrs.  Marg.,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Moses,  Lorenzo,  New  York. 
Mott,  Rev.  George  S.,  Rahway,  N.J. 
M  alien,  John,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Mund3-,RevE.F.,SmithtownBranch,N.Y. 
Munson,  Rev.  Asahel,  Jackson,  Mo. 


Murklaud,  Rev.  S.  S.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Murphy,  Rev.  Thomas,  Frankford,  Pa, 
Murphy,  W.  R.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Murray,  Joseph  A.,  Dillsburg,  Pa. 
Murray,  Nicholas,  D.D.,  Elizabeth,  N.J. 
Murray,  Williahi,  Dobbs's  Ferry,  N.Y. 
Musgrave,  G.  W.,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Myrick,  Mrs.  H.  A.,  Pontiac,  Mich. 

Nace,  Jacob  D.,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Naginey,  J.  D.,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Nassau,  C.  W.,  D.D.,  Lawrenceville,  N.J. 
Nassau,  Rev.  Joseph  E.,  Warsaw,  N.Y. 
Needham,  B.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Neff,  John  K.,  Williamsburg,  Pa. 
Neil,  John,  Kent,  Pa. 
Neill,  William,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Nelson,  .John,  Annapolis,  0. 
Nelson,  R.,  Philadelphia. 
Nesbitt,  Joseph,  Norristown,  Pa.    - 
Nevin,  Alfred,  D.D.,  Lancaster,  Pa. 
Nevin,  Rev.  D.  E.,  Sewicklyville,  Pa. 
Nevins,  William,  Quincy,  111. 
New,  C.  B.,  M.D.,  Rodney,  Miss. 
Newell,  Rev.  George  W.,  Orangeville,  Pa. 
Newell,  Rev.  T.  M.,  Waynesville,  111. 
Newlands,  Mrs.  Francis,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Newton,  Rev.  Thomas  H.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Nicholas,  William  P.,  Newton,  N.J. 
Nichols,  Rev.  James,  Geneseo,  N.Y. 
Nickle,  James,  Battle  Swamp,  Md. 
Nixon,  Rev.  J.  Howard,  Cambridge,  N.Y. 
Nixon,  J.  T.,  Bridgeton,  N.J. 
Nixon,  W.  G.,  Bridgeton,  N.J. 
Norris,  Isaac,  Jr.,  M.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Norton,  B.,  Newton  Hamilton,  Pa. 
Notson,  W.,  M.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Nowell,   Miss  M.  E.  A.,  Newbui-yport, 
Mass. 

Oakes,  E.  W.,  New  Topia,  Ala. 
Oakes,  AV.  F.,  Buzbeeville,  Ala. 
Ogden,  Rev.  John  W.,  Nashville,  Tenn. 
Okeson,  Samuel,  Academia,  Pa. 
Olcott,  T.  W.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Olmstead,  H.  M.,  Philadelphia. 
Olmstead,  Rev.  J.  M.,  Philadelphia. 
Orbison,  William  P.,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Orne,  Mrs.  S.  T.,  Philadelphia. 


714 


A    LIST    OF   SUBSCRIBERS   TO   THE 


OiT,  Rev.  Franklin,  Kent,  Pa. 

Orr,  John,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 

OiT,  Robert,  Pliiladcliiliia. 

Orr,  Rev.  Samuel,  Gnrdo,  Ala. 

Orr,  Thomas,  Philiideli)hia. 

Osier,  J.  T.,  Princeton,  N.J. 

Osmond,  Rev.  Jonathan,  Bald  Mount,  Pa. 

Osmond,  Rev.  S.  M.,  Lambertville,  N.  J. 

Owen,  Rev.  Griffith,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Owen,  Hannah,  Sr.,  Jeffersonville,  Pa. 

Owen,  Rev.  Roger,  Chestnut  Hill,  Pa, 

Owens,  William  J.,  Trenton,  N.J. 

Paddock,  Mrs.  E.,  Pontiac,  Mich. 
Page,  Rev.  J.  A.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Painter,  Rev.  Joseph,  Kittanning,  Pa. 
Palmer,  B.  M.,  D.D.,  New  Orleans,  La. 
Palmer,  Rev.  Edward,  Pocotaligo,  S.C. 
Palmer,  John  J.,  West  Chester,  N.Y. 
Palmer,  S.  C,  Philadelphia. 
Pardee,  Mrs.  Anna  M.,  Hazleton,  Pa. 
Parish,  Mrs.  Phoebe,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Parke,  Rev.  N.  Grier,  Pittston,  Pa. 
Parke,  T.  H.,  Battle  Swamp,  Md. 
Parker,  Mrs.  Dr.,  Port  Gibson,  Miss. 
Parsons,  Rev.  W.  S.,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Paterick,  John,  Tamaqua,  Pa. 
Patterson,  Andrew,  Academia,  Pa. 
Patterson,  A.,  Williamsbui-g,  Pa. 
Patterson,  A.  L.,  Independence,  Pa. 
Patterson,  Mrs.  George,  Springfield,  Md. 
Patterson,  James,  Academia,  Pa. 
Patterson,  James,  Dobbs's  Ferry,  N.Y. 
Patterson,  J.  H.,  M.D.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Patterson,  John,  Academia,  Pa. 
Patterson,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Patterson,  Mrs.  Mary,  Academia,  Pa. 
Patterson,  N.  Summit  Hill,  Pa. 
Patterson,  Robert  M.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Patterson,  Robert,  Richmond,  0. 
Patterson,  Rev.  R.,  Oakland  College,  Miss. 
Patterson,  Rev.  Wm.,  Poundridge,  N.Y. 
Pattison,  James,  Waterloo,  Pa. 
Pattison,  Robert,  Holmesburg,  Pa. 
Patton,  Hon.  R.  M.,  Florence,  Ala. 
Patton,  Robert,  Philadelphia. 
Patton,  Thomas  J.,  Knoxville,  Ala. 
Paul,  Sampson,  Walterborough,  S.C. 
Paull,  Rev.  Alfred,  Wheeling,  Va. 


Paxton,  Rev.  Thomas  N.,  Marion,  N.C. 
Paxton,  Rev.  William  ^L,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
Pease,  Erastus  II.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Peck,  Rev.  Thomas  E.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Peebles,  Matthew  W'.,  Bloody  Run,  Pa. 
Peelor,  Jacob,  Indiana,  Pa. 
Pemberton,  Ebenezer,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Perkins,  Elisha  II.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Perkins,  Rev.  Henry,  AUentown,  N.J. 
Peters,  A.  F.,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Pettigrew,  John,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Pettigrew,  John  G.,  Philadelphia. 
Pettiugell,  Moses,  Newburyport,  Mass. 
riiarr,  Edward,  M.D.,  Houston,  Ga. 
Pliiirr,  Rev. Walter  S.,  Park's  Store,  N.C. 
Phelps,  Mrs.  C,  Pontiac,  Mich. 
Phillips,  Rev.  B.  T.,  Rondout,  N.Y. 
Phillips,  George  C,  Selma,  Ala. 
Pierson,  Rev.  D.  H.,  Eliz.abeth,  N.J. 
Pierson,  Rev.  George,  Florida,  N.Y. 
Pierson,  Rev.  N.  E.,  Unionville,  N.Y. 
Piffard,  Miss  S.,  Piffard,  N.Y. 
Pinkerton,J.A.,Theo.Sem.,Allegheny,Pa. 
Piper,  G.  W.,  M.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Piatt,  Ebenezer,  New  York. 
Piatt,  W.  H.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Plumor,  George,  Independence,  Pa. 
Plumer,  W.  S.,  D.D.,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
Polk,  James  A.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Pollock,  Hon.  James,  Ilarrisburg,  Pa. 
Pollock,  Samuel,  M.D.,  Williamsport,  Pa. 
Porter,  Alexander,  Springfield,  0. 
Porter,  Rev.  David  H.,  Savannah,  Ga. 
Porter,  James  M.,  Jr.,  Easton,  Pa. 
Porter,  J.  Barron,  M.D.,  Bridgetou,  N.J. 
Porter,  John,  Alexandria,  Pa. 
Porter,  Hon.  J.  M.,  LL.D  ,  Easton,  Pa. 
Porter,  Robert,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Porter,  W.  A.,  Philadelphia. 
Potter,  R.  B.,  Philadelphia. 
Potter,  W.  W.,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Potts,  Joseph  C,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Potts,  Stacy  G.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Powell,  Joseph  B.,  Port  Kennedy,  Pa. 
Powell,  S.  D.,  Philadelphia. 
Powers,  F.  II.,  Theol.  Sem.,  Allcgheny.Pa. 
Pratt.  Rev.  H.  B.,  Bogota,  New  Granada, 

South  America. 
Pratt,  N.  A.,  D.D.,  Roswell,  Ga. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 


715 


Prentice,  E.  P.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Price,  Rev.  Israel,  Annapolis,  0. 
Ti-ice,  Rev.  R.,  Rodney,  Miss. 
Pi-ice,  Samuel  B.,  Maucb  Chunk,  Pa. 
Priest,  Piev.  Thomas  J.,  Pigeon  Creek,  Mo. 
Primrose,  William,  Philadelphia. 
Proudfit,  E.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Proudfoot,  H.  W.,  Roswell,  Ga. 
Purcel,  S.  H.,  Bloomsbury,  N.J. 
Purviance,  Rev.  G.  D.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Pui'viance,  J.,  D.D.,  Oakland  Coll.,  Miss. 
Purviance,  Miss  M.,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Quii'k,  John  B.,  Keokuk,  Iowa. 

Ramsey,  AVilliam,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Randolph,  B.  P.,  Freehold,  N.J. 
Rankin,  Adam,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Rankin,  .James  B.,  Asheville,  N.C. 
Rankin,  John,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Raukin,  Rev.  John  C,  Baskenidge,  N.J. 
Rankin,  Rev.  H.  V.,  New  York. 
Rankin,  AVilliam,  Jr.,  New  York. 
Ransom,  Albion,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Ransom,  Samuel  C,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Raphael,  William,  Holmesburg,  Pa. 
Ray,  Rev.  J.  D.,  Mount  Ebenezer,  0. 
Raymond,  Rev.  Moses,  Springfield,  Va. 
Reardon,  Rev.  J.  D.,  Sunbury,  Pa. 
Redd,  William  A.,  Columbus,  Ga. 
Reed,  Alex.,  Theo.  Sem.,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
Reed,  Joel  R.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Reed,  Mrs.  Rhoda,  Kishacoquillas,  Pa. 
Reed,  William,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Reed,  W.,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Reeves,  James  S.,  M.D.,  Meigsville,  0. 
Reeves,  Joseph,  Bridgeton,  N.J. 
Reid,  Rev.  R.  H.,  Spartanburg,  S.C. 
Reid,  William  G.,  Chambersburg,  Pa. 
Reigart,  Mrs.  E.  J.,  Windsor,  Pa. 
Reiley,  Rev.  J.  A.,  Blairstown,  N.J. 
Rt'inboth,  Joseph  D.,  Philadelphia. 
Reinhart,  Rev.  E.  H.,  Elizabethport,  N.J. 
Reynolds,  Miss  Clara,  Kingston,  Pa. 
Reynolds,  William  C,  Kingston,  Pa. 
Rice,  N.  L.,  D.D.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Rice,  Philo  H.,  Perrysville,  Pa. 
Richardson,  Rev.  R.H.,  Rochester,  N.Y. 
PJchardson,  William,  Louisville,  Ky. 


Richey,  Augustus  G.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Richman,  Moses,  Jr.,  Salem,  N..J. 
Riddle,  Joseph  B.,  HoUidaysburg,  Pa. 
Riddle,  Rev.  Wm.,  Oakland  College,  Miss. 
Riddle,  AVilliam,  Port  Gibson,  Miss. 
llighter,  Mrs.  J.  F.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Ripley,  Rev.  J.  B.,  Philadelphia. 
Ripple,  Isaac,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Rittenhouse,  Rev.  J.  M.,  Bart,  Pa. 
Robbins,  George  S.,  West  Chester,  N.Y. 
Roberts,  Rev.  R.  M.  Hillsborough,  111. 
Robertson,  Theodric,  Richmond,  Va. 
Robertson,  Wm.  C,  Delaware  City,  Del. 
Robertson,  Rev.  W.  W.,  Fulton,  Mo. 
Robeson,  Mrs.  Sarah,  HoUidaysburg,  Pa. 
Robinson,  Rev.  C.  S.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Robinson,  R.  Miles,  Palmyra,  Mo. 
Robinson,  Rev.  Stuart,  Danville,  Ky. 
Robinson,  William,  Gillespie,  111. 
Robinson,  William,  Kent,  Pa. 
Robison,  H.  C,  Shade  Gap,  Pa. 
Robison,  John  H.,  Perrysville,  Pa. 
Robison,  Mrs.  Nancy,  Perrysville,  Pa. 
Robison,  T.  C,  Washiugtonville,  Pa. 
Rockwood,  Charles  G.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Rodenbough,  Rev.  H.  S.,  Eagleville,  Pa. 
Rodgers,  James  B.,  Philadelphia. 
Rodgers,  Rev.  James  L.,  Mount  Joy,  Pa. 
Rodgers,  R.  K.,  D.D.,  Bound  Brook,  N.J. 
Rogers,  E.  P.,  D.D.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Rogers,  Rev.  Jas.  L.,  Atlanta,  Ga. 
Rogers,  Rev.J.M.,  Middletown  Point,N. J. 
Rogers,  W.  E.,  M.D.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Roller,  Joshua,  Williamsburg,  Pa. 
Roller,  Joshua  H.,  Williamsburg,  Pa. 
Roop,  Edward,  Philadelphia. 
Rose,  Mrs.  Jane,  Philadelphia. 
Ross,  James,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Ross,  J.  B.,  Philadelphia. 
Ross,  Marine  D.,  Greensburg,  la. 
Roth,  P.,  Sybertsville,  Pa. 
Rowe,  Rev.  John,  Gallipolis,  0. 
Rowe,  Miss  Susan,  Woodbury,  N.J. 
Rowell,  Rev.  Morse,  New  York. 
Rowland,  C.  A.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Rowland,AVm.B.,  M.D.,  Battle  Swamp.Md. 
Ruddle,  John,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Rumple,  Rev.  J.,  Hemphill's  Store,  S.C. 
Rundle,  L.  J.,  Troy,  N.5f. 


716 


A   LIST   OF   SUBSCRIBERS   TO    THE 


Russell,  Rev.  t).,  Pike,  N.Y. 
Russell,  E.  A.,  Jr.,  Muldletown,  Conn. 
Russell,  James,  Sinking  Valley,  I'a. 
Russell,  Lawrence,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Russell,  Rev.  P.,  Fillmore,  Pa. 
Rutter,  Rev.  L.  C,  Chestnut  Level,  Pa. 
Ilutter,  Nathaniel,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Ryerson,  Hon.  Martin,  Newton,  N.J. 
Ryors,  Alfred,  D.D.,  Danville,  Ky. 

Salkeld,  J.  H.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Sargent,  Winthrop,  Philadelphia. 
Sartain,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Saunders,  Rev.  H.,  Trowbridge,  Wis. 
Saye,  Rev.  J.  H.,  Unionville,  S.C. 
Saye,  Robert  H.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Sayre,  David  A.,  Lexington,  Ky. 
Schenck,  Rev.  W.  E.,  Philadelphia. 
Schott,  James,  Philadelphia, 
Scott,  A.  G.,  ILnoxville,  Tenn. 
Scott,  Miss  C,  Adams's  Mills,  0. 
Scott,  Ezekiel,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Scott,  George,  East  Palestine,  0. 
Scott,  Geo.  K.,  Theo.  Sem.,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
Scott,  Rev.  James,  Holmesburg,  Pa. 
Scott,  James,  D.D.,  Newark,  N.J. 
Scott,  James  A.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Scott,  John,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Scott,  John  W.,  D.D.,  AVashington,  Pa. 
Scott,  Joseph,  Independence,  Pa. 
Scovel,  Rev.  Alden,  Bordentown,  N.J. 
Scranton,  George  W.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Scranton,  Joseph  H.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Scranton,  Sclden,  T.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Scribner,  Rev.  William,  Red  Bank,  N.J. 
Scudder,  Jasper  S.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Sechler,  II.  B.  D.,  Danville,  Pa. 
Sellars,  Jacob  M.,  AVilliamsburg,  Pa. 
Service,  L.  N.,  M.D.,  Schuylkill  Falls,  Pa. 
Seward,  Rev.  A.,  Port  Jervis,  N.Y. 
Shade,  George,  Holmesburg,  Pa. 
Shafer,  Thomas  H.,  Rahway,  N.J. 
Shaiffer,  G.  W.,  Shirleysburg,  Pa. 
Shane,  Joseph,  Richmond,  0. 
Sharon,  J.  D.,  Mifllintown,  Pa. 
Sharp,  Richard,  Council  Ridge,  Pa. 
Sharp,  S.  M.,  Theo.  Sem.,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
Sharp,  S.  McD.,  Chambersburg,  Pa. 
Sharswood,  Hon.  George,  Philadelphia. 


Shaver,  Peter,  Mount  Union,  Pa. 
Shaw,  Rev.  P.  H.,  Greenfield  liiU,  Conn. 
Shaw,  W.  D.,  Alexandria,  Pa. 
Sheadle,  Henry,  Kishacoquillas,  Pa. 
Sheafe,  Mrs.  J.  F.,  New  York. 
Shearer,  Miss  Ellen,  Washingtonville,  Pa- 
Shearer,  J.,  Jeffersonville,  Pa. 
Sheddan,  Rev.  S.  S.,  Rahway,  N.J. 
Sheets,  A.,  Grandview,  0. 
Shepard,  Furman,  Philadelphia. 
Sherrerd,  John  M.,  Belvidere,  N.J. 
Sherrerd,  Samuel,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Sherrill,  Rev.  R.  E.,  Dancyville,  Tenn. 
Shields,  Rev.  Charles  W.,  Philadelphia. 
Shields,  James  R.,  New  Albany,  la. 
Shinn,  Rev.  James  G.,  Philadelphia. 
Shoemaker,  C.  D.,  Forty  Fort,  Pa. 
Shotwell,  Rev.  N.,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Shumaker,  J.  H.,  Academia,  Pa. 
Silliman,  Rev.  A.  P.,  Clinton,  Ala. 
Silliman,  R.  D.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Simonton,  Rev. William,  Williamsport,  Pa. 
Simpson,  F.  T.,  Washington,  Ga. 
Simpson,  G.  W.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Simpson,  Rev.  J.,  Portrush,  Ireland. 
Simpson,  J.,  Summit  Hall,  Pa. 
Simpson,  J.  B.,  Anderson,  S.  C. 
Simpson,  Miss  M.,  Farmington,  111. 
Simpson,  Thomas,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Simpson,  Thomas  P.,  Mauch  Ciiunk,  Pa. 
Sinclair,  William  D.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Singletary,  Rev.  W.  H.,  Claiborne,  Miss. 
Sites,  S.  E.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Sitgreaves,  Hon.  C,  Easton,  Pa. 
Skidmore,  Joseph  R.,  New  York. 
Skinner,  E.  W.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Slaughter,  Mrs.  E.,  Port  Hudson,  La. 
Slaughter,  John  R.,  Socotapoy,  Ala. 
Sloan,  G.  W.,  Theo.  Sem.,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
Smalley,  E.,  D.D.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Smith,  Andrew,  Wegee,  0. 
Smith,  D.  D.,  North  Salem,  N.Y. 
Smith,  George  W.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Smith,  H.  A.,  Clauselville,  Ala. 
Smith,  Isaac  R.,  Philadelphia. 
Smith,  Rev.  James,  Rochester,  Pa. 
Smith,  James,  H.,  New  Hamburg,  N.Y. 
Smith,  Mrs.  Jane,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Smith,  Rev.  J.  Heui-y,  Charlottesville,  Va. 


HISTORY    OF   THE   PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 


71T 


Smith,  J.  K.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Smith,  J.  P.,  Moro,  111. 
Smith,  J.  Sanforrl,  Newton,  N..J. 
Smith,  Joseph,  HoUidaysburg,  Pa. 
Smith,  Joseph,  D.D.,  Baltimore. 
Smith,  Matthew,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Smith,  0.  P.,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Smith,  llobert  B.,  Hat  Creek,  Va. 
Smith,  R.  D.,  Williamsburg,  0. 
Smith,  Rev.  S.  Hume,  Stewartstown,  Pa. 
Smith,  Silas  E.,  Academia,  Pa. 
Smith,  AVilliam  J.,  Bloomsbury,  N.J. 
Smock,  Rev.  D.  V.,  Birmingham,  Iowa. 
Smyth,  James  P.,  Philadelphia. 
Smyth,  Thomas,  D.D.,  Charleston,  S.C. 
Smythe,  Rev.  W.  M.,  Cahaba,  Ala. 
Snodgrass,  C.  E.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Solly,  Robert,  Frankford,  Pa. 
Somerville,  Rev.  James,  Bridgeville,  Ala. 
Somerville,  William,  Bridgeville,  Ala. 
Sparr,  Isaac,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Speedy,  James,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Spilman,  R.  L.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Spottswood,  J.  B.,  D.D.,  Newcastle,  Del. 
Sprague,  AV.  B.,  D.D.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Sproat,  H.  L.,  Philadelphia. 
Sproat,  Samuel,  Annapolis,  0. 
Sprole,  W.  T.,  D.D.,  Newburg,  N.Y. 
Sproull,  Rev.  A.  W.,  Chester,  Pa. 
Stackhouse,  Caleb,  Phoenixville,  Pa. 
Stahl,  Nicholas,  Galena,  111. 
Stalker,  John,  Stover's  Place,  Ga. 
Stanford,  Augustus  G.,  Columbus,  Ga. 
Stai-bird,  A.  P.,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Stare,  Peter,  Nescopeck,  Pa. 
Stead,  Rev.  B.  F.,  Astoria,  L.  I.,  N.Y. 
Stearns,  Rev.Timothy,  Mt.Plcasant,Iowa. 
Stedman,  Rev.  J.  0.,  Memphis,  Tenn. 
Steel,  Robert,  D.D.,  Abington,  Pa. 
Steele,  AVilliam,  Pleasant  Ridge,  Ala. 
Steenson,*Robert,  Philadelphia. 
Sterling,  Henry,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Sterling,  Henry,  Philadelphia. 
Sterrett,  J.  A.,  Lewistown,  Pa. 
Stevenson,  Rev.  Pioss,  Johnstown,  Pa. 
Stevenson,  Rev.  Samuel,  Milford,  Ireland. 
Stewart,  Rev.  C.  B.,  Laurens  C.H.,  S.C. 
Stewart,  Rev.  C.  S.,  U.S.N.,  New  York. 
Stewart,  Rev.  George  D.,  Bath,  N.Y. 


Stewart,  James,  Bloomsburg,  Pa. 
Stewart,  James,  Bloomsbury,  N.J. 
Stewart,  Jessie,  Bloomsbury,  N.J. 
Stewart,  Mrs.  Naucy,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Stewart,  R.,  AVilliamsburg,  Pa. 
Stewart,  William,  Bloomsbury,  N.J. 
Stewart,  William,  Philadelphia. 
Stewart,  William  C,  Philadelphia. 
Stewart,  William  J.,  Belleville,  Pa. 
Stiles,  R.  D.,  Weatherly,  Pa. 
Stillman,  Rev.  C.  A.,  Oaiuesville,  Ala. 
Stirling,  John,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Stitler,  Jonathan,  HoUidaysburg,  Pa. 
Stoddard,  Mrs.  Sarah.  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Storms,  John  J.,  Dobbs's  Ferry,  N.Y. 
Storrs,  Miss  Patsey,  Richmond,  Va. 
Stott,  Charles,  Washington  City,  B.C. 
Strahan,  Rev.  F.  G,,  Hopkinsville,  Ky. 
Stratton,  Rev.  Daniel,  Salem,  N..J. 
Stratton,  Thomas  H.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Street.  Rev.  Robert,  Union,  N.J. 
Struble,  Jacob,  Zion,  Pa. 
Struthers,  J.  R.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Stryker,  J.  T.,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Stryker,  Thomas  J.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Stuart,  George  H.,  Philadelphia. 
Studdiford,  P.  0.,  D.D.,  Lambertville,N.J. 
Sturges,  Rev.  T.  B.,  Greenfield  Hill,  Conn. 
Sullivan,  Mrs.  A.  B.,  ColliersviUe,  Tenn. 
Summerville,  G.  W.,  Pleasant  Ridge,  Ala. 
Summey,  A.  T.,  Asheville,  N.C. 
Summey,  D.  F.,  Asheville,  N.C. 
Sutton,  John,  Indiana,  Pa. 
Sutton,  William,  Springfield,  0. 
Swain,  John  L.,  Harper's  Ferry,  Va. 
Swank,  Philip,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Swartwood,  John,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Swartzell,  John,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Swift,  E.  P.,  D.D.,  Allegheny  City,  Pa. 
Symington,  Wm.,  D.D.,  Glasgow,  Scotland. 
Symmes,  Rev.  F.  M.,  Pleasant,  la. 
Symmes,  Rev.  Joseph  G.,  Madison,  la. 

T ,  Trenton,  N.J. 

Tabb,  R.  M.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Talmage,  S.  K.,  D.D.,  Talmage,  Ga. 
Tas,  Mrs.  Jane  H.,  Northumberland,  Pa. 
Tate,  Wm.,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Taylor,  A.  A.  E.,  Th.  Sem.,  AlleghcDy,  Pa. 


718 


A    LIST    OF    SUBSCRIBERS   TO    THE 


Taylor,  Rev.  C.  H.,  Ballston  Centre,  N.Y. 
Taylor,  David  H.,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Taylor,  Hon.  George,  Huntingdon,  Pa. 
Taylor,  John,  White  Haven,  Pa. 
Taylor,  John  M.,  Shehicta,  Pa. 
Taylor,  Justus  F.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Taylor,  Mrs.  S.  M.,  Philadelphia. 
Thacher,  George  H.,  Albany',  N.Y. 
Thayer,  Rev.  Lorenzo,  Windham,  N.H. 
Then,  George  W.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Thomas,  Dubre,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Thomas,  Rev.  Enoch,  Beverly,  Va. 
Thomas,  Israel,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Thomas,  W.  H.,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 
Thompson,  Ira,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Thompson,  James,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Thompson,  J.  B.,  Clinton,  Ala. 
Thompson,  J.  J.,  Martha  Furnace,  Pa. 
Thompson,  Lcfferd,  Bloomsbury,  N.J. 
Thompson,  Moses,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Thompson,  Mrs.  R.  C,  Oxford,  Miss. 
Thompson,  Rev.  S.  H.,  South  Hanover,  la. 
Thompson,  Mrs.  S.,  Milroy,  Pa. 
Thompson,  Rev.  W.  H.,  Bolivar,  Tenn. 
Thorpe,  John  D.,  Cincinnati,  0. 
Timlow,  Rev.  Paul  J.,  Marietta,  Pa. 
Timlow,  Rev.  R.  H.,  Newburyport,  Mass. 
Titus,  B.  Wesley,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Todd,  Rev.  Isaac,  Milford,  Pa. 
Toomer,  Joshua,  Haddrells,  S.C. 
Townsend,  D.W.,  Th.Sem.,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
Townsend,  Peter,  Lewistown,  Pa. 
Townsend,  T.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Toy,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Treadvyell,  George,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Tully,  Rev.  A.,  Harmony,  N.J. 
Tully,  Rev.  David,  Ballston  Spa,  N.Y. 
Turbett,  Stuart,  Perrysville,  Pa. 
Turbett,  William,  Perrysville,  Pa 
Turner,  Jesse,  Port  Carbon,  Pa. 
Turner,  Thomas,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 
Turner,  William,  Kent,  Pa. 
Tussey,  David,  Sinking  Valley,  Pa. 
Tyson,  James  L.,  M.D.,  Philadelphia. 

Umsted,  Rev.  Justus  T.,  Keokuk,  Iowa. 
Upham,  M.A.,  Troy,  N.Y. 

Vail,  George,  Troy,  N.Y. 


Vaill,  Rev.  Thomas  S.,  Knoxville,  HI. 
Van  Artsdalen,  Rev.  G.,  Colerain,  Pa. 
Van  Cleve,  A.  H.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
Vanderbilt,  Mrs.  H.,  Brooklyn,  N.Y. 
Van  Duzen,  S.  R.,  Newburg,  N.Y. 
Vannuys,  C.  D.,  Franklin,  la. 
Van  Pelt,  R.,  Elizabeth,  N.J. 
Van  Rensselaer,  A.,  New  York. 
Van  Rensselaer,  C,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Van  Rensselaer,  C,  Jr.,  Burlington,  N.J. 
Van  Rensselaer,  11.,  New  York. 
Van  Rensselaer,  P.  L.,  Burlington,  N.J. 
Van  Rensselaer,  P.  S.,  New  York. 
Van  Rensselaer,  S.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Van  Rensselaer,  W.  P.,  Port  Chester,  N.Y. 
Van  Schoonhoven,  J.  L.,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Vantries,  S.,  Potter's  Mills,  Pa. 
Vanuxcn,  F.  W.,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 
Vaughan,  Rev.  C.  R.,  Lynchburgh,  Va. 
Venable,  Rev.  H.  I.,  Oakland,  111. 
Vermilye,  A.  O.,  Newburyport,  Mass. 
Vermilye,  J.  D.,  Newark,  N.J. 
Vermilye,  Thomas  E.,  D.D.,  New  York. 
Vermilye,  AV.  Romeyn,  New  York. 
Veuve,  Rev.  P.de,Th.Sem.,Princeton,N.  J. 
Viele,  Stephen,  Troy,  N.Y. 
Von  Spreckleson,  Mrs.  J.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Vosburgh,  J.  W.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Voss,  E.  W.  de,  Richmond,  Va. 

Waddell,  John  M.,  D.D.,  Oxford,  Miss. 
Wadsworth,  Rev.  Charles,  Philadelphia. 
Wait,  Miss  Mary  F.,  Greenville,  HI. 
Walke,  J.  H.,  Richmond,  Va. 
Walker,  Alexander,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Walker,  Cyrus,  Macomb,  111. 
Walker,  H.  J.,  Williamsburg,  0. 
Walker,  John,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Walker,  John  R.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Walker,  Peter,  Philadelphia. 
Walker,  R.  F.,  Shelocta,  Pa. 
Wallace,  Rev.  D.  A.,  Nashville,  111. 
Wallace,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  Muncy,  Pa. 
Wallace,  James,  Meigsville,  0. 
Wallace,  Rev.  James  A.,  Kingstree,  S.C. 
AVallace,  Rev.  R.  M.,  Brownsville,  Pa. 
AVallace,  W.  C,  Lawrenceville,  N.J. 
Waller,  Rev.  B.  J.,  Bloomsburg,  Pa. 
Walton,  Jokn,  Summit  Hill,  Pa. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 


710 


Walton,  W.  A.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Ward,  Mrs.  Alexis,  Albion,  N.Y. 
Ward,  Rev.  F.  De  AV.,  Geneseo,  N.Y. 
Ward,  L.  A.,  Rochester,  N.Y, 
Ward,  Levi,  Rochester,  N.Y. 
Wardlaw,  Rev.  T.  De  Lacey,  Paris,  Ky, 
Ware,  H.  B.,  Salem,  N.J. 
Warren,  Joseph,  D.D.,  Greensburg,  la. 
Warren,  L.  L.,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Wasson,  John,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Wasson,  John  D.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
Watkins,  F.  N.,  Farmville,  Va. 
Watson,  Rev.  A.  M.,  Selma,  Ala. 
Watson,  David,  Hollidaysburg,  Pa. 
Watson,  John,  Bordentown,  N.J. 
Watson,  S.  S.,  St.  Charles,  Mo. 
Watson,  William  E.,  Bordentown,  N.J. 
Watts,  Rev.  Robert,  Philadelphia, 
Waugh,  David,  Independence,  Pa. 
Wayt,  James,  West  Liberty,  Va. 
AVeakley,  H.  V.,  Lancaster,  0. 
Webster,  Rev.  C,  Middletown  Point,  N.J. 
Weir,  Duncan,  Tamaqua,  Pa. 
Weir,  M.,  Ilazleton,  Pa. 
Weiss,  Francis,  Council  Ridge,  Pa. 
Welch,  Ashbel,  Lambertville,  N.J. 
Welles,  Rev.  H.  H.,  Kingston,  Pa. 
Welles,  Wm.,  Wyalusing,  Pa. 
Wellford,  F.  P.,  Fredericksburg,  Va. 
West,  Nathaniel,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
West,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  Jr.,  Cincinnati,  0. 
Westcott,  William,  Haddrells,  S.C. 
Whilden,  Elias,  Haddrells,  S.C. 
AVhitaker,  Rev.  J.  A.,  Belvidere,  N.J. 

W ,  Philadelphia. 

White,  A.,  Albany,  N.Y. 
White,  Rev.  A.  D.,  Trenton,  N.J. 
White,  Rev.  Charles,  Berryville,  Va. 
White,  David  S.,  Knoxville,  Ala. 
White,  Duncan,  Philadelphia. 
White,  John,  Hackettstown,  N.J. 
White,  Robert,  Philadelphia. 
White,  S.  S.,  Kittanning,  Pa. 
Whitehill,  Mrs.  Margaret,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Whitlock,  John  W.,  West  Chester,  N.Y. 
AVhiti-idge,  Mrs.  11.  L.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Wiggan,  George,  Tamaqua,  Pa. 
Wilbur,  E.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Wilcox,  D.  F.,  Columbus,  Ga. 


Wilcox,  Hon.  G.  II.,  Rodney,  Miss. 
Wilcox,  J.  S.,  Augusta,  Ga. 
Wilcox,  Timothy,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Wiley,  Yancey,  College  Hill,  Miss, 
Will,  Adam,  Hazleton,  Pa. 
Willcox,  L.  F.,  La  Grange,  Ga. 
Williams,  Rev.  F.  T.,  New  Hamburg,N.Y, 
Williams,  James  C,  Philadelphia. 
Williams,  J.  D.,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
Williams,  Owen,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Williams,  Rev.  W.  G.,  La  Grange,  Ala. 
Williamson,  Rev.  A.,  Warren  Grove,  N.J. 
Williamson,  Rev.  James,  Athens,  Pa. 
Willis,  Rev.  H.  P.  S.,  Memphis,  Mo. 
Wilson,  Alexander,  Millville,  N.C. 
Wilson,  Alexander,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
Wilson,  A.,  Shade  Gap,  Pa. 
Wilson,  Mrs.  Catharine,  Boalsburg,  Pa. 
Wilson,  Charles,  Hillsborough,  0. 
Wilson,  David,  Perrysville,  Pa. 
Wilson,  Henry  R.,  D.D.,  Sewicklyville,Pa. 
Wilson,  Rev.  H.  N.,  Hackettstown,  N.J. 
Wilson,  Jlev.  J.  Leighton,  New  York. 
Wilson,  J.M.,P.M.,  Grindstone  Point, Mo. 
Wilson,  John,  Bordentown,  N.J. 
Wilson,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Wilson,  John,  Jr.,  Philadelphia. 
Wilson,  Rev.  John,  Portersville,  Tenn. 
Wilson,  John  K.,  Sewickly  Bottom,  Pa. 
Wilson,  John,  Sr.,  Belleville,  Pa. 
Wilson,  Mrs.  Martha,  Sinking  Valley, Pa. 
Wilson,  Miss  M.  V.,  Shepherdsville,  Ky. 
Wilson,  Napier,  Columbia,  Tenn. 
Wilson,  Rev.  S.  T.,  Rock  Island,  111. 
Wilson,  Rev.  T.  B.,  Xenia,  0. 
Wilson,  Thomas  J.,  Belleville,  Pa. 
Wilson,  Hon.  Wm.,  Lambertville,  N.J. 
Wilson,  William  D.,  Philadelphia. 
Wilson,  W.  H.,  Beaver  Meadow,  Pa. 
Wilson,  W.  P.,  Bellefonte,  Pa. 
Wilson,  Rev.  W.  S.,  Warsaw,  la. 
Wilson,  Rev.  Wm.  V.,  Moorefield,  Va. 
Wilson,  W.  W.,  Mifflintown,  Pa. 
Winne,.John,  Albany,  N.Y. 
AVinning,  Rev.Robt.,  Eaglesham,Scotland. 
AVinterstein,  A.  J.,  Summit  Hill,  Pa. 
AVinterstein,  P.,  Sybertsville,  Pa. 
AVissler,  Jacob,  AVhite  Haven,  Pa. 
Witheron,  S.,  Newton  Hamilton,  Pa. 


720 


LIST    OF    SUBSCRIBERS, 


'\Vitherspoon,  A.  J.,  Linden,  Al;i. 
Wolfcs  G.  R.,  Milroy,  Pa. 

M' ,  Pliilailelpliia. 

Wood,  Rev.  Charles,  Philadelphia. 
Wood,  Rev.  D.  T.,  Middletown,  N.Y. 
Wood,  Edward  P.,  Lawrenceville,  N.J. 
Wood,  F.  M.,  Pnnceton,  N.J. 
Wood,  James,  D.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Wood,  Rev.  Jeremiah,  Mayfield,  N.Y. 
Wood,  John  R.,  Lawrenceville,  N.J. 
Wood,  Rev.  M.  D.,  Walterborough,  S.C. 
Woodruff,  Jonathan,  Rahway,  N.J. 
Woods,  J.,  D.D.,  Lewistovrn,  Pa. 
Woods,  Rev.  J.  E.,  Bentonport,  Iowa. 
Woodside,  John,  Waterford,  Pa. 
Work,  Samuel,  Holmesburg,  Pa. 
Work,  Rev.  William  R.,  Pottstown,  Pa. 
Worrell,  Rev.  C.  F.,  Perriuesville,  N.J. 


Worthington,  W.,  M.D.,  West  Chester,  Pa. 
Wray,  Wm.,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Wriglit,  Rev.  William,  Quincy,  0. 
Wurts,  Rev.  J.  H.,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Wycoff,  Cornelius,  Richmond,  0. 
Wycoff,  C.  W.,  Richmond,  0. 
Wycoff,  Isaac,  Richmond,  0. 
Wyers,  Wm.  F.,  West  Chester,  Pa. 
Wylie,  J.  D.,  M.D.,  Oakland,  111. 
Wylie,  Rev.  T.  A.,  Bloomington,  la. 
Wylie,  Rev.  T.  W.  J.,  Philadelphia. 
Wynkoop,  Rev.  S.  R.,  Wilmington,  Del. 

Yorks,  William,  Danville,  Pa. 
Young,  G.,  Holmesburg,  Pa. 
Young,  0.  F.,  Rome,  Pa. 
Young,  William  S.,  Philadelphia. 


ADDENDA. 


Adamson,  William,  Philadelphia. 
Alexander,  T.  T.,  Columbia,  Ky. 
Allibone,  S.  Austin,  Philadelphia. 
Bennett,  Mrs.  P.,  Newburg,  N.Y. 
Campbell,  John,  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
Clements,  Thomas,  Philadelphia. 
Connell,  Henry,  Philadelphia. 
Craig,  James,  Philadelphia. 
Craig,  William,  Philadelphia. 
Crane,  Rev.  Wm.  H.,  Tallahassee,  Fa. 
Cross,  Rev.  A.  B.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Curran,  John  P.,  M.D.,  Philadelphia. 
Downs,  Thomas,  Philadelphia. 
Doyle,  Richard,  Academia,  Pa. 
Edgar,  Rev.  Cornelius  H.,  Easton,  Pa. 
Findlay,  Charles,  Baltimore,  Md. 


Finney,  Rev.  William,  Churchville,  Md. 
Fleu,  Charles,  Sr.,  Germantown,  Pa. 
Gabel,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Gorham,  John  B.,  Newburg,  N.Y. 
Guy,  Robert,  Philadelphia. 
Haldeman,  John,  Philadelphia. 
Hodge,  Rev.  Samuel,  Lyons's  Stoi-e,  Tenn. 
Jackson,  Alexander,  Philadelphia. 
Johnes,  Edward  R.,  Newburg,  N.Y. 
Livingston,  George,  Bellefonte,  Pa. 
Maxwell,  William,  Easton,  Pa. 
McKiuney,  D.,  D.D.,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
Paul,  James,  Philadelphia. 
Pike.  Rev.  John,  Rowley,  Mass. 
Sprat,  J.,  Philadelphia. 
Storrie,  Thomas,  Philadelphia. 


fj-f 


Date  Due 


